Spring is here! While the weather outside is still temperamental, we have a lineup of community events and queer films for this month to brighten your mood. Here’s everything happening this April.
CanFilmDay: April 15 at the Scotiabank Theatre
Celebrate National Canadian Film Day with us on April 15 with a FREE screening of Backspot! Join us for this Festival favourite and stay after the screening for a Q&A with director D.W. Waterson and producer/lead Devery Jacobs.
We’re here to please you, Baby at Images Festival
We’re co-presenting We’re here to please you, Baby alongside InterAccess, Vtape and Ed Video Media Arts Centre on April 12. Curated by Kiki (Kiera Boult), this screening features the work of Deirdre Logue, E. Jane, Renèe Helèna Browne, Zhongyao Wang. With desires shaped and formed by reality TV, and where the lines between selfhood and audience collapse, ‘We’re here to please you, Baby’ will be hosted by Kiera’s performance alias, Kiki highlighting a craving for enmeshment. In this program, we explore the shared limits of persona: how much Kiki gives, how much she feeds the embodiment of desires, and where her boundaries and Kiera’s begin to dissolve. Stay after the program for a conversation with Kiki and Riss Sean Cruz.
Big Girls Don’t Cry at TIFF Next Wave
We’re thrilled to be a co-presenter for Big Girls Don’t Cry at the 15th TIFF Next Wave Film Festival, happening April 16-19. 2006 New Zealand is the lush backdrop to 14-year-old Sid Bookman’s transformative summer of friendship, queer realizations, and self understanding.
Under 25? Make sure you get your Under-25 Free Pass to unlock your free ticket to #TIFFNextWave Official Selection screenings.
Barbara Forever and Jaripeo at Hot Docs
At the end of April, we’ll be co-presenting Barbara Forever and Jaripeo with Hot Docs for their upcoming Festival, happening April 23-May 3, 2026 featuring 115 films from 51 countries.
Barbara Forever
With unprecedented access to pioneering feminist experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer and her extraordinary archive, this powerfully crafted portrait lets Hammer claim authorship of her own legacy, honouring and celebrating her as a trailblazer who transformed lesbian cinema.
Showtimes:
- Sat, Apr 25, 9:15 PM – Hot Docs Cinema
- Sun, Apr 26, 1:45 PM – TIFF 1
Jaripeo
Against the immersive backdrop of the annual Christmas jaripeo—a Mexican rodeostyle festival—the notion of cowboys and hypermasculinity is put under a lens, revealing intimate memories and desires in a celebration of queer self-expression and belonging.
Showtimes:
- Sat, Apr 25, 2:00 PM – TIFF 1
- Thu, Apr 30, 8:45 PM – TIFF 4
A sneak peek of May…
Run It Back: Bring It On
On May 4, Run It Back returns to the Paradise Theatre with a special pre-Festival screening of Bring It On. But that’s not all—join our Festival programming team ahead of the screening for a thorough rundown of what we’ve got planned for this year’s Festival. This is not a democracy, it’s a cheerocracy, so we insist you get your tickets now!
This screening of Bring It On is supported by our community partners Her Game Toronto and QueerJocksTO.