The Melbourne Queer Film Festival is an annual
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...
held in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Held in November, the festival is regarded as the largest queer film event in the
Southern Hemisphere. The festival attracts around 23,000 attendees at key locations around Melbourne.
Melbourne Queer Film Festival showcases the finest, contemporary queer cinema from Australia and beyond. The 2021 festival presents over 100 sessions at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Cinema Nova and Village Cinemas, encompassing Australian and International features, documentaries and shorts, including world premieres, Australian premieres, and Melbourne premieres.
History
Melbourne Queer Film Festival sprang from the Melbourne International
Lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
&
Gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
Film Festival, which was first screened in 1991. The new Melbourne-born film festival was the initiative of
Midsumma Festival
Midsumma Festival is an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ arts and cultures, held annually for 22 days across January and February in Melbourne, Australia. The festival began as a one-week celebration of gay pride in 1989. The festival has expande ...
as an attempt to present a community-based alternative to the several gay-themed but commercially intended film festivals that came to Melbourne each year around the time of the Sydney Mardi Gras. Most of these belonged to Sydney cinema chains and lengthy seasons of successful films often followed these film seasons.
The festival's opening night film in February 1991 was ''Longtime Companion'' at the Dendy Brighton Cinemas. The film was due for its commercial release shortly later and the festival is credited as being an important factor in the film's success in Melbourne. The film festival was organised with lesbian films on every night at 6pm and gay films on 9pm. Following opening night screenings took place at the
National Theatre in St Kilda, also the home of the 1992 festival.
It was originally as part of the
Midsumma Festival
Midsumma Festival is an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ arts and cultures, held annually for 22 days across January and February in Melbourne, Australia. The festival began as a one-week celebration of gay pride in 1989. The festival has expande ...
, which had started in 1989. The Midsumma board asked filmmaker Lawrence Johnston and lesbian bar owner Pat Longmore to be the first festival co-directors. It drew good audiences and was a marked success. The 1992 Festival also screened at the
National Theatre and opened with the film adaptation of David Leavitt's novel The Lost Language of Cranes. In early 1992 the film festival took up residence at Hares & Hyenas bookshop in Commercial Road, South Yarra, which was founded by Crusader Hillis and Rowland Thomson a few months before in December 1991. The film festival was housed at the back of the bookshop until 1995. The three co-directors of the 1992 festival, rebranded the Melbourne
Lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
&
Gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
Film & Video Festival in recognition of video's increasing prominence in film at the time, were Pat Longmore, Crusader Hillis and Helen Eisler. The 1992 festival was notable for its focus on films that broke with the tradition of coming out narratives, featuring BDSM, post punk films, including by Bruce La Bruce and films by emerging filmmakers of colour. Teenage Sadie Benning was a festival guest with their short films shot on the toy Fischer-Price PXL camera. Sadie went on to develop an important career in video, installation and as the founder of the feminist post-punk band, Le Tigre. The festival made a small loss and Midsumma abandoned plans for future iterations.
With a filing cabinet of filmmaker contacts still at Hares & Hyenas, in mid-1992, Crusader Hillis and Rowland Thomson of Hares & Hyenas set about conducting public meetings at the bookshop to attract new members to help steer the festival. In September 1992 they met with UK actor and writer Madeleine Swain, her partner of the time, Suzie Goodman, and film enthusiast Frances O'Connor. At the suggestion of Hillis and Thomson, the festival was renamed
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
, and the day following the meeting, Hillis incorporated the festival as an association, the first festival in the world using
Queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
as its collectivising feature. It was moved to March under the name
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
Queer Film and Video Festival and screened at the State Film Theatre at Treasury Place. After two years with Swain as President and director, Tamara Jungwirth was recruited as Festival Director and a period of rapid expansion ensued. In 1995, the festival started Movies Under the Stars, screening classics in a picnic atmosphere at Fairfield amphitheatre.
In 1996, a touring program went to five interstate capitals including Hobart, where homosexual activity was still a crime. The festival played a part in the establishment of queer film festivals in Brisbane, Bendigo, Far
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...
and in
NSW
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
In 1997, Claire Jackson became President. In 1998 City of Melbourne came on as supporter through their arts grants. Lisa Daniel joined as Festival Director for the 1999 festival and a period of rapid growth began.
In 2003 the name was changed to Melbourne Queer Film Festival and in 2004 the screenings moved to the new ACMI with opening nights at the
Astor Theatre.
In 2010, screenings expanded to Greater Union on Russell Street. In 2011, MQFF headed to the Art Deco Sun Theatre in inner west
Footscray with a satellite festival over a weekend in late August. Opening nights moved to ACMI in 2012.
MQFF now screens at The Capitol, Cinema Nova in inner
north Carlton and Village Jam Factory in South Yarra.
References
External links
Melbourne Queer Film Festival websiteMQFF YouTube page
Film festivals in Melbourne
Organisations based in Melbourne
LGBT culture in Melbourne
LGBT film festivals in Australia
{{film-festival-stub