James Franco touched cinema? Yes please.

But if you need any other reasons to attend the 15th Annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival there are at least 15.

This year’s festival promises the premiere of 10 new short films celebrating Calgary’s queer history, films from around the world, the Youth Queer Media Program and a steamy night of pushing the boundaries of gay sexuality.

Fairy Tales programming director James Demers says this year’s festival will continue on the path of celebrating the diversity and strength of Calgary’s community while reflecting the rainbow that is the audience.

"For anyone who ever mixed up the name of the festival thinking it was fairy tales for kids, which we always have a bit of a chuckle about – this year is a far cry from anything Disney," Demers explains. "Much like a stereotypical 15-year-old, the festival this year features films that are hungry, curious, lippy, lusty and angry – and we think you’ll be quick to fall in love with them. It’s fun and evocative and there are definitely some steamy hot scenes."

Demers says this year’s focus is on connection and reconnection with the community and its history as the community moves forward.

"The festival is a fun and important event that brings all facets of the community together to share in a common experience over film. Fairy Tales is always looking forward to representing the voices that are underrepresented in our community. This includes the voices of comedy as well as drama, action and adventure. We look forward to sharing new films and a piece of history with our audiences."

As has been the case for several years now, the Fairy Tales Film Festival continues to grow each year both in audience and awareness, which will surely be the case again. Many probably aren’t aware that the festival began as a two-day offshoot of the Calgary Society of Independent Film Makers (CSIF) to what is now a weeklong event. But organizers are always looking for new audiences.

"We do have a loyal audience who come each year but we are always looking to meet new audiences and look for new faces," Demers says. "It keeps our film dynamic and creates a challenge each new year for our programming committee."

And even if audiences come year after year, there’s always something new for them, adds Fairy Tales operations director Kari McQueen.

"Our 15th anniversary Know Your Roots Project is really exciting this year. It highlights the people from our own community and chances are you’ll know at least one person on the big screen this year."

The "Know Your Roots Project" is a series of short films that will be shown in sections at the beginning of each feature film, paying tribute to elders and people that paved the way by creating the foundations of today’s community.

Also new this year is the fact that each night of the festival is made into its own event, which means there are six parties over seven days with "something for everyone."

Some of those events include Franco’s May 31st showing of Interior. Leather. Bar. The film is an exploration of the destroyed 40 minutes of Cruising, which originally featuring Al Pacino in 1980. The film explores gay sexuality on film that originally set Sundance on fire. The film will be followed by the festival’s Kink Party taking place in Goliath’s, opening the famed bath house to everyone for the first time in Calgary – yes, women included.

On May 25th, the Retro Film Gala presentation of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen Of the Desert will be shown in the original 35mm format with a live drag queen/burlesque show and bar in the theatre. Costumes are strongly encouraged.

And on May 30th, the Youth Queer Media Program Gala is an amazing opportunity to see work created by local youth of the community in the past year.

This year’s opening gala will be held at the Wine Bar & Brasserie in Kensington and the closing gala will be a collaborative event with the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association at the Arrata Opera Centre.

McQueen says she’s very excited to share this year’s event with the entire community.

"It’s also incredibly rewarding to receive the amazing support from our community that we do. It makes the festival so worth doing, especially when we see that we make a difference."

Most of the films will be presented at the historic Plaza Theatre in Kensington with the exception of one film that will be presented in the Hillhurst United Church. Tickets and more information can be found on their website.