Out Film CT announces winners for annual Connecticut LGBTQ film festival

Still from Eva, winner of the 2026 Jury Award for Best Feature Film for the 39th Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival. Photo courtesy of The Open Reel.

Out Film CT concluded its 39th Annual Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival with a closing screening and after-party at the Connecticut Science Center in downtown Hartford. This year’s event featured a lineup of 86 films, including feature-length narratives, documentaries, and short films. Screenings took place in person at the Cinestudio theater on the Trinity College campus as well as online through a virtual encore streaming program.

The festival announced its audience ballot awards alongside the selections made by the festival jury. In the audience voting, the French and Tunisian drama In a Whisper won best feature, while the archival project We Are Pat won best documentary feature. The British film A Friend of Dorothy secured the audience award for best short film.

The festival jury chose the Honduran and Colombian film Eva as the best feature winner, citing its multidimensional portrayal of a transgender woman navigating business and family matters. Tomorrow’s Too Late was awarded best documentary by the jury, and the American short film Zari won best short film. A total of 3,500 dollars in prize money was distributed among the various award winners to help fund future cinematic projects.

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The 2026 Rising Star Award, funded by a bequest from the late volunteer Pamela Connelly to recognize emerging directors, went to William Reyes for his work on Eva. Festival Director Shane Engstrom additionally presented the annual Director’s Award to Donncha Gilmore for his film Girls & Boys. Out Film CT also selected After What Happened at the Library as its inaugural nomination for the international Iris Prize.

Out Film CT is a volunteer-led, nonprofit cultural organization that produces the annual nine-day film festival alongside a monthly Queer Thursdays film series at Cinestudio. The major sponsors for this year’s cultural event included the LGBTQ+ Justice and Opportunity Network, the Roberts Foundation for the Arts, Stepping Stone Wealth, and Webster Bank.

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Out Film CT announces winners for annual Connecticut LGBTQ film festival