GAZE International LGBT Film Festival is an annual film festival which takes place in Dublin each Bank Holiday weekend in late July and early August. The festival is an inclusive weekend that welcomes people of all backgrounds to celebrate and remember the LGBT community through the power of film.
Our partnership with GAZE started in 2017, when we were proud to support British LGBT Film Focus at the festival's 25th year anniversary. Since then each year together with GAZE we bring the best of the UK LGBT films to the Irish audience alongside workshops and panel discussions, which leads to new opportunities and lasting connections between Ireland and the UK.
In 2019 GAZE became the Irish partner for Five Films For Freedom - digital campaign, organised by the British Council and BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The campaign features five LGBTQ+ themed short films available for the world to watch online for free, in solidarity with LGBTQ+ communities in places where freedom and equal rights are limited.
Building on the success of Five Films for Freedom, the annual digital programme run by the British Council and BFI, More Films for Freedom 2020 brought three new commissioned short films which explored LGBTIQ+ stories. The films were made by British, Syrian, Palestinian and South African filmmakers. In Ireland the campaign was supported by GAZE.
In 2021 we brought Five Films For Freedom back with a bang, and with a recorded interview over on our Facebook between British Council’s Director Film, Briony Hanson, and Seán McGovern, Head of Programming at GAZE Film Festival Dublin. The interview was an insightful look at the films from this year, and touched on the challenges of programming from an LGBTQ+ Shorts Program.
