This June will see the second edition of the Queer Spectrum Film Festival, as they make their way to the Irish Film Institute on the 13th-14th June. A celebration of queer stories in motion, Ireland’s first film festival especially dedicated to LGBTQIA+ people of colour and immigrant voices, QSFF aims to highlight powerful narratives shaped by migration, nostalgia, and transformation.
Organised by Queer Asian Pride Ireland, QSFF was started to empower LGBTQIA+ filmmakers of colour and celebrate their unique stories. After their first festival last year in Dublin, they have delivered screenings all across the island, and now they return to the fair city of film for year two. With two features, and three programmes of shorts, QSFF 2025 will offer a varied window into unique experiences and disparities across the Queer community across the globe.
The festival opens at 6.30pm with Brazilian film Neirud. Confronting family secrets, filmmaker Fernanda Faya pieces together the mysterious life of her aunt Neirud, a former circus wrestler known as “the Gorilla Woman”m who toured Brazil as a wrestler in an underground all-female circus troupe throughout the 60s and 80s. As she investigates Neirud’s controversial ring persona, Faya uncovers a taboo-breaking love story, revealing the surprising nature of Neirud’s role in her own family.
This film will be preceded by short Moved by Sarah Griffin, in which nine LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers from around the world gather at a Dublin community centre to share their journeys — from fleeing persecution to building new lives and dreaming of safer futures.
A trailblazing Marathi language film, the first to ever screen at Sundance, Cactus Pears screens on Saturday at 6.30pm. Written and directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade in his feature directorial debut, the Indian film is about Anand, a man from the city who returns to his hometown following a death in the family, and reconnects romantically with his childhood friend Balya. Cactus Pears is presented in partnership with the GAZE International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, and its pre-feature short is Lebanese film Shame. Directed by Hadi Moussally, it looks at Salma Zahore, who posed with family and neighbours for a long-exposure photograph in 19th-century Levant. At the end, she removed her coat, unaware her simple gesture would spark scandal and shame in her community.
Saturday sees three distinct shorts programmes compiled across the afternoon; at 1pm, 3.30pm and 5.45pm. First up is Resilient Joy, where seven films chart intimate journeys across borders of place, body, and memory. Blending myth, migration, and resilience, they celebrate queer lives in motion — the courage to transform, to remember, and to imagine new worlds beyond the familiar.
Resilient Joy
Velipādu: The Revelation
Dir. Jijo Jessy Kuriakose, 25 mins, India, Drama, 2024
In lush Kerala, a priest-in-training confronts faith and queer desire. “Velipādu: The Revelation” blends music, memory, and touch into a tender, defiant portrait of love lost and found.
I’m dyed in my Master’s Colours
Dir. and Performance by Samir Mahmood, 9:35 mins, Ireland, Experimental, 2024
Filmed in Galway and Dublin, this video follows a queer migrant’s struggle for self-purification, torn between tradition and identity, ultimately finding peace through Sufi wisdom and the poetry of Shah Hussain.
Son
Dir. Saman Hosseinpuor, 15:00 mins, Iran/Switzerland, Drama, 2024
Blistering sun rays beat down on a Kurdish village as a mother awaits a child’s return — one that might lead to forcing her to understand a new identity.
Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black)
Dir. Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch, 24 min, Australia, Documentary, 2023
Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) follows Yankunytjatjara man Derik Lynch’s journey from the oppression of city life back to his Anangu roots, seeking healing and performing Inma — a sacred storytelling tradition passed down for over 60,000 years.
Journey
Dir. and Performance by Luis Noguera, 3.55 mins, Ireland, Experimental, 2024
Journey is a video poem blending disciplines into a raw, celebratory chronicle of living 10 years with HIV — a punch of reality and hope against lingering stigma.
Not Just Another Pageant
Dir. Larry Tung, 14:45 mins, Thailand, Documentary, 2024
Dozens of plus-sized gay men from Asia and Europe gather in Bangkok for a four-day competition to crown the first Mr. Bear International, celebrating masculinity and brotherhood beyond body size.
Presented in partnership with Dublin Bears.
An talamh faoi gheasa – The Enchanted Land
Dir. Pradeep Mahadeshwar, 10 mins, Ireland, Experimental, 2024
An Talamh Faoi Gheasa / The Enchanted Land weaves an ancient Indian myth with the Irish language, exploring transformation, gender identity, migration, and the search for balance.
This is followed by Beyond The Known, which goes from basketball courts to coastal villages, in six films that explore queer joy, resilience, and unexpected tenderness. Through stories of love, survival, and reunion, they capture the quiet revolutions of becoming — even in the face of violence, loss, and distance.
Beyond the Known
We Clap for Airballs
Dir. Sai Selvarajan, 12 mins, United States, Documentary, 2023
We Clap For Airballs is a layered short documentary where the basketball court becomes a healing ground for queer and trans BIPOC joy, visibility, and community.
Presented in partnership with Shamrock Sióga.
Mermaid
Dir. Estevan de la Fuente, 14.57 mins, Brazil, Drama
On Brazil’s south coast, as climate change ravages a small fishing village, young Lúcio, a boy who dreams of mermaids, faces his father’s violence — until a secret gift from his mother transforms his birthday.
If
Dir. Tathagata Ghosh, 25:41 mins, India, Drama, 2023
An arranged marriage tears a lesbian couple apart, but with a mother’s love, perhaps another future is possible.
Taps
Dir. Louis O. Utieyin, 6:51 mins, UK, Comedy/Drama, 2025
When Max accidentally summons a demon on Grindr, he must do whatever it takes to survive.
The Bus Driver
Dir. Ku Ki, 22:00 mins, Myanmar, Documentary, 2024
In Myanmar, a queer bus conductor and their wife endure hardship and power cuts, yet find unexpected acceptance under a repressive regime.
Mountain Lingers
Dir. Hyeryeong Song, 10:30 mins, Republic of Korea, Drama, 2022
Two decades after their romance ended, former colleagues Myeong-jin — now a shaman — and In-ho — now a family man — reunite when In-ho seeks spiritual guidance for his daughter’s future.
Finally in Born Anew, across borders and memories, 5 films honour resilience, love, and the quiet fight for authenticity. From Kerala to Paris, Dublin to New York, they weave tender stories of becoming, remembrance, and the fierce beauty of living truthfully.
Born Anew
Atmospheric Arrivals
Dir. Ayo Tsalithaba, 5:57 mins, Canada, Experimental, 2023
A restless spirit travels through time, space and memory.
Presented in partnership with the Trans Image/Trans Experience (TITE) Film Festival.
Everybody’s Gotta Love Sometimes
Dir. Sein Lyan Tun, 15 mins, France, Drama, 2023
Recovering from an abusive past, a Burmese guy named Phyo is looking for love in Paris. He discovers the excitement of a freedom to dance by the Seine river.
Night Queen
Dir. Naireeta Dasgupta, 29mins, India, Drama, 2023
In Old Lucknow, 48-year-old Lakshmikant Sharma lives a seemingly ordinary life — but secretly dreams of wearing sarees, pink lipstick, and living openly as a woman.
I am a woman
Dir. Pradeep Mahadeshwar, 5 mins, Ireland, Documentary
A refugee trans woman from Pakistan remembers her late mother as she wears her earrings for the first time — in the quiet safety of her new home in Ireland.
Because of You: A History of Kilawin Kolektibo
Dir. Barbara Malaran, Desireena Almoradie, 41 mins, United States, Documentary, 2025
Because of You tells the story of queer Filipnxs who, in 1990s NYC, built a joyful, defiant community against racism and lesbophobia. Through archival footage, it celebrates love, protest, and reunion.
Tickets for the Queer Spectrum Film Festival 2025 are available now here. Film bundles are available from the IFI Box Office, and all QSFF screenings are included in IFI’s 25 & Under €5 ticket scheme.