OutTV original series Novelette is Trying will make its world premiere at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) in September.

VQFF unveiled a preview of its lineup for 2024, which will include 97 titles overall from 25 countries. The event is organized by non-profit organization Out On Screen.

Novelette is Trying (10 x 10 minutes) has been selected as a Special Presentation in VQFF’s Episodic Program, with the first five episodes set to screen during the event.

The series is billed as the first Vancouver Black queer web series, and is created by writer-director Giselle Miller of Vancouver’s Orange Rose Productions. It follows a socially awkward Black woman whose quirky roommate tries to help her find connections in the outside world.

The comedy is produced by Nancy Q and was funded by the Canada Media Fund, the Independent Production Fund, Creative BC, the Bell Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, according to the series’ website. It was commissioned by Vancouver-headquartered OutTV for its streaming slate.

VQFF will open with Closer, a collection of short films about the diverse queer community. The Festival will close with the Canadian premiere of Amrou Al-Kadhi’s British romance film Layla, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and sees a Palestinian drag queen falling in love with an advertising executive.

Another Canadian film set for VQFF is Regan Latimer’s documentary Bulletproof: A Lesbian’s Guide to Surviving the Plot, a documentary exploring the narrative trope of killing off gay characters in films and series. The doc will have its B.C. premiere at VQFF after debuting at Toronto’s Inside Out film festival in June.

The full lineup for VQFF will be announced on Aug. 12.

VQFF runs from Sept. 11 to 22.

Image courtesy of VQFF