QWOCMAP

We’re so excited to announce that we’re screening the newly restored documentary, A LITANY FOR SURVIVAL: THE LIFE AND WORK OF AUDRE LORDE (1995), by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, at the 22nd annual International Queer Women of Color Film Festival! Originally produced in collaboration with Audre Lorde herself, it is the most comprehensive portrait of the award-winning Black lesbian poet, mother, teacher, and activist. SAVE THE DATE: Sat, 6.14, 4pm PST Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave, SF Free, and open to public QWOCMAP screens this film because the work Lorde called for — naming ourselves, refusing silence, insisting that our survival is not academic — is still the work. Community Partners: James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at San Francisco Public Library, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, Third World Newsreel, Firelight Media, Coast Pride, Cinemama, Women's Cancer Resource Center.

"...we look at it in terms of who gets access to films, who gets to see things. Most film festivals charge for tickets. We're completely free of charge. So that means that anybody can be there and we have a large percentage of disabled audience members as well. And so what does it mean to center folks that are the most impacted? To follow their leadership, and also make sure that folks can participate?" - T. Kebo Drew, QWOCMAP Managing Director At QWOCMAP, accessibility isn’t optional. It is central to our commitment to disability justice. Save the date QWOCFF2026: We Resist, and We Roll: June 14-15, 2026, Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave, SF

Here it is — the first glimpse of QWOCFF 2026!⠀ ⠀ QWOCMAP presents the 22nd annual International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, 47 films by queer women, nonbinary, and trans filmmakers of color, screening from May through October 2026.⠀ ⠀ This year’s festival theme says it plainly: We Resist, and We Roll. The festival opens with satellite screenings in May and builds to three days at San Francisco’s historic Presidio Theatre on June 12, 13, and 14, with satellite screenings continuing through August and October. Across all of it, ancestral land practices and cultural preservation, radical protest and daring heists, tender love stories and intergenerational connections, these are the films our communities make when resistance and filmmaking happen in the same breath.⠀ ⠀ QWOCFF has never been a single weekend. It’s a season. And in 2026, through community partnerships that carry these films into new rooms and new neighborhoods, the festival reaches further than ever. Be in the room, whichever room that is.⠀ ⠀ ID: A Black person with twists in their hair plays the banjo while sitting on a log in the middle of a forest wearing a green-blue cape. At the top in white, QWOCMAP presents the 22nd annual International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, June 12, 13, 14, 2026. Below in light green, Festival Focus: We Resist, and We Roll. At the bottom in white, Films fully captioned and described. On a light green background beneath the image, black text and a series of film stills. Text: Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco, FREE, [email protected], 415-752-0868, . The film stills from left to right: A Native Auntie skinning a moose hide, queer Vietnamese-American folks praying with their hands clasped together, an Afro-Latino trans man standing in a train station, two Black lesbians kissing, and a Black person sitting on the floor of a laundromat with their hands in their afro⠀ ⠀ #QWOCMAP #QWOCFF26 #QWOCFF2026 #QueerFilmFestival #FilmFestival

Black queer stories have been looted, sanitized, and buried throughout this country's history. That is not accident or an oversight. Severing communities from their own archive, leaving the next generation without a mirror or a map, that is a deliberate act of suppression. We have been answering that call for 22 years. #QWOCFF2026 Opening Night brings four films about Black queer people making space and taking it. From searching for permission to exist in your own hometown to staging a heist against the luxury brands displacing your community, QUEER BLACK JOY LIKE FIRE opens the 22nd Annual QWOCFF on Friday, June 12 at 7pm at Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco. Films and Directors: HANNAH MAYREE: SONGS OF RECLAMATION by Ebony Marie Bailey DAMN Y'ALL FINE by Kalima Young & Ti Malik Coleman BUDGET PARADISE by LaTajh Simmons-Weaver RAINBOW GIRLS by Nana Duffuor. Community Partners: African American Art and Culture Complex, Atlas of Blackness, Cinemama, Comfrey Films, Jingletown Films, National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Rada Collaborative, SF Black Pride Free East Bay shuttles, childcare during daytime screenings, ASL interpretation, audio description, open captions, COVID-conscious protocols, and alternative approaches to safety are all in place. Reserve your free tickets at qwocmap.org/festival/schedule/queer-black-joy-like-fire

26 years ago, our founder Madeleine Lim (who celebrated a birthday earlier this week :)) planted a seed: a place where queer and trans filmmakers of color could tell their own stories, and support movement building. Film AS Movement. That seed grew into what QWOCMAP is today. Now, we’re opening the doors to something new, but still rooted in our history of real movement building work: qwocmap.org, where film builds power. We rebuilt our website with accessibility at the center: clearer navigation, screen-reader-friendly structure, and an archive that’s navigable. We have the world’s largest collection of films by queer and trans filmmakers of color, and our archive of 515+ films will have a permanent home on our website. Stay tuned! While the design is new, our mission remains the same. Think of it as an evolution of the work we’ve been doing for 26 years — putting cameras, resources, and care in the hands of LBTQIA+ BIPOC filmmakers. Welcome home.

We celebrate AAPI Heritage Month knowing that queer and trans Asian and Pacific Islander storytelling has always been at the heart of QWOCMAP. The filmmakers who have come through our programs and screened at QWOCFF, their work, their presence, and their insistence on being seen fully, have helped shape what QWOCMAP is. This month (and always) we honor that lineage and the films and filmmakers who carry it forward. We’re excited to bring that history into room on May 22 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for our Queer Asian World Cinema QWOCFF 2026 Satellite Screening. FREE and open to all. Get tickets: oacc.cc/event/qwocmap Image from the film "Stay Hot Stay Chill" by Nancy YiYu Chen

We believe every body deserves to be here, not just in spirit, but physically, comfortably, and safely. That means doing the work behind the scenes so our immunocompromised, disabled, and chronically ill community members can show up without having to calculate the risk. Swipe through to see how we keep the air clean at this year's festival. and what we ask of each other to make it work!

The internet was supposed to help our community find each other. That is no longer guaranteed. Algorithms decide whose stories get seen and whose get buried, and LBTQIA+ BIPOC filmmaker-activists have always been in the crosshairs of that erasure. So we built something of our own. In this video, Managing Director Kebo Drew talks about why QWOCMAP rebuilt its website from the ground up. Why an archive of 515 films by queer and trans filmmakers of color needs a permanent home that no platform can suppress. And why an organization with working class values, one that has always led with doing the work rather than talking about it, decided it was time to tell the full story. The new site is live at qwocmap.org. Come see what we built.

Twenty-two years of this festival is not a small thing. QWOCFF has been the space where someone first saw themselves on screen, where lifelong friendships began, where filmmakers were born and art practices took root. Where people arrived carrying something unspoken and left a little more whole. And where they could be fully present because it was actually built for them to be there. We hold that history with so much humility and joy. This year, we are proud to present 49 films by queer women, nonbinary, and trans filmmakers of color across three ways to experience the festival. There are 3 ways to "Fest with us": 1. Join us in person at Presidio Theatre in San Francisco, June 12, 13, and 14. Book your spot today at qwocmap.org/festival! 2. Catch a satellite screening near you, with programs running in cities across the country from May through October. 3. Stream the Encore Screenings online in September, free and accessible from anywhere in the world. Always free to attend. Registration for the San Francisco festival is open now at qwocmap.org/festival. By the way, the new QWOCFF website is live and we are continuously adding to it, so check back often! #QWOCMAP #QWOCFF26 #QWOCFF2026 #QueerFilmFestival #FilmFestival

Can't attend QWOCFF 2026 this June? We got you covered! Come to our satellite screenings, beginning this month at the Queer Asian World Cinema, hosted by @oaklandasiancc in partnership with @apicc_sf and Visual Communications. 🗓️ Friday, May 22, 6:30 pm to 9 pm 📍Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St Suite 290, Oakland FREE! Come through and view eight films moving between memory, diaspora, and dreams. This event is free to attend, masking is required, and free masks will be provided at the door. The program includes: Stay Hot Stay Chill — Nancy YiYu Chen Memoria — Ross Vasallo Stroke of Dreams — Tracy Nguyen Because of You: A History of Kilawin Kolektibo — Barbara Malaran & Desireena Almoradie Somewhere To Be — Libby Chun Hugs & Kisses — Alexandra Orr A Swim in the Desert — Coffee Kang Ramen Western — Meloddy Gao Register here: https://bit.ly/48OHCn2 Full event details here: https://oacc.cc/event/qwocmap See you there!

Coming to QWOCFF this June? Here is one of the most important things you can do before you arrive. Skip scented products entirely, including perfume, cologne, scented lotion, deodorant, hair products, and laundry detergent. Many of our community members experience serious illness from chemical exposure, and fragrance free is how we make sure everyone who wants to be in the room can actually be there. Swipe for the full guide —>

QWOCMAP’s 22nd Annual Film Festival is coming, and we need you to help bring it to life! From June 12–14, join us in building a space of safety, joy, and care for our LBTQIA+ BIPOC communities. Whether you’re supporting guests, helping behind the scenes, or capturing moments, your presence helps make the festival possible. ✨ Pre-festival and weekend shifts available ✨ Required training date and details Be part of a community-powered celebration where our stories can thrive. Sign up: bit.ly/qwocff-26-volunteer Questions? [email protected]