Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was given its current name, QFest, in 2009. [1]
One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymond Murray, describes QFest's mission as giving gay and lesbian audiences the opportunity to see films that accurately reflect their life experiences without the filter of the "straight" Hollywood system. [2]
This event is the third largest of its kind in the United States, and the largest on the East Coast. The festival is held in Center City Philadelphia in various venues near and on the Avenue of the Arts. Film screenings take place at the Prince Music Theater, the Wilma Theater, and several other locations that differ from year to year. [2] It takes place for two weeks annually in mid-July and shows as many as two hundred films from more than forty countries. [2] There is a juried competition for best features and shorts (gay male and lesbian) as well as audience awards, selected by the viewers.
In 2014, QFest was canceled for the first year since its founding in 1995. Due to lack of fundraising and the unavailability of Raymond Murray to lead the film programming, the festival was postponed and then canceled for the year. [3]
Due to the cancellation of the festival in 2014, Thom Cardwell, QFest head, and James Duggan announced that they would launching qFLIX Philadelphia to take its place. QFLIX is a weeklong festival that presents independent international and national LGBTQ+ films. [4]
An event known as "There's No Place Like Home" is a two-week long celebration that takes place concurrently with QFest. This offers alternate activities for patrons to attend in between and after film screenings. The event is held in celebration of Philadelphia's thriving "Gayborhood" and has featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, block parties, photo exhibits and many other special events throughout the festival. [5]
TLA had previously hosted an annual lesbian and gay film festival in the 1980s at the two cinemas the company ran in Philadelphia at that time: the TLA on South Street and the Roxy Screening Room on Sansom Street; however, it lacked the visibility, influence and longevity of the more recent festival.
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BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and lesbian films at the National Film Theatre for two years, under the title "Gay's Own Pictures", curated by Peter Packer of the Tyneside Cinema. It was renamed the 'London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival' in 1988. Having been a two-week festival for many years, the festival was shortened to a week in 2011, then increased to 10 days in 2012. The events name change to BFI Flare occurred in 2014. On its 30th anniversary, screenings attendance at BFI Flare was up 9% and box-office results surpassed the previous, record-breaking year. Audiences at all events and screenings over the eleven-day festival totalled 25,623 in 2016. Additional programming under the BFI Flare tag is available at throughout the year.
The Philadelphia Film Festival is a film festival founded by the Philadelphia Film Society held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The annual festival is held at various theater venues throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area.
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