Categories and Prizes

Queer Lisboa Competition

COMPETITION FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
Prize Best Film: 1.000 € (sponsored by Levi's)
Selection of 8 feature length fictions produced in the same or previous year of the Festival. Works that combine cinematic quality with solid and pertinent narratives. The selection of films for this section considers themes of specific interest to the festivals' general audience, at the same time as it must form a cohesive and representative set of queer cinematography at a global level produced in the year of the festival in question and that immediately preceding it. It is essential that this section allows Portuguese spectators to have access to the most relevant titles or this genre, in terms of international circuit.

COMPETITION FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY
Prize Best Documentary: 3.000 € (sponsored by RTP2, for the audiovisual rights acquisition)
Selection of 8 feature length documentaries produced in the same or previous year of the Festival. The feature Documentary Competition is intended to represent the formal diversity and inventiveness that this genre has achieved today. Once again, it is important to reconcile the specific thematic interests of the festival's general public, with the discovery and understanding of new, lesser-known realities, through works that cinematically challenge the language of documentary.

COMPETITION FOR BEST SHORT FILM
Prize Best Film: 500 € (sponsored by Contranatura)
Selection of up to 22 shorts produced in the same or previous year of the Festival. Largely due to its accessibility, allowing that with minimal equipment and means, a filmmaker can shoot a film, we witness an increasing production of fiction and documentary, animation, or experimental short films, with a growing quality. Eclecticism should be the premise for the selection of these works in competition, namely promoting debut films.

COMPETITION "IN MY SHORTS" FOR BEST EUROPEAN SCHOOL SHORT FILM
Prize Best Film: 500 €
Selection of a maximum of 15 short films directed in the curricular context of an European Film School and produced in the same or previous year of the Festival. Inaugurated in 2013, the “In My Shorts” Competition is dedicated to films produced in European film schools. With the presence of film students in Lisbon, this section's main goals are to promote the films in competition nationally and internationally, to stimulate contact between students and Portuguese and international artists, and to offer the opportunity for young filmmakers to present their films in a public context. Some film schools that have previously participated in this section of Queer Lisboa were the Faculty of Fine Arts (Lisbon), the Escola Superior de Teatro and Cinema (Lisbon), the Universidade Lusófona (Lisbon) and the Escola Superior de Arte e Design de Caldas da Rainha.

COMPETITION QUEER ART
Prize Best Film: 500 € (sponsored by Variações)
A section where film meets the visual arts, a showcase of recent films which explore the limits of cinematic languages, genres, and narratives. Launched in 2008, the Queer Art section became a Competition in 2015, in partnership with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. This section aims do program recent film productions that explore the limits of languages, genres, and cinematographic narratives, in which the most transgressive aspects of queer culture are visible. Queer Art also might curate special out-of-competition screenings and installations.

Queer Porto Competition

OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Prize Best Film: 3.000 € (sponsored by RTP2, for the audiovisual rights acquisition)
Selection of up to 10 feature length fictions and documentaries produced in the same or previous year of the Festival. Works that establish a dialogue between fiction, documentary and docu-fiction, under the stake of cinematic quality and relevant queer narratives. It is essential that this section allows viewers to have access to the most relevant titles of this film genre, in terms of international circuit, with a clear commitment to geographical diversity.

"CASA COMUM" AWARD
Prize Best Film: 500 € (sponsored by Reitoria da Universidade do Porto)
Selection of a minimum of 6 Portuguese short films, produced in the previous year or in year the Festival is celebrated. The competition is evaluated by a jury formed by three elements and designated by the Reitoria da Universidade do Porto. Inaugurated in 2021, in partnership with the Reitoria da Universidade do Porto, and sponsored by this same institution, Queer Porto dedicates a competition exclusively to queer themed Portuguese short films. This award results, on the one hand, of an increasing production in Portugal of films dedicated to this theme and, on the other hand, of a need to promote these works for the Porto audience.

Out of Competition

OPENING AND CLOSING FILMS
Two feature films, fiction or documentary, more commercially oriented and of a more general interest, to be presented at the opening and closing ceremonies of Queer Lisboa and Queer Porto.

PANORAMA
A showcase of feature-length fiction or documentary films, out of competition, which, due to their aesthetic, thematic and narrative relevance, the programming team consider to be worthy of prominence. These are either larger-budget productions, DIY community-based films, or films within a specific theme. This section may also include national avant-premieres. These films are often accompanied by conversations and debates with various guests.

QUEER FOCUS
A section that each year addresses a relevant theme, country or filmography, of great relevance in relation to the current social and political situation, also following new trends in film and queer culture in the most diverse geographical areas.

RETROSPECTIVES
In collaboration with Cinemateca Portuguesa, and in the spirit of curatorial research, Queer Lisboa organizes each year a program dedicated to a relevant filmmaker in film history or dedicated to a specific aesthetic movement.

HARD NIGHTS
Recent productions and vintage films of a marginal and independent nature, or films of a more experimental and DIY nature, exploring the limits of explicit representation of sexuality.

OTHER SECTIONS
Every year, Queer Lisboa and Queer Porto organize a set of out-of-competition programs, many of which resulting from partnerships established with other cultural institutions, be them film institutes, festivals, or community groups. These sections regularly pay homage to different events and include a set of parallel activities with the presence of international guests. These sections regularly involve the invitation to curators external to the festival team.