SCENE Festival returns to HOME this week with packed LGBTQ+ film programme
Manchester's premier queer film festival, SCENE, returns to HOME this week in the run-up to Manchester Pride. Check out the programme below!
Date published: 17th Aug 2026
As we start to build up to the return of Manchester Pride, the run up also sees the return of the city's celebration of LGBTQ+ cinema and television, SCENE Festival, which takes over HOME and venues across the city from Thursday 20th to Thursday 27th August.
The festival brings together new releases and cult LGBTQ+ favourites, documentaries, shorts, Q&As, panels and special events across its eight-day programme. This year’s selection spans everything from Pedro Almodóvar melodrama and Jane Schoenbrun slasher horror to Gregg Araki comedy, queer punk documentaries and Manchester-made films, giving audiences plenty to discover in the run-up to Pride weekend.
Gary Williams, Head of Programming for SCENE Festival, said: “I really want people to feel a relationship with the festival.
“For it to be something everybody can feel proud of, for people to tell their mates to come up a few days early for Pride, and go and watch that film that sounds weird. Go watch that Moroccan coyote-animated-lesbian-coming-of-age-story about cultural identity.”
Outside of the film programme at HOME, numerous events are happening throughout the city as part of SCENE Festival, with tickets available on Skiddle; check them out - HERE
The festival programme opens on Thursday 20th August with Bitter Christmas, Pedro Almodóvar’s new melodrama exploring love, loss and creativity, before cult trans director Jane Schoenbrun (of I Saw the TV Glow fame) turns the evening considerably bloodier with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a VHS-soaked tribute to summer-camp slashers.
Friday shifts between music and cult celebration. Queer as Punk follows Malaysia’s pioneering queer punk band, Shh..Diam!, as they fight to make themselves heard, before HOME celebrates 25 years of John Cameron Mitchell’s beloved rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
On Saturday 22nd August, Campbell X returns with Low Rider, a London-to-Cape-Town story of self-discovery, resilience and homecoming, before Stop! That! Train! brings comedy aboard the Glamazonian Express in a gloriously unhinged disaster movie spoof from the team behind RuPaul’s Drag Race. Later that night, legendary queer filmmaker Gregg Araki returns with the uninhibited dom-com I Want Your Sex.
Sunday begins with Aks: Trans Stories Across South Asia, a collection of shorts spotlighting Khwaja Sira and trans lives across the region. That’s followed by Bouchra, the story of a queer Moroccan coyote in New York grappling with writer’s block, cultural identity and personal transformation, before John Early’s directorial debut Maddie’s Secret closes out the day with a blast of camp food-influencer comedy.
The programme continues after the weekend on Monday with Blue Film, a provocative drama exploring the world of camboys, followed by a Q&A. Then on Tuesday, Rivals: Behind the Drama pulls back the curtain on one of television’s most talked-about recent series. You can also catch the SCENE Northern Shorts Showcase, in partnership with ORIGINS, showing films from the best emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers across the North of England.
Wednesday sees Barbara Forever offer a vivid documentary portrait of pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer, complete with a recorded Q&A, before PROTEST! Condensation Short Film Premiere celebrates Manchester’s own history of queer protest, defiance and living memory.
The festival wraps on Thursday 27th August with two final screenings. Hunky Jesus documents San Francisco’s hottest holy figures, followed by Chatlines, which sees the Manchester-based team behind Departures return with another audacious queer drama, accompanied by a Q&A.
Thursday also sees the festival closing party at Campfield Market, and the Filmmaker Mixer and SCENE Shorts Announcement where you can network with fellow queer filmmakers and see the presentation of the Audience Award for the most-loved short at the festival.
With Pride weekend following immediately afterwards, SCENE offers the perfect excuse to arrive in Manchester a little earlier, take a chance on something unfamiliar and spend a week immersed in the breadth of LGBTQ+ storytelling.
Still building your Pride week itinerary? Explore more Manchester Events happening across the city and make the most of the celebrations - HERE
Also, if you haven't already done so, make sure to grab your tickets to Manchester Pride below now!
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Header image credit: Scene Festival