Céline Sciamma is headed to Belfast as part of the 2026 Outburst Queer Arts Festival. The acclaimed French filmmaker will take part in several events across the weekend of November 13 to 15, presenting both new work and beloved fan-favourites.
In 2007, the same year that Outburst began, Sciamma released her first feature, Water Lilies. Set during a sultry summer in a middle-class Parisian suburb, the queer coming-of-age drama captures the uncertainty of teenage sexuality. Establishing Sciamma’s role as an uncompromising feminist filmmaker, the production won awards at festivals in Athens, Cabourg and Torino, as well as taking home the Prix Louis Delluc, a French award bestowed to the Best First Film of the year.
Since then, she has continued to enamour audiences everywhere with works like Tomboy (2011), Girlhood (2014), Petite Maman (2021) and of course, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). The latter made Sciamma the first female director to win the Queer Palm at Cannes, where she was also awarded Best Screenplay and nominated for the Palme d’Or.
Her activism throughout the years has been equally powerful, as she has used her voice to advocate for gender parity, representation and workers’ rights in the screen industry. Furthermore, in 2020, she made headlines alongside actor Adèle Haenel for walking out of the Cesars award ceremony when convicted sexual predator Roman Polanski was crowned Best Director.
Now, her career is set to be celebrated at Outburst across a range of events.
Things will kick off on Friday, November 13, with a live performance lecture in partnership with Ulster Presents at Ulster University. Created for the filmmaker’s recent Centre Pompidou retrospective, the Salon des Refusées event will reflect on an intersectional 20th-century history of women in cinema.
The next day, Outburst will host two special screenings in partnership with Queen’s Film Theatre. The first will be a new cut of Tomboy, and the second will be of Portrait of a Lady on Fire featuring previously unseen footage. Both will include a director’s introduction.
Finally, Sunday, November 15, will offer audiences the chance to see two essay films. This includes the raw, lyric work-in-progress Tutti Frutti (2026), as well as an exquisite poem of love and loss, This Is How a Child Becomes a Poet (2023). Afterwards, Sciamma will be in conversation with writer and feminist film curator So Mayer.
Tickets for all of the events go on sale on Monday, September 21, through the Outburst and Queen’s Film Theatre websites.
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“We are excited to announce that Céline will join us at the festival this November for very special screenings, conversations and presentations, reflecting not only on her own incredible body of work but on what we can learn from the long histories of women in film towards shaping an independent, intersectional future for cinema and – in the midst of late capitalism and climate breakdown – for ourselves,” organisers shared.
“Profoundly human, lyrically erotic, deeply political and powerfully imaginative, Céline Sciamma’s work beautifully echoes everything that Outburst has embraced for the past 20 years and we can’t wait to welcome her to Belfast.”
Outburst Queer Arts Festival returns from November 12 to 21. The full programme will be available in late September.
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