XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin 2026

In the organizer's words:

The XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin celebrates its 20th birthday and presents its biggest edition yet! The extensive anniversary program includes a retrospective, exhibitions and performances. And: XPOSED will have a completely new look in 2026 !

Twenty years ago, XPOSED began as an experimental movie night in a gay club. The idea was to show films that had no place elsewhere and to create a place where queer people could feel a sense of belonging and come into contact with each other. Two decades later, XPOSED takes place in seven Berlin cinemas and several community venues - and has remained true to its original idea.

The anniversary is not only a great reason to celebrate, but also a good opportunity to ask what has changed in the last 20 years and what has not. Queer stories have become more visible and sometimes more accessible in cinema. However, increasing representation can also go hand in hand with commercialization and blur crucial differences. Queer lifeworlds are still precarious and under threat - worldwide, including in Germany.

In this field of tension, XPOSED continues to see cinema as a place of resistance. The festival and its program invite us to remain attentive to challenging images, open narratives and the communities that form around them. XPOSED is more than just a program - it is a temporarily shared space, supported by filmmakers, contributors and audiences.

The 20th edition of XPOSED presents 15 new feature-length films and 59 new short films from all over the world. As usual, the program alternates between feature films and documentaries, genres and experimental forms, small independent productions and major festival winners.

XPOSED is taking its anniversary as an opportunity to look back on 20 years of radical curating in a retrospective. From the very beginning, the festival has opposed narrow definitions of queerness and instead specifically sought out films that question boundaries in terms of form and content. Because just as ideas of queerness change, so do the forms of queer storytelling. Two feature-length films and six short film programs will be shown at Sinema Transtopia from 21 to 24 May.

For the first time, XPOSED will also be an exhibition venue. Three exhibitions with video works and VR installations artistically reflect films and programs that have been shown at the festival over the past 20 years. The exhibition "The screen has accidentally, intentionally, been left blank" can be seen in the Aquarium am Südblock from May 21 to 31 (daily 15:00 to 21:00). XPOSED will be showing the exhibitions "Live from home" and "Follow their footsteps" in the Vierte Welt from May 21 to June 14 (Thursdays to Sundays 16:00 to 21:00).

XPOSED has also invited filmmakers and artists who have already contributed to previous editions to rethink, reinterpret or restage their cinematic works as interactive cinema performances. The performance program at Sinema Transtopia explores how queer practices infiltrate the cinema screen and transform it into a space for performance, interaction and exchange, blurring the boundaries between filmmakers, protagonists and audience.

With its third XPOSED Pop Up Campus, XPOSED is once again creating a space in which queer filmmakers can meet and exchange ideas in a very practical way. In addition to the traditional pitching session for the XPOSED Short Film Fund, the Aquarium will once again host numerous panels, including on the past and future of queer film festivals, as well as workshops, e.g. on queer animated film.

The grand finale of the festival is traditionally the presentation of the Lolly Awards. The coveted jury prizes, which are intended to support queer voices in film distribution, will be awarded on Sunday, May 31, in the Südblock. The winners of the XPOSED audience awards for feature films and short films will also be announced on the evening. The awards ceremony will be followed by the closing party with a live performance by Damiana & Enana and a DJ set by aMinus.

Price information:

Ticket prices vary from cinema to cinema. Free admission to the exhibitions.