Brand-new SCENE Festival brings LGBTQ+ film and TV to Manchester

From Friday the 16th to Thursday the 22nd of August 2024 (the week before Manchester Pride), Manchester’s new LGBTQ+ film and TV festival, SCENE, will be showing beloved classics, new queer content, and exclusive premieres, features, and shorts at outdoor screens, cinemas, and pop-up spaces across the city centre. All events are £15 or under with many being £5 or free, including a free outdoor screen on First Street. 

An exclusive opening night will kick off the weeklong event with a celebration panel and afterparty for Queer as Folk’s 25th anniversary. The iconic drama series will be celebrated with appearances from names involved with the show including writer Russell T Davies, executive producer Nicola Shindler, actress Denise Black, and more who’ll be announced soon.

Other SCENE events include Striking With Pride: United at the Coalface at The People’s History Museum, a documentary exploring the allegiance between gay men and lesbians in London and the striking miners of South Wales between the 1984 and 1985 London Prides.

Activist and Emmy Award nominee David Weissman will be showing his documentary The Cockettes at Aviva Studios, a film that traces San Francisco's hippie and drag queen troupe of the early 70s. Weissman also brings his We Were Here to Aviva Studios, a reflective look at the arrival of AIDS, focusing on interviewees who lived in San Francisco before the epidemic hit. 

Channelling 90s/00s British TV, Tops brings an intimate take on top surgery with chaos and humour to Yes Bar. This screening is free to attend. India's First Best Trans Model Agency will also be shown at Yes Bar. A positive story delving into the trans community of Delhi, it follows Hijira (sometimes referred to as "third gender") people as they set out to create India's first trans modelling agency.

The Emmy and GLAAD Award-Winning docuseries The Lesbian Bar Project comes to Vanilla, capturing stories of FLINTA (a German abbreviation for women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender) communities in Cologne and Berlin amidst the fall of traditional lesbian bars. Stay for a Q&A and an afterparty with sapphic DJ talent at Manchester’s “last lesbian bar”. 

This is just a taste of what’s on at SCENE Festival this year. Further screenings and events will be announced in the coming weeks but with countless interesting, funny, and harrowing screenings plus shows and LGBTQ+ walking tours, it’s already looking ace.

Booking fees on tickets bought through Skiddle will be donated to Manchester’s Pride Charity to support LGBTQIA+ people in Manchester, as will SCENE’s ticket profits. 

Tickets for all events mentioned above, plus many more, are available now. Find all SCENE Festival events and secure your tickets now. 

Check out our What's On Guide to discover more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.

Header image credit: SCENE Festival