About
ReelOut Queer Film Festival
Who we are & what we do
Founded in 1999, the ReelOut Queer Film + Video Festival has grown from grassroots community screenings into a nationally and internationally recognized celebration of 2SLGBTQ+ stories. Based in downtown Kingston, Ontario, Canada, we showcase diverse films that spark conversation, foster connection, and champion inclusion, while supporting artists with care and collaboration. ach year, we gather downtown for 10 days of films, conversations, and community, while continuing to host programs and events throughout the year that spark dialogue, build inclusion, and keep queer voices at the heart of our city.
A Legacy of Film, Art, and Community
Born in the backroom of a local gay bar, Reelout grew from a passionate collective of activists, artists, and film lovers into a nonprofit dedicated to queer storytelling.
The Reelout Queer Film + Video Festival began in 1999 as a working group of OPIRG Kingston at Queen’s University. Founder Marney McDiarmid first tested the idea with screenings in Kingston’s only gay bar before bringing together a collective of activists, academics, and film lovers to launch the festival. By 2004, Reelout had incorporated as a nonprofit, laying the foundation for sustainability and growth. From those grassroots beginnings, the festival has become an internationally recognized cultural event, collaborating with film festivals around the world, earning awards for its contributions to human rights and diversity, and continuing to celebrate queer stories with warmth and inclusivity.
Mandate
Reelout exists to celebrate queer media arts and to contribute to community vitality by programming materials that focus on issues of sexuality, race, culture, religion, class, gender, ability, health and age, thereby purposefully drawing together and initiating challenging dialogue among disparate members of the queer communities in Kingston/Katarokwi and the surrounding area as well as between the larger population and the queer community. Our core values are based on the traditional medicine wheel representing spiritual (humility, pride); mental (integrity, tenacity); emotional (caring, courage) and physical (inclusive, representational).
Reelout is
- Access to artistic work that would otherwise not be screened in Kingston;
- A forum to engage in discussion and debate on issues relating to the practice of film and video making as well as issues relating to the queer community;
- A celebration of Kingston’s diversity and an increased awareness and understanding of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities;
- Exposure to a broader range of Canadian and international media arts that include short film and video, experimental work, documentaries, and independent feature films;
- Diverse and financially accessible programming of independent film and video;
- A unique community event that draws disparate members of the community together through a common appreciation of quality cinema Reelout Arts Project Inc. incorporated not for profit organization through the province of Ontario, Canada since October 19, 2004 #001629494.
- Reelout Arts Project is a registered charitable organization. #85864 8371 RR0001. Copies of Reelout Arts Project Inc. ‘s by-laws, policies, and code of conduct are available to the community-at-large by appointment by calling (613) 549-7335.
Contact Us
- director@reelout.com
- 844a Princess St Kingston
