3000 LESBIANS GO TO YORK
The Story Of A Queer Arts Festival
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ABOUT THE FILM
3000 Lesbians Go To York tells the extraordinary true story of how a lesbian bookseller (who also happened to be trans) created the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ women in the UK, and how from 1998 to 2008, the quietly conservative city of York became the unlikely centre of all things lesbian!
For one thrilling decade, thousands of women flocked to the York Lesbian Arts Festival (YLAF) each autumn, to meet their favourite authors, buy books, hear top female artists live on stage and dance the night away at the ‘disco of a thousand lesbians.’
Featuring interviews with world famous writers Val McDermid, Sarah Waters and Jackie Kay, and the legendary singer Horse, 3000 Lesbians Go To York is a real celebration of the historical significance of this iconic festival!
TRAILER
FESTIVAL SELECTIONS
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
10am Sunday 12th October 2025, University Of Sussex, Brighton, England, UK – The Coast Is Queer Festival: https://coastisqueer.com/event/3000-lesbians-go-to-york-film-screening-qa/
2.00pm Saturday 18th October 2025, VUE CINEMA, Cardiff, Wales, UK – IRIS Prize Festival: https://irisprize2025.eventive.org/films/68ab902412088fd56bddb878
3:45pm Sunday 2nd November 2025, MACROBERT ARTS CENTRE, Stirling, Scotland, UK – Central Scotland Documentary Film Festival: https://www.macrobertartscentre.org/shows/734427AHHGKQHGMVRTJDBGHTVSLDBJDPN
BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS
In summer 2024, we shot all over the UK – meeting authors, musicians and punters, and interviewing them about this fantastic festival.
Here are just a few snaps of our adventures.
YLAF PHOTOS
Some images from the York Lesbian Arts Festival over the years.
THE TEAM
Writer & Presenter – Jane Traies
Director – Rachel Dax
Producers – Jane Traies, Rachel Dax & Kate O’Dwyer
Editor – Bonnie Rae Brickman
Cinematographers – Victoria M. Morton & Jack Davies
Production Sound – Victoria M. Morton, Lloyd Rodd & Sophia Corns-Legg
Colourist – Jack Davies
Sound Design & Mix – David Shell
Jane Traies is a writer, researcher and story-teller who works to uncover the hidden histories of marginalised women. Her best-seller Now You See Me is a collection of older lesbian life stories: her second life-history collection, Free to Be Me, captures the stories of a group of lesbian and bisexual women seeking asylum in the UK. Writing jointly with Jacky Bratton, Jane is also half of the sapphic historical novelist Jay Taverner. Their latest title, Liberty, is the fourth adventure in the ‘Brynsquilver’ series.
The York Lesbian Arts Festival, which is the subject of Three Thousand Lesbians Go To York, holds personal significance for Jane as she was closely associated with it for several years. Originally, she appeared there as a writer, but later joined the organising committee and was for a short time the Festival Events Manager (‘FEM’ for short…).
Jane is always looking for new ways to make hidden histories heard and seen. Three Thousand Lesbians Go To York is her first film. Jane’s book by the same name was released in February 2025.
Photo Credit: Bronac McNeill
Rachel Dax is a writer, director and producer working across a range of media including film, audio-drama and LGBTQ+ fiction.
Rachel has written, produced and directed several short fiction films. Time & Again starring Dame Sian Phillips and Brigit Forsyth, was shown at over 65 film festivals and won 15 awards, and was screened four times on the BBC. Rachel’s first feature length documentary Greer Ralston – Giving It All To Art, exploring the life and work of Scottish artist Greer Ralston, was released in September 2024. It has screened at several festivals across the globe and will be broadcast on BBC Scotland in late 2025, after which it will be on BBC iPlayer for 2 years.
In 2020, Rachel published In Isolation – A Short Book Of Long Monologues which was written during lockdown. Between 2021 and 2023 she then produced and directed these monologues as audio-drama podcasts working closely with sound editors, composers and actors – including the late, great Ruth Madoc of Hi-De-Hi fame.
Rachel is the author of lesbian love story After The Night and genderqueer medieval tale The Legend Of Pope Joan (Trilogy).
Kate O’Dwyer is a fully qualified Accountant and brings over 25 years of experience in accounting and administration, having worked across a range of sectors including creative agencies and large corporations.
Her passion for film was sparked through a combination of film and production courses, and film festivals. She gained hands-on exposure to the film industry during her time as Financial Controller at a London Production Company and TV/Film Studio, managing the financials for projects spanning corporate films, TV shows, commercials, music videos, and scenes for feature films.
Kate enjoys the buzz of busy film sets, the precision of financial planning, problem-solving and collaborating with fellow creatives. She finds purpose in creating awareness of and supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Bonnie Rae Brickman is a New York-born, London-based Film+TV Editor with over twenty-five years’ experience, accumulating a diverse and extensive list of credits across documentary and narrative fiction.
Honoured with four New York Area Emmy Award Certificates during her ten years at WNET/thirteen, PBS’ flagship station in NYC, and Highly Commended at Underwire’s In The Cut: Best Editor Award for BOOTWMN, Bonnie’s work has screened on US, UK, Australian and Canadian television and at film festivals worldwide including Clermont-Ferrand, HotDocs, Open City Doc Fest, London Short Film Festival, Frameline, Outfest, and BFI Flare.
Alongside her editing work, she has taught editing and post-production at SUNY/Oswego, University of West London, and on the Ethnographic & Documentary Film MA programme at UCL.
POSTER
