Overview
A Signature Event For Durham
About the Festival
The OutSouth Queer Film Festival is the second largest LGBTQ+ film festival in the Southeast, attracting thousands of patrons to downtown Durham every year since 1995.
Festival History
Since beginning in 1995 as QFest and running from 1996-2019 as the North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival, this event has always featured a diverse array of shorts, documentaries and feature films. Discover Durham named this festival a Signature Event for Durham, the highest honor bestowed on a cultural event or attraction by the organization.
Festival Mission
OutSouth Queer Film Festival celebrates a worldwide glimpse of today’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer life, helps bring the community together and features entertaining and sophisticated films and filmmaking.
Film Submissions
The submission window for the inaugural OutSouth Queer Film Festival is now closed.
Tickets
Your Passport To The Festival
Individual Tickets
Individual film tickets cost $12 and are on sale now. Individual tickets are available online ONLY.
All Access Passes
All Access Passes, enabling the pass-holder to see all 11 film programs for $90, are on sale now. All Access Passes are available online ONLY.
Tickets and All Access Passes purchased online include additional fees and taxes.
Purchasers will have 72 hours to watch films after buying them. Films purchased in advance of the film festival will unlock for viewing on November 13.
No tickets or passes will be sold through the Carolina Theatre Box Office. This is a virtual festival.
Support
Be a Part of the Festival’s Success
Each year our corporate sponsors, individual donors, local businesses and volunteers come together to make the OutSouth Queer Film Festival a celebrated home for LGBTQ+ filmmakers.
Thanks to our supporters’ time, energy and financial support, the festival has grown into a yearly commemoration of today’s LGBTQ+ community.

View OutSouth Queer Film Festival donation page.
Individual Donors
Over the years, many friends of the Festival have supported our efforts while also receiving fun benefits. Any contribution is appreciated. See the perks of giving more, with the various donor levels below.
Corporate Sponsors
The Carolina Theatre would like to extend a special thanks to all of our sponsors, without whom we would not be able to present the OutSouth Queer Film Festival. Exposure to thousands of audience members brings a host of benefits. If you are interested in being a 2021 sponsor or have questions, please email or call Carolina Theatre Development Manager Audrey Shore audrey@carolinatheatre.org or (919) 560-3033.
2020 Festival Sponsors
Business Partners
Local businesses that want to show off their Durham pride can participate at more accessible levels of support with benefits of visibility to the thousands of Festival-goers.
- The Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill
- Adam and Eve
Volunteer
Volunteers Make The Difference
The Carolina Theatre could not present the OutSouth Queer Film Festival without the steadfast support of our volunteer committees and the volunteers that staff the festival each year.
To volunteer, please register to become a Durham Wayfinder, then sign up for the team “NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.”
Register to Volunteer