Frameline’s 50th LGBTQ+ Film Festival Opens at the Reopened Castro Theatre
San Francisco’s Frameline opens its 50th film festival on Wednesday, June 17, with an opening-night screening at the Castro Theatre. Frameline50, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, runs through June 27 and programs more than 140 films from 35 countries at venues in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland.
Frameline started the festival in 1977 and now runs it as a year-round nonprofit. The organization says this is the first LGBTQ+ film festival to reach a 50-year milestone. This year’s edition holds its opening and closing nights at the Castro Theatre, the first Frameline festival there since the theatre reopened from a major renovation in February 2026.
The Castro Theatre reopened in February
The Castro Theatre, at 429 Castro Street, closed for about two years for a $41 million renovation led by Berkeley concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment. It reopened on February 6, 2026, with a ribbon-cutting and a benefit screening of “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” according to the San Francisco Standard. The 1922 building is a San Francisco Designated Landmark (No. 100) and seats about 1,400. The renovation drew years of debate over Another Planet’s plan to remove the main-floor seats, which the company replaced with terraced standing room while keeping the balcony seating.
For Frameline, the result is that its marquee screenings are back on Castro Street. The festival is also running its Festival Hub and box office out of Hamburger Mary’s in the Castro, a few blocks from the theatre. More on the surrounding area is in our guide to the Castro.
Opening night and the big screenings
The festival opens June 17 at the Castro with “Lady Champagne,” a comedy written by and starring D’Arcy Drollinger and filmed in San Francisco. Frameline’s Centerpiece film is Byrdie O’Connor’s “Barbara Forever,” about filmmaker Barbara Hammer, and the Pride Kickoff film is Jennifer M. Kroot’s “Hunky Jesus.” The closing-night film screens June 27 at the Castro as a West Coast premiere.
On Friday, June 19, Frameline presents the Variety Creative Conscience Award to actor Colman Domingo, followed by an onstage conversation. On Saturday, June 20, the festival screens Alexandria Stapleton’s “The Brittney Griner Story,” a documentary about the WNBA player’s detention in Russia. The lineup also includes Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex,” Hayley Kiyoko’s directorial debut “Girls Like Girls,” and retrospective screenings of older titles including “Paris Is Burning” and the Wachowskis’ “Bound.” The full schedule is at frameline.org.
Where the screenings happen
Frameline50 uses five venues. In San Francisco: the Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street), the Roxie in the Mission, and the Vogue on Sacramento Street. Across the bay: the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in Berkeley and The New Parkway in Oakland.
How to go
Tickets and passes are on sale at frameline.org. The Festival Hub at Hamburger Mary’s in the Castro is open June 18 through 26. The Castro Theatre is a short walk from the Castro Muni Metro station at Castro and Market, where the K, L, and M lines stop and the F-line historic streetcar terminates. Street parking in the Castro is limited, especially in the evenings and over Pride weekend.