The incredible GAZE LGBT Film Festival kicks off tonight with the best in queer movies from around the globe alongside Q&As by the filmmakers and specially curated talks. With a jam-packed programme of events to choose from, here’s a selection of the truly unmissable.

Deep In Vogue

Opening the festival is Deep In Vogue – a riotous look at the Manchester Vogue scene – a scene confined neither to the New York of the past nor a London enclave, but across the spectrum of Manchester’s queer scene, with a giant hit of Northern soul.

Let Your Colours Run Free

Enjoy some home-grown talent with the touching Let Your Colours Run Free.

The documentary charts the path of TransGreystones, a group created to support the trans community in Wicklow, and their emotional journey to creating their first art exhibition.

Knife + Heart

Described as a luscious and lascivious late-night “poppers and popcorn” movie – Knife + Heart is a spooky delight from start to finish.

​Set a stylised and atmospheric 1970s Paris, Vanessa Paradis plays Anne, a porn director whose sexy young actors start getting offed before they get off, by a psychopathic killer. Targeting the boys at gay clubs, the killer is making a statement, but who are they, and what do they want?

The Little Mermaid

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film that launched a new wave of Disney classics, GAZE presents The Little Mermaid as this year’s queer family film.

Even better, in advance of the screening, The Gutter Bookshop will host a Drag Queen Storytime! The glamorous and fun literary event is for the little ones — Auntie Poppie’s storytime with a twist!

ACT UP Ireland: United And Angrier Than Ever

In partnership with ACT UP Dublin and GCN, ACT UP Ireland: United And Angrier Than Ever will see a panel of activists discuss where we are and what needs to be done in terms of HIV/AIDS activism. ACT UP Dublin’s Will St Leger, this year’s Grand Marshall at Dublin Pride, will be joined by activist and Managing Editor of GCN, Lisa Connell, activist Brian Mullin, IWantPrEPNow founder Greg Owen and original ACT UP member, Monica Pearl.

The unmissable panel will be preceded by a selection of short films on HIV/AIDS activism.

Mapplethorpe

Chronicling the volatile life and astounding art of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, master documentarian Ondi Timoner brings factual flare to her narrative feature debut Mapplethorpe – a portrait pulsing with passion, perversity and sexual defiance.

Matt Smith brings clarity and precision to Mapplethorpe’s life, from his early halcyon days in the Chelsea Hotel and his mythicised relationship with Patti Smith, to his meteoric rise as an artist, queer awakening and foray into BDSM.

Handsome Devil

This screening of the new Irish LGBT+ classic will be accompanied by an unmissable Q&A with the writer and director, John Butler.

Returning to boarding school after the holidays, Ned, a bullied but resilient outsider, is dismayed to find he has been assigned a new roommate, Conor, a rugby-playing Adonis.  When Conor is drafted by Ned’s prime tormentors, the animosity between them deepens, until English teacher Mr Sherry insists they work together on a variety show duet. An unlikely friendship develops, complicated by desire, and the need to find one’s own voice.

To catch any of these unmissable movies, get yourself over to the GAZE website here and snap up those tickets!