KCL Strand Film Festival: Queerkamp + Q&A

The 9th KCL Strand Film Festival is proud to screen Queerkamp (Chris Westerndorp and Lucas van der Rhee, 2024) - an empathetic, intimate, and powerful documentary in which we follow four queer youths at a crucial moment in their development: a step toward forming friendships, often for the first time in their lives - followed by a Q&A with one of the film's co-directors, Lucas van der Rhee.

Queerkamp follows the participants of a queer summer camp for youngsters from the moment they head to the camp until their farewell a week later. Through intense group discussions and confronting workshops, the teenagers get to know each other - and, most importantly, themselves - better. This openness stirs up many emotions, and the participants turn out to be a tremendous support for each other: they understand each other like no one else can.

An intimate film about the friendships that can form when young people are honest and open with each other and can truly be themselves, Queerkamp comes at a time when the LGBTQ+ community is increasingly under pressure worldwide, with van der Rhee and Westendorp seeking to create an antidote against the growing hatred by making a film that focuses on empathy and understanding. 

The screening will be followed by a discussion with one of the film's co-directors, Lucas van der Rhee, where further issues around the production of such documentary, LGBTQ+ coming-of-age films and their experiences with the young queer campers can be highlighted, as well as a Q&A where attendees can ask the directors questions and share their impressions.

"Especially for those who are not queer, Queerkamp...is an educational viewing experience – it allows the viewer to see the world through queer eyes for an hour." – NRC

The KCL Strand Film Festival (25 March - 1 April 2026) is curated by students on the Film Festivals and Film Festival Studies module in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London.