The GAZE International LGBTQ+ Film Festival will return to Dublin this year with 11 feature films and 35 short films set to have their Irish premieres at the event.

Highlights of the 29th edition of the festival, The Novice, Rebel Dykes and No Straight Lines (Seen Above), are among the pieces set to spark enjoyment from fans.

"We are delighted to be returning to cinemas this year with the same high quality, engaging, and entertaining programme that our audience has come to expect from GAZE," said chairperson Eimhin Walsh.

"The last 18 months have been particularly challenging for the arts sector in Ireland and I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our staff, our voluntary board, our funders and supporters, who have kept the wheels turning to make the 29th GAZE happen".

Some events will be available remotely from [email protected], to allow for a fully inclusive film festival.

Listings and tickets for some highlights of the festival have already been announced:

THE NOVICE - 20:00/20:10, Wednesday 29 September, IFI

"Fresh from an award-winning run at the TriBeCa film festival, Lauren Hadaway’s accomplished debut The Novice will make its Irish premiere at the Festival. Asking at what point human drive becomes a dangerous psychological game, The Novice takes the familiar queer story of self-determination and personal strength and dashes it with the psychological-thriller and flecks of horror.  Alex is a young queer college student driven to make it onto her university’s rowing team. Classes, parties, love interests, and even her own state of mind come second to her pursuit of athletic perfection, as those around her powerlessly try to intervene. Hadaway’s cinematic story is tightly wound with a commanding performance from Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan)."

Booking - https://ifi.ie/film/gaze-the-novice/

REBEL DYKES - 20:30, Friday 1 October, Light House Cinema

"Spiky, slick and packed with punk, Rebel Dykes is an unapologetic doc that celebrates London’s lesbian scene. A city that many from across the world have called their home, London’s dyke scene was motivated by Greenham Common peace camps, a love of leather, protest and battles amongst the SM dykes and those opposed to it. What united all was a rejection of Thatcher's brand of rampant capitalism and anti-feminism, and the love of a thriving, anarchic lesbian community. This much-anticipated documentary features interviews with many rebellious dyke-identifying women who made London their own."

NO STRAIGHT LINES - 20.00/20:10, Sunday 3 October, Light House Cinema

"When it comes to queer expression, the only limits are the imagination. In 1980 the first issue of Gay Comix took that expression to whole new levels. No Straight Lines charts the rise of five pioneers of LGBTQ+ comics – Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Jennifer Camper, Rupert Kinnard, and Mary Wings. From Come Out Comix, Brown Bomber & The Diva, to Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For and her crossover hit Fun Home, the impact of these gay and lesbian comics is felt by the new batch of creative queers inspired by these torchbearers. Gay Comix emerged at a time when discrimination was rife, the AIDS crisis was emerging and LGBTQ+ communities were isolated. The comics artists spoke directly to a whole new world of readers."

Booking – https://lighthousecinema.ie/showing/showing-63275