Image+Nation (I+N), Canada’s original Queer film festival, will hold its 39th edition from November 19 to 29 under the guise of LGBT2SQueer Montreal.
On the heels of last year’s successful premiere of the worldwide smash hit Crave series Heated Rivalry at I+N, the festival will feature two events that will highlight two new Crave series. On November 21 at the SGW Alumni Auditorium of Concordia University, the festival will stage a preview screening of four episodes of Crave’s upcoming queer skateboarding series Degage.
The screenings will also have members of the show’s creators, cast and production team present, who will offer up close and personal behind the scenes stories of the making of Degage.The following day (November 22) at Concordia’s J.A. De Seve cinema, the focus will be on the Crave mockumentary series Slo Pitch, which spotlights queer beer league sports, in particular a perennial losing all-female softball team. The screenings will be accompanied by live commentary from stars Jess Salgueiro, Karen Knox and Gwenlyn Cumyn (the latter two also serve as the series’ co-creators and showrunners) and director J. Stevens.
I+N will also mark its first endeavour into the world of VR with the Lesbian Simulator VR experience, which won the Innovation Hub Audience Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Created by Dutch digital artist and filmmaker Iris van der Meule, Lesbian Simulator is both a film and a game that focuses on the different aspects of lesbian life, such as coming out, first dates and discrmination. It is offered in both English and French versions.
Other highlights at this year’s I+N include a packed short films line-up with such themed programs like Indigiqueer Voices, Queerment Quebec, Made au Canada and Docuqueer; the second annual La Soiree Etudiante, which attracts a number of emerging queer and feminist artists who represent the next generation of filmmakers for a night of networking and exhibition; and Soiree Kino Queer, which showcases the works of the KINO movement from a diverse list of countries and regions such as France, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Germany and Quebec.
Ticket prices are $15 (single admission regular ticket), $13 (single admission for those under 30 and over 65 years of age), $75 (six single admission tickets), $10 (single admission virtual ticket). As well there are two kinds of passes that are also available for purchase: $100 (online all access pass) and $225 (all access hybrid pass).
For more information about the festival, go to image-nation.org. To purchase tickets and/or passes, go to www.image-nation.org/festival-2026/en/tickets-and-venues.
