June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the United Kingdom. It commemorates the Stonewall riots and aims to recognise the impact LGBTQIA+ people have had and continue to have across the world.

It’s a month for communities to come together in solidarity to unite, to protest and to celebrate the heritage, culture and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people.

Activists and allies can support by:

  • Increasing the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (“LGBTQIA”) people, their history, lives and experiences in the curriculum and culture of institutions, and the wider community;
  • Raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBTQIA+ community;
  • Working to make institutions safe spaces for all LGBTQIA+ communities; and
  • Promoting the welfare of LGBTQIA+ people, by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBTQIA+ people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, which benefits society as a whole.

 

Pride and Cinema

There are a wealth of films available on the LGBTQIA+ experience and history. It’s now as important as ever to support the work of LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and we have some lists and suggestions to get you started.

You can learn about how to become a more LGBTQIA+ friendly organisation, and think about how to support and collaborate with LGBTQIA+ led exhibitors and programmers.

When running LGBTQIA+ events is is important to consider intersectionality, including supporting global majority communities and ensuring your events embed disabled and neurodivergent access.

If you are interested in running a film event for, or inspired by, Pride, here are some resources for information and to help generate ideas, from case studies to film guides.

Film ideas and resources

Here’s what to watch to celebrate LGBTQ Pride’s roots in protest
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17 Essential Black Queer Films
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30 best LGBTQ+ films of all time
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17 of the Best LGBTQ Films of 2018 (Recent & Upcoming)
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Comprehensive* List of LGBTQ+ Vocabulary Definitions
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Stonewall Research Reports
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LGBT In Britain: Trans Report
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Dementia and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) population
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Queer Film Network
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42 queer filmmakers everyone should know
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Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival
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Out on the screen: 50 years of queer cinema in Britain
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Cinerama Film Online LGBTQ films: The Essential Collection
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A Short History Of LGBTQ+ Cinema
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A history of LGBTQ+ representation in film
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10 Tips to Make Your Venue More Inclusive for LGBTQ+ Tourism
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SQIFF Accessibility Guide for Exhibitors
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Why are there so few accessible LGBTQ+ venues
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The Unwritten: It’s Time to Make All Queer Spaces Accessible
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European Film Academy: LGBTQIA+ Film festivals Guide in Europe
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By us, about us, for all: why films by trans people matter for everyone
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‘There’s this inherent censorship’: how trans cinema has endured over time
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Five Films for Freedom: queer cinema and censorship
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5 Things to Know to Make Your Feminism Trans-Inclusive
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Guidance: Trans-inclusive culture
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Inclusivity: Social media marketing as a LGBTQ+ ally
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How bars can create safe spaces for queer communities
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Refugee Week takes place every year across the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June. In the UK, Refugee Week is coordinated by Counterpoint Arts and is an umbrella festival with a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution, creativity and resilience of refugees, and encourages a better understanding between communities.

Refugee Week began in 1998 in response to hostility in the media and society towards refugees and asylum seekers. It is is now one of the leading initiatives working to counter this negative climate, defending the importance of sanctuary and the benefits it can bring to both refugees and host communities.

Anyone can take part in this open platform by holding relevant events or activities of all kinds.

Some of the aims of Refugee Week are to:

  • Celebrate the contributions of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
  • Challenge negative stereotypes and create a space where refugees can be seen and heard beyond their experience of displacement.
  • Celebrate the contributions of everyone seeking safety, regardless of the legal status they hold.
  • Create a space for many stories where people who have experienced displacement can express themselves on their own terms.
  • Promote that the safety of each of us matters to all of us, and to come together around shared values of fairness, mutual support, kindness and respect for universal rights.
  • Provide an open platform and which welcomes a wide range of responses suited to many different contexts, which are inclusive and remove barriers to participation.
  • Create change through arts and culture to help us see migration and displacement differently.
  • Involve people with lived experience of displacement in the planning and leadership of initiatives about refugee experiences.
  • Recognise that refugees and asylum seekers are not a single group and have different experiences, including because of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and immigration status.
  • Promote the right to safety – everyone deserves a home and has the right to seek safety for themselves and their families.

Find our more about the values and shared principles of Refugee Week here.

Cinema and Refugee Week

One of the eight Simple Act as part of Refugee Week is to watch a film. Simple Acts are everyday actions we can all do to stand with refugees and make new connections in our communities.

Counterpoints Arts have partnered with Other Cinemas in 2024 on a collaborative film programme, with feature films and shorts which can be screened at home or for a community screening. 

For even more films, take a look at the British Film Institute’s Refugee Week collection on BFI player.

Cinema

Refugee Week invites you to run an event and can support you to do this. If you have an idea for an event (online or in venue) or activity you’d like to run for Refugee Week, take a look at their event organiser pack.

Below are more guides and organisations who organise events which you can support, as well as case studies and platforms to watch relevant films on.

Organisations

Refugee Action has spent 35 years helping refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK.

In Place of War has worked with creative communities in some of the most challenging contexts in the world. It is a support system for community artistic, creative and cultural organisations in places of conflict, revolution and areas suffering the consequences of conflict.

Regional Refugee Forum North East is the independent membership organisation created by and for the North East region’s Refugee-led Community Organisations (RCOs), enabling them to unite and produce their Collective Voice and empowering them to be active agents in change.

Women for Refugee Women challenges the injustices experienced by women who seek asylum in the UK.

The Refugee Council is one of the leading charities in the UK working directly with refugees, and supporting them to rebuild their lives.

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Welcome Cinema: Welcoming Refugees to the UK

Gender and Autism

More men and boys are currently diagnosed as autistic than women and girls. Find out about the gender ratio and the theories that try to explain it. We also look at gender identity – your sense of self as a man, woman, non-binary or something else – and gender dysphoria.

Eyes Wide Open Cinema

Eyes Wide Open What worked and why As always, our most successful events were ones we hosted ‘nominally’ with Picturehouse as a partner. We don’t have a financial stake in these screenings but rather are listed as co-presenters in exchange for publicity – these included God’s Own Country and Queerama. These films already had a … More

Iris Prize Festival – Iris in the Community

Project overview Iris in the Community was a Big Lottery funded project which ran from 2015 -2018. Its aims were to work with communities across Wales to make their own film and deliver their own mini-Iris film festival utilising films from our back catalogue. During the life of the project we engaged with 30 groups … More

LGBT History Month Schools Screenings

Project overview In February, Into Film organised a UK-wide season of schools screenings to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month. Films selected by exhibitors in the programme from a curated package included: Before Stonewall, The Greatest Showman, Love, Simon, Moonlight and Tomboy. Aims To evaluate the Spring Screenings, Into Film used the generic model for Screening … More