"Rainbow Film Festival is a vital part of Shropshire's LGBT calendar, an opportunity to celebrate together through well selected cinematic experiences which over the week excite, humour and sadden its captive audience.

As a young LGBT person who has borne witness to the disappointing lack of confrontation to LGBT issues in the education system, Rainbow Film Festival was a unique relief to me providing an ability to talk to similar people, understand gay history and celebrate who I am.

Last year, my first at Rainbow Film Festival, I saw 3 films; C.R.A.Z.Y, a delightfully deep French-Canadian film covering the discovery of sexuality in 60s/70s Quebec with glorious soundtracks of Patsy Cline and David Bowie. Fast forwards to Wednesday's film of My Brother Nikhil, on World AIDs Day, a fitting tribute to those affected by the virus (regardless of sexuality), which brought tears and hard hitting reality to me and my friend (who happens to be straight). I ended the week with Goldfish Memory - a humorous uplifting Irish film of all types of love (gay,straight, bisexual) rounding off a week where I had experienced, for probably the first time, being somewhere I fitted in, felt safe and where being gay was just a part of who I am not what I can become."

Joe Whiter (18)

"The Rainbow Film Festival has introduced me to some compelling films that I otherwise wouldn't know existed! I have often felt that many of the films I have seen on television and in cinemas were not made to appeal to me; it wasn't until the RFF introduced me to great works like 'Beautiful thing' and 'C.R.A.Z.Y' that a film about love, and life reflected any of my experiences. In particular 'Beautiful thing' was the first "romantic" film I have seen where the feeling and passion of the characters touched me. And it's not just the great stories I have seen which have impressed me; both of the films are magnificent in their own right, with excellent soundtracks! I have come of age in a time when the films aimed at me by the film industry were shallow and utterly irrelevant, ranging only from American teenage comedies, too the long running wave of graphically sexual horror films. Due to a great lack of courage by many large and established film institutions it's up to organisations like the RFF to give people the opportunity to see something they usually wouldn't."

James