Albania’s queer film festival is old enough now to have traditions. This year it’s breaking one of them: staying in Tirana.

The seventh Queer Film Marathon Tirana (QFMT) opened on a Sunday evening at the University of Arts, Report TV reported on September 28. It runs until October 25, with 19 films, 19 international guests, and a programme that reaches 12 cities.

What’s on

The festival is run by Open Mind Spectrum Albania (OMSA), with artistic director Arbër Kodra. Alongside the screenings, the programme includes interviews, workshops, performances and other art events, according to Report TV. The festival’s godmother this year is the singer Mira Konçi, who performed at the opening with pianist Ekland Hasa.

A few highlights from the first week:

  • QUIR, Nicola Bellucci’s documentary, screened at Cinema Agimi in Tirana on October 1, followed by a panel with guests from the Sicilia Queer Filmfest. Entry was free, per the listing on Ka’ Po Dalim.
  • Queer Industry 2026: Bridging Europe & the Balkans, a free networking morning at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Tirana on October 1, brought European festival programmers together with Albania’s film industry. It was moderated by Iris Canaj, director of the Creative Industries Agency, with Jonid Jorgji, chairman of the National Center of Cinematography, as a speaker, according to Star.study.

That second one is worth pausing on. The heads of two state cultural bodies sat on the stage of a queer film industry event in Tirana. “This event makes our society and our city brighter, with more colors,” Jorgji said at the opening, as quoted by Report TV (our translation).

The road trip is the point

It isn’t the festival’s first trip beyond the capital. Last year, at the sixth edition, Kodra told Shqiptarja.com the festival would go to 11 cities. This year it’s 11 again, plus Tirana.

Kodra was honest about why that’s hard. “We are going outside Tirana to 11 cities… a big challenge for us, because in small cities we still meet clashes,” he said at the opening (our translation from Report TV).

Why bother? Because outside the capital is where visibility is thinnest. In May, the LGBT rights group Aleanca presented its monitoring of Albania’s national LGBTI action plan, Citizens.al reported. Some municipalities told researchers they had no LGBT community at all. 83% of municipalities didn’t respond on implementing the plan. And 88% of LGBT people surveyed said they wanted to leave Albania.

A film screening in a town that says it has “no LGBT community” is a quiet way of answering that.

”Simply human stories”

Aleks Seitaj, an artist involved in the festival, described the films without any slogans: “They are simply human stories, living stories of people. Everyone suffers the same, everyone cries,” he told Report TV (our translation).

The EU ambassador to Albania, Sofia Moreira de Sousa, spoke at the opening alongside representatives of the Council of Europe, Switzerland and other institutions. “We stand unwavering in our belief in human rights for everyone. This festival is a powerful celebration of diversity,” she said, according to Report TV (our translation).

The bigger picture in Albania

Albania has had a messy, interesting 2026. It climbed two places to 24th on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map in May, and we’ve covered the backlash over hormone therapy guidelines, the final year of the LGBTI action plan, and how to report a hate crime and get support.

A festival is not a law. But it is what a community does when it decides to be seen anyway, and it’s one of the more joyful things happening in the country this autumn.

If you want to go

  • Dates: until October 25, 2026.
  • Where: Tirana plus 11 other Albanian cities. Tirana venues so far have included the University of Arts and Cinema Agimi.
  • Programme: check the festival’s website and social accounts for the latest schedule, since the full 2026 line-up hasn’t been published in one place online.
  • Tip: The two early events we found listed were free. Going with a friend is never a bad idea, especially at events outside the capital.