50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Frameline50) Announces Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Pride Kickoff Films
Today, Frameline, the queer media nonprofit that will host the landmark 50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Frameline50) June 17–27, announced three of its major Festival screenings — including its Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Pride Kickoff films — all of which are 2026 Frameline Completion Fund grantees with deep ties to San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community and queer filmmaking legacy.
Frameline50 — the longest running queer film festival in the world and the first to reach this five-decade milestone — will open on June 17 at The Castro Theatre with Lady Champagne directed by, written by, and starring local drag legend D’Arcy Drollinger. Framed for murder and thrown into “Lady Prison,” exotic dancer Champagne White stages a grand escape using her arsenal of disguises, one-liners, and dance moves to take down a sinister perfume empire in this outrageous “dragsploitation” slapstick comedy, filmed entirely in San Francisco. The riotous sequel to Drollinger’s Shit & Champagne (2020) will make its West Coast Premiere, co-stars Matthew Martin, and features iconic drag performers like Alaska Thunderfuck, Varla Jean Merman, Jackie Beat, Peaches Christ, and Nicki Jizz, among others.
On June 25 at The Castro Theatre, Frameline50 will screen Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning Barbara Forever — an archive-rich documentary that honors the life, work, and legacy of pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer. Known for experimental works like Dyketactics (1974), Nitrate Kisses (1992), and A Horse Is Not a Metaphor (2008), Hammer not only screened her films at Frameline, but was the recipient of the Frameline Award in 2000. Frameline50 will host the San Francisco Bay Area Premiere of O’Connor’s documentary.
This year’s Pride Kickoff film, which screens on June 26 at The Castro Theatre and ushers Festival-goers into San Francisco’s Pride Weekend, is Jennifer M. Kroot’s Hunky Jesus. Narrated by George Takei and featuring Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany, Kroot’s latest documentary chronicles the history and lasting impact of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, San Francisco’s beloved and satirical drag nuns who host the film’s titular competition every Easter Sunday. Kroot’s film will have its US Premiere at Frameline50.
“San Francisco doesn’t just watch films, we make them, break them open, and remake them in our own image. These three films are San Francisco stories about the artists, the activists, the drag queens, the dykes and the queers who built this city’s culture and dared to put it on screen,” said Allegra Madsen, Frameline’s Executive Director. “That Frameline gets to open its 50th year with them, at the Castro, feels less like coincidence and more like destiny. Fifty years in, Frameline is still history in the making.”
Since 1977, Frameline’s mission has been to change the world through the power of queer cinema. As a media arts nonprofit, Frameline’s integrated programs connect filmmakers and audiences in San Francisco and around the globe. Frameline provides critical funding and artist support for emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers, reaches hundreds of thousands with a collection of over 300 films distributed worldwide, and creates an international stage for the world’s best LGBTQ+ film through the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival and additional year-round screenings and cinematic events.
In addition to celebrating San Francisco on screen, Frameline will be opening a Festival Hub on May 14 at the iconic Hamburger Mary’s in the city’s Castro district, underscoring the Festival’s return to the historic gay neighborhood. “For many queer people worldwide, the Castro holds a special significance — a first visit to the neighborhood is a right of passage in some ways — so it’s incredibly meaningful for Frameline to be rooted here for our fiftieth,” Madsen added. The Frameline50 Box Office will be open at Hamburger Mary’s from May 14–June 14, Thursday through Sunday ONLY; the Festival Hub will be open at the same location from June 18–26 during select hours to be announced on May 13.
The full Frameline50 program will be announced on May 13. Tickets for all programs will also go on sale at this time. Frameline50 will run June 17–27 in venues in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland.
OPENING NIGHT
Lady Champagne
Dir. D’Arcy Drollinger 2026 USA 95 min
Starring, written, and directed by San Francisco’s own D’Arcy Drollinger, this riotous sequel to Shit & Champagne sees its titular dancing queen framed for her husband’s murder, leading to even more madcap hijinks.
CENTERPIECE
Barbara Forever
Dir. Brydie O’Connor 2025 USA 102 min
Beautifully intimate and exquisitely edited, Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning portrait of pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer is a singular ode to one of queer cinema’s great visual poets.
PRIDE KICKOFF
Hunky Jesus
Dir. Jennifer M. Kroot 2026 USA 85 min
Jennifer M. Kroot’s latest documentary blends the activism, radical resistance, and hilarity of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from their beginnings to the present.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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