Manchester’s LGBTQ+ Film and TV Festival returns this Summer, running from 20th to 27th August, with a week-long programme of screenings, panels, parties and bold queer storytelling across the city as part of the new Manchester Village Pride Fringe.
As an official Fringe partner, SCENE is proud to support Manchester Village Pride, the community interest company leading the city’s Pride celebrations in 2026, with profits from event and screening ticket sales donated to the CIC to support five LGBTQ+ charities across the city – George House Trust, Albert Kennedy Trust, The Proud Trust, LGBT Foundation and Sparkle.
Gary Williams, Head of Events at CityCo (producers of SCENE Festival), says:
“We’re thrilled to be back for a third annual edition of SCENE, which has been such a hit with audiences and has firmly embedded itself as a mainstay of the cultural calendar. Last year we doubled our festival attendance and we’re excited to invite a melting pot of people from Manchester and across the UK and
beyond to come and take a walk in the shoes of our community through powerful storytelling. SCENE 2026 will be a mix of exclusive screenings of new work by top LGBTQ filmmakers and TV hits of the year plus celebrations of classic queer movies and telly, panels and parties and we’re so excited to be working alongside Manchester Village Pride as part of a reborn Pride. The new community run festival with a focus on fundraising for LGBTQ charities is so exciting. Add in a 12 day cultural fringe with a world class film and TV festival as its keystone event and it all means Manchester’s Pride celebrations this August are totally unique and totally unmissable.”
Andrew Underwood, Manchester Village Pride Volunteer and Board Member says: “We are delighted to work with SCENE as one of our fringe partners. Working together to create a citywide celebration highlighting our stories and ensuring our creatives have a platform of LGBTQ+ events culminating with the village festival.”
SCENE 2026 will continue to celebrate rising and established queer talent from across the globe, while showcasing Manchester’s vibrant queer stories on screen. The festival returns to iconic venues across the city – including Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, New Century Hall, HOME Cinema, CULTPLEX and Manchester’s Gay Village – with a week of co-programmed events as part of the Manchester Village Pride Fringe.
Ticket profits – including 25% of booking fees from ticketing partner Skiddle – will be donated to Manchester Village Pride’s local charities, supporting LGBTQ+ communities and projects across the city. As always, accessibility and inclusivity are at the heart of the event, with many tickets available for £5 and some events offered for free. For festival attendees looking to make an extended visit, a range of exclusive hotel offers, and packages will be available from participating city centre hotels throughout the duration of the festival.
Highlights from the 2025 edition of SCENE included a vibrant mix of screenings paired with in conversation events, bringing audiences closer to the creatives behind their screen favourites – from Neil Ely’s raw and honest Departures to the BBC breakout hit What It Feels Like for a Girl, alongside nostalgic retrospectives such as Jonathan Harvey’s moving Beautiful Thing (1994), a 10-year anniversary celebration of Channel 4’s iconic comedy Cucumber (2015) with Russell T Davies, and the Macauley Culkin cult classic Party Monster (2003) with the creators of RuPaul’s Drag Race Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
Beyond the screen, the festival delivered standout live moments including Channel 4’s An Altogether Different Comedy Night and the gloriously irreverent Victoria Wood-A-Thon, celebrating queer culture through drag, performance, and nostalgia. The wider programme featured a rich mix of events including
a special 30th anniversary showing of Showgirls (1995), and a moving tribute to Meredith Monk with a screening of Monk in Pieces alongside a live performance from the renowned Manchester Camerata.
Last year’s event also saw the return of the fan-favourite First Street outdoor screen, which embraced a “Musicals” theme, offering free screenings of beloved classics including The Wizard of Oz, Mean Girls and Wicked. In venues across the city, the festival highlighted the richness and diversity of LGBTQ+ storytelling, bringing together community, creativity and celebration in all its forms.
Stay tuned for programming announcements in the coming months.
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SCENE Festival 2026: Manchester’s Queer Screen Celebration is Back
