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for the Event Submission – Pride 2025 page.

Nextfest 2025

Roxy Theatre 10708 124 St NW, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Looking for a unique experience that will make you say “wow!” Nextfest is the festival for you.

Nextfest is a multi-disciplinary arts festival in Edmonton put on at The Roxy Theatre (10708 124 St). Over the eleven days of the festival, Nextfest showcases the work of emerging performing, dance, film, music, and visual artists. Nextfest has more than forty different events, performances, galleries, workshops, mentorship opportunities, and infamous Nite Clubs for you to enjoy. Your next ‘best experience ever’ is waiting for you, take a chance on Nextfest!

Join in on the best fest on this side of summer by embracing the experimental with us and uplifting new works. Take a risk on an experience, make some friends, and see creations that come straight from the minds of the next generation. Many of the artists taking part in nextfest are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and several of our events present 2SLGBTQIA+ stories such as:

Parody of a Person on Friday, June 13 at 4:00 pm - a theatre progress showing of a musical day-in-the-life satire about gender roles, identity, and the high price of meeting expectations. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll suddenly ask yourself why you're rooting for murder

JINXXX on Friday, June 13 at 9:30 pm - an 18+ queer nite club that will invite attendees to don their most cursed attire to brush elbows with lady luck and indulge in music, performance, and art. Subvert your superstitions with immersive installations, roving entertainment, and a main stage showcase in the Nancy Power Theatre, before dancing your demons away with a midnight DJ set!

The Puppet Master: Burlesque, Drag, Puppetry and Live Music on Wednesday, June 11 at 8:00 pm

$15.00

Queer Stories Film Festival: Close to You

Stanley A. Milner Library 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Join us as we explore films that highlight the vibrant stories, voices, and visions of the LGBTQ2 community.

In this installment, we will be screening Close to You:

A man returns home for the first time in years, forcing him to confront a distant relationship with his family who is struggling to accept his transition, while also rekindling a connection with a former love.

Directed by Dominic Savage, starring Elliot Page

Year: 2023
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: R

Free

The Gay Straight Jacket Screening

Metro Cinema 8712 109 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The Gay Straight Jacket
Canada 1981, 28 min, Dir: CBC Edmonton

THE GAY STRAIGHT JACKET is a 1981 CBC Edmonton television special that provides an unprecedented look at the city’s gay and lesbian communities at a time of heightened visibility and vulnerability following the Pisces Health Spa bathhouse raid. Through candid interviews with gay and lesbian Edmontonians, religious leaders, and community members, the documentary offers a multifaceted view of the social and political climate of the early 1980s. It features rare footage from iconic spaces such as The Roost (1977-2007) and Flashback II (1977-1989) and includes a striking segment on cruising culture near Bellamy Hill. The film captures a pivotal era in Edmonton’s gay and lesbian history, preserving voices and spaces that shaped a generation of local activism and community life.

This is a special Pride Month screening of THE GAY STRAIGHT JACKET, featuring a curated introduction, a panel discussion with local historians and activists, and a public Q&A. This one-night-only event is more than a film screening—it is a community gathering aimed at fostering intergenerational dialogue about the past and future of queer life in Edmonton. Presented in partnership with Rainbow Story Hub, the evening will also serve as a fundraiser for the organization’s work preserving and sharing 2SLGBTQ+ histories through digital storytelling and public education.

$14.00

Queer Stories Film Festival: Pride vs. Prejudice

Stanley A. Milner Library 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

oin us as we explore films that highlight the vibrant stories, voices, and visions of the LGBTQ2 community.

In this installment, we will be screening Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story (2024):

Delwin Vriend never wanted to be a human rights activist, but in challenging his firing for being gay, he set in motion a chain of events that impacted the lives of LGBTQ+ people — not just in Alberta, not just in Canada, but around the globe (dir. Darrin Hagen).

Senator Kristopher Wells (Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth, MacEwan University) will provide a special introduction to the film.

Immediately following the screening, there will be a special discussion on: "The history of the queer rights movement in Edmonton as reflected on film". 

Moderated by Senator Paula Simons, panelists will include:

Michael Phair (founder of the AIDS Network of Edmonton, Past Chair of the Board of Governors, University of Alberta, and the first openly gay elected politician in Alberta

The Honourable Justice J.C. Lloyd (Alberta Court of Justice, Edmonton Family and Youth; and one of the first openly LGBTQ2S+ judges in the Alberta Court of Justice)

Murray Billett (Diversity Advisor for the RCMP, LGBTQ2S+ advocate and human rights activist)

This event is presented in partnership with the Edmonton Queer History Project, Edmonton Community Foundation and the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

Free

Queer Stories Film Festival: Flashback

Stanley A. Milner Library 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Join us as we explore films that highlight the vibrant stories, voices, and visions of the LGBTQ2 community.

In this installment, we will be screening the documentary Flashback (2024):

Flashback is the story of the Studio 54 of the Prairies, a venue that owner John Reid vowed would be a safe place for ‘gay people and their friends.’ Located in a conservative northern Canadian city often hostile to queer people, Flashback became a sensation on the international club circuit despite police raids, threats of violence and the scourge of AIDS.

Directed by Peter Hays
Year: 2024
Runtime: 100 minutes

Free

Pride Day at the AGA

Art Gallery of Alberta Sir Winston Churchill Square NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Visit us during our free admission hours (which occur the last Thursday of every month) and express yourself through art, community connections and crafting.

This year, we are hosting a cozy and comfortable space for everyone looking to indulge in a little creativity. We’ll have self-guided tours, a drop-in session with local artist, Allison Tunis, a DIY craft creation area and a film screening at 7pm. Bring your own crafts to work on or use our supplies to create something that showcases your true colours.

About the programs:
Traumatic Times Drop-In Poster Printing with Allison Tunis 
4-5:30pm
Join local artist and community arts facilitator Allison Tunis (she/they) for a drop-in session to customize and screen print your own 8x10” poster. The poster aligns with the artists’ Pocket Toolkit for Traumatic Times series and will feature a new Pride-themed design outlining the therapeutic technique of bilateral stimulation. Posters can be printed with a choice of two colours of ink and on your choice of coloured cardstock. Expected time commitment is approximately 10 minutes per participant and prints will be available to take home. All experience and ability levels welcomed. Registration not required, time will be allotted on a first come, first served basis.

A DIY Cozy Craft Creation
4-7pm
Have some crafts laying around you’ve been hoping to work on eventually? Or a project you have in mind but don’t have the supplies on hand?

Join us for in our DIY Cozy Craft Creation! Some soft seating, tables, art supplies and good company will be waiting for you.

If you need to stretch your legs, explore the exhibitions currently on display in the gallery!

What a perfect way to celebrate Pride with your chosen family and express yourselves together.

Film Screening: National Anthem
7pm
Rated R
Duration: 99 minutes
This film, from 2023, is a refreshing look at modern queer culture with a country twist!

About the film:
Following a 21-year-old construction worker in New Mexico who joins a community of queer rodeo performers, this film explores the concept of the American Dream and queer culture.

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