About us

The Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Pink Apple was founded in 1997 by a handful of film enthusiasts in Frauenfeld in the Canton of Thurgau. Thurgau, the Swiss ”Apple Canton“, was the reason for its naming. Initially its aim was to promote the emancipation and acceptance of homosexuality in the provinces on the basis of a cultural activity. The festival was first held in 1998, showing ten films to a large crowd in the tiny Cinema Luna in Frauenfeld.

Pink Apple landed in Zurich in the wake of the lesbian and gay Eurogames held there in the year 2000. The programme - with seven performances of seven films in the Arthouse Movie Cinema - was very successful right from the start. Since then the festival has been growing continuously, and its focal point now lies in the big city, thanks to the great public encouragement and increasing demand for an annual gay and lesbian film programme.

The opening of Pink Apple took place in Zurich for the first time in 2003. 50 short and long films were shown in approximately 40 performances, mainly Swiss premieres.

In the meantime, Pink Apple has become the largest lesbian and gay film festival in Switzerland. In 2013 94 films from 27 different countries were shown in 85 performances and over 30 film makers presented their work at the festival.

In early days, about 500 admissions were sold, but in 2013 almost twenty as many individuals visited both festivals in Zurich and Frauenfeld – about 9500. Nevertheless, the festival still takes place in its birthplace Frauenfeld, too, where a selected programme is shown.

Apart from fulfilling a socio-political function, Pink Apple has recently been offering events in a filmaesthetical context. This fringe programme with panels, lectures and discussions  also attracts  large audiences.

Pink Apple is based on a society and is an independent project.