Grove and Pines Film Festival

Grove and Pines Film Festival The Grove & Pines Film Festival honors Fire Island’s legacy as a queer refuge, elevating LGBTQ+ stories. Proud to be a 501(c)(3) Non Profit

We’re excited to bring your stories and connect our communities.

06/04/2026

Donna Deitch’s “Desert Hearts” is a tender and refreshing love story that follows Vivian, a New York professor who travels to Reno in 1959 seeking a quick divorce. There she meets Cay, a charismatic artist who changes Vivian’s life in a multitude of unexpected ways.

The film is commonly regarded as one of the first mainstream positive portrayals of a le***an relationship, moving away from the “bury your g**s trope” and instead offering its characters a hopeful ending. The film was produced entirely independently and on a microbudget, a feat almost entirely unheard of for a project spearheaded by a woman director.

“Desert Hearts” is available for streaming on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel

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Matt Flanders is a director, producer, and writer whose work spans independent film and major Hollywood productions.His ...
06/04/2026

Matt Flanders is a director, producer, and writer whose work spans independent film and major Hollywood productions.

His credits include the Brad Pitt-led blockbuster World War Z, the global hit Eat Pray Love, and Ted K, the psychological drama starring Sharlto Copley as Ted Kaczynski. Most recently, Matt directed, co-wrote, and produced the romantic dramedy How to Date Again, which premiered at the 2026 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Narrative.

With one foot in independent cinema and the other in large-scale studio filmmaking, Matt brings a thoughtful eye and deep storytelling expertise to this year's judging panel. We're thrilled to have him helping champion the films and filmmakers that will define the first Grove & Pines Film Festival.



06/04/2026

On this day in 2022, Fire Island premiered on Hulu.

Set and partially filmed on the real Fire Island, the movie introduced millions of viewers to a place that has long held a special place in LGBTQ+ history and culture. More than a romantic comedy, it captured the friendships, rituals, humor, and chosen family that define life on the island.

Written by and starring Joel Kim Booster and directed by Andrew Ahn, Fire Island was a rare studio-backed rom-com centered on q***r men of color, told without translating itself for a straight audience.
For many viewers, it was their first introduction to Fire Island Pines. For others, it felt like seeing a place they loved reflected on screen.

Fun fact: the project originally began as a comedy series developed for Quibi before evolving into the feature film that brought Fire Island to the mainstream.



Today, on what would have been his birthday, we're remembering Sal Piro.A legendary figure in Rocky Horror history, Sal ...
06/02/2026

Today, on what would have been his birthday, we're remembering Sal Piro.

A legendary figure in Rocky Horror history, Sal helped create the audience participation traditions that transformed The Rocky Horror Picture Show from a midnight movie into a worldwide cultural phenomenon. As founder and longtime president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, he spent decades building community, championing q***r expression, and inspiring generations of fans.

A beloved member of the Cherry Grove community, Sal's legacy lives on wherever audiences gather to celebrate film, creativity, and the freedom to be themselves.

Happy heavenly birthday, Sal.

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06/01/2026

On this day in 1994, Wild Reeds premiered at Cannes.

More than three decades later, André Téchiné’s coming-of-age masterpiece remains one of the defining works of q***r cinema. Set during the Algerian War, the film explores friendship, desire, politics, and identity with a level of honesty and emotional complexity that still feels remarkably modern.

At a time when LGBTQ+ characters were often marginalized or simplified on screen, Wild Reeds offered something different: nuanced, fully realized people navigating the uncertainties of adolescence and self-discovery.

As we celebrate Pride Month, we’re reflecting on the films that expanded what q***r storytelling could be and helped shape the generations of filmmakers who followed.

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Happy Pride Month from the Grove & Pines Film Festival!Fire Island's story isn't told only through photographs, films, a...
06/01/2026

Happy Pride Month from the Grove & Pines Film Festival!

Fire Island's story isn't told only through photographs, films, and archives. It's also told through the traditions that bring people together year after year — from celebrations and fundraisers to parades, gatherings, and acts of resistance.

As we celebrate Pride, we're honoring some of the events that help make Fire Island one of the most important LGBTQ+ communities in the world.

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

05/31/2026

On May 30, 1997, Happy Together opened in Hong Kong. Two weeks earlier, it had won Best Director at Cannes. Wong Kar-wai had raced to finish it, knowing Hong Kong’s handover to China would make a film like this impossible to produce.

The story is simple on the surface: two men from Hong Kong, adrift in Buenos Aires, loving each other badly. What Wong built underneath is something harder to name, the particular grief of people who can’t go home, and aren’t sure they ever had one.

Nearly 30 years later, it holds. A q***r landmark that is noted as one of the most honest films ever made about how love and longing survive, even when the relationship doesn’t.

Don’t miss the ferry, filmmakers. Last Call!Submissions close tomorrow, May 31. Best Narrative, Best Documentary, Best H...
05/30/2026

Don’t miss the ferry, filmmakers.
Last Call!

Submissions close tomorrow, May 31.

Best Narrative, Best Documentary, Best Horror Short, Best Music, Best Episodic, and Best of Local Fire Island are all waiting for your work.
Submit via the FilmFreeway link in our bio.

05/28/2026

Tomorrow is Laverne Cox’s birthday, time to celebrate this trailblazing woman!

The salon scene from the final season of Orange Is the New Black is one of the most quietly perfect moments in the series: Sophia, freshly out, scissors in hand, telling Piper she’s not looking back. It’s warm and completely her.

Laverne was the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy in an acting category. She’s also an Emmy-winning producer, a documentarian, and one of the most important voices in LGBTQ advocacy of the past decade. That combination of talent and purpose is exactly the kind of work this festival exists to celebrate.

Happy birthday Laverne! 🧡🥳



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Behind every great festival is a group of people with taste, perspective, and a deep love for storytelling.Sheena Oglesb...
05/28/2026

Behind every great festival is a group of people with taste, perspective, and a deep love for storytelling.

Sheena Oglesby, Tyler Cunningham, Zak Sommerfield, and Zakiya Cook are four of the many creatives helping us build Grove & Pines from the ground up — bringing their voices, experiences, and passion for q***r storytelling to our inaugural year on Fire Island.

We can’t wait for you to see what they help discover.


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New York, NY

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https://filmfreeway.com/GroveandPinesFilmFestival, http://www.groveandpines

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