As identity-based festivals, queer film festivals have a specific relationship to the audience to which they cater. More specifically, most of these festivals have had a strong connection to the political and social movement behind the lesbian and gay/queer agenda and try to maintain this relationship between cultural event and political framework (Jusick 2004; Stryker 1996; Ommert/Loist 2008). Because of this history, queer film festivals have a strong tradition of a nuanced critical inquiry into the interconnections of cultural event management, community politics, nation state politics, funding and marketing strategies, and organizational structures (cf. Rhyne 2007; Zielinski 2008).
Resulting from this is a cluster of pieces that deal with the relationship between film festivals and communities, focusing on the mutual formative processes between the two actors (festival and community/audience) (Gamson 1996; Rich 1993, 1999), and constantly updating the question of necessity (Schulman 1994). A strongly connected issue is the one of representation of the group/subculture in the films of the so-called (New) Queer Cinema and at the LGBT/queer film festivals (Rich 1993, 1999; Hohenberger/Jurschik 1994; Stryker 1996; Siegel 1998; Woitschig 2001; Loist 2008).
As a field that has been under more scrutiny than most other specialized festivals there has also been the attempt to show the dialog between the numerous actors at play in a festival. The three-part installment of a GLQ forum on Queer Film and Video Festivals approached the current queer festival landscape from the side of curators, critics/scholars, and filmmakers (Straayer/Waugh 2005, 2006, 2008).
A neglected field in the general film festival discussion (except for the attempt by Stringer 2008), the concept of the (counter) public sphere has been discussed in much detail in relation to LGBT film festivals (Rich 1993; KIM S. 1998; dossier ed. by Patricia White 1999; KIM S. 2003; Perspex 2006; Gorfinkel 2006; KIM J. 2007; Ommert/Loist 2008). As an extension of this discussion, special aspects such as the spatial elements of queer film festivals have been scrutinized (Brooke 1998, Zielinski 2008).
Andersen, Joceline (2012). “From the Ground Up: Transforming the Inside Out LGBT Film and Video Festival of Toronto.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies | Revue Canadienne d’Études Cinématographiques 21:1 (2012): 38-57.
Bao Hongwei (2010). “Enlightenment Space, Affective Space: Travelling Queer Film Festivals in China.” Gender, Mobility and Citizenship in Asia. Ed. Mikako Iwatake. Helsinki: Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki. pp. 174-205.
Bao, Hongwei (2010). “In Search of Lesbian Continuum: Lesbian Public Space through ‘Women 50 Minutes’.” New Perspectives from Japan and China. Ed. Mikako Iwatake. Helsinki: Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki. pp. 136–164.
Becker, Edith (1992). “The New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film Festival.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media no. 37. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC37folder/NYexptlGayLesFest.html>. (7 Dec. 2008)
Berry, Chris (1999). “Bangkok’s Alternative Love Film Festival Raided: Chris Berry interviews Sopawan Boonimitra.” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 2 (1999). <http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue2/Sidebar.html>. (23 Nov. 2008)
Berry, Chris (1999). “My Queer Korea: Identity, Space, and the 1998 Seoul Queer Film & Video Festival.” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 2 (1999). <http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue2/Berry.html>. (23 Nov. 2008)
Bessa, Karla (2007). “Os festivais GLBT de cinema e as mudanças estético-políticas na constituição da subjetividade. [GLBT film festivals and the aesthetic-political changes in the constitution of subjectivity].” Cadernos Pagu 28 (2007): 257–283. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-83332007000100012>. (10. Oct. 2012)
Brooke, Kaucyila (1998). “Dividers and Doorways: How to (De)Personalize Your Lifestyle with Architectural Details.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media no. 42 (1998): 50–57. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC42folder/DividersDoorways.html>. (7 Dec. 2008)
Clarke, Eric O. (1999). “Queer Publicity at the Limits of Inclusion.” [Queer Publicity: A Dossier on Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals]. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 5:1 (1999): 84–89.
Crémieux, Anne (2013). “Massimadi, festival des films LGBT de l’Afrique et de ses diasporas: Entretien d’Anne Crémieux avec l’équipe de Massimadi.” Homosexualités en Afrique. Spec. Issue of Africultures 96. Ed. Anne Crémieux. Paris: L’Harmattan. pp. 146–155.
Cui, Zi’en (2010). “The Communist International of Queer Film.” Transl. Petrus Liu. Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 18:2 (2010): 417–423.
Diepenbroick, Dorothée von (2009). “Brauchen wir lesbisch-schwule Filmfestivals? Maren Kroymann im Interview mit Dorothée von Diepenbroick.” Bildschön: 20 Jahre Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg. Eds. Dorothée von Diepenbroick, and Skadi Loist. Hamburg: Männerschwarm. pp. 34–39.
Diepenbroick, Dorothée von, and Skadi Loist, eds. (2009). Bildschön. 20 Jahre Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg. Hamburg: Männerschwarm.
Dioli, Irene (2009). “Back to a Nostalgic Future: The Queeroslav Utopia.” Sextures 1:2 (2009). <http://sextures.net/dioli-queeroslav-utopia>. (21 Jan. 2010)
Feistel, Felix (2008). Der Teddy-Award: Der schwul-lesbisch-transidentische Filmpreis der Internationalen Filmfestspiele Berlin. VDM Verlag.
Ford, Akkadia (2014). “Curating a Regional, Queer Film Festival.” Fusion 4 (2014). <http://www.fusion-journal.com/issue/004-fusion-the-town-and-the-city/curating-a-regional-queer-film-festival/>. (26 Aug. 2014)
Fung, Richard (1999). “Programming the Public.” [Queer Publicity: A Dossier on Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals]. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 5:1 (1999): 89–93.
Gamson, Joshua (1996). “The Organizational Shaping of Collective Identity: The Case of Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals in New York.” Sociological Forum 11:2 (1996): 231–261.
Gann, Jon (2012). “‘Storyteller. Activist. Transformer.’: John Scagliotti, Director, Film Festival Founder and Organizer.” Behind the Screens: Programmers Reveal How Film Festivals Really Work. Washington, DC: Reel Plan Press. pp. 49–56.
Gorfinkel, Elena (2006). “Wet Dreams: Erotic Film Festivals of the Early 1970s and the Utopian Sexual Public Sphere.” Framework 47:2 (2006): 59–86.
Grundmann, Roy (1992). “Politics Esthetics Sex: Queer Films and Their Festivals.” Cineaste 19:1 (1992): 50–52, 62.
Han, Ju Hui Judy, and Marie K. Morohoshi (1998). “Creating, Curating, and Consuming Queer Asian American Cinema.” Q & A: Queer in Asian America. Eds. David L. Eng, and Alice Y. Hom. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press. pp. 81–94.
Hanhardt, Christina B. (2001). “Founding New Beginnings: Passing the Torch at MIX.” A Closer Look: Media Arts 2001. Ed. Helen de Michiel. San Francisco: National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC). pp. 39–48.
Hohenberger, Eva, and Karin Jurschick (1994). “As women, as people of color, as lesbians…: Diskussionen und Filme über race und gender bei den Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals in New York und San Francisco 1993.” Frauen und Film 54/55 (1994): 149–164.
June, Jamie L. (2004). “Defining Queer: The Criteria and Selection Process for Programming Queer Film Festivals.” CultureWork 8:2 (2004). <http://aad.uoregon.edu/culturework/culturework26.html>. (7 Dec. 2008)
Jusick, Stephen Kent (2004). “Gay Art Guerrillas: Interview with Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman.” That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. Ed. Matt Bernstein [Mattilda] Sycamore. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press. pp. 39–58.
Kajinic, Sanja (2010). “‘Battle for Sarajevo’ as ‘Metropolis': Closure of the First Queer Sarajevo Festival according to Liberal Press.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 28:1 (2010): 62–82. <http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/aeer/article/view/654/747>. (8. Jun. 2011)
Kajinic, Sanja (2008). “The Queer Zagreb Festival and Its Intersectional Manifestos.” New Subjectivities: Negotiating Citizenship in the Context of Migration and Diversity. Eds. Dorota Golańska and Aleksandra M. Różalska. Łódz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego | Lodz Univ. Press. pp. 187–202.
KIM Jeongmin (2007). “Queer Cultural Movements and Local Counterpublics of Sexuality: A Case of Seoul Queer Films and Videos Festival.” Transl. Sunghee Hong. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 8:4 (2007): 617–633.
Loist, Skadi (2008). “Frameline XXX: Thirty Years of Revolutionary Film: Der Kampf um queere Repräsentationen in der Geschichte des San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.” Medien – Diversität – Ungleichheit: Zur medialen Konstruktion sozialer Differenz. Eds. Ulla Wischermann, and Tanja Thomas. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. pp. 163–181.
Loist, Skadi (2009). “Das Queer Cinema und die Bedeutung lesbisch-schwuler Filmfestivals: Monika Treut im Interview mit Skadi Loist.” Bildschön: 20 Jahre Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg. Eds. Dorothée von Diepenbroick, and Skadi Loist. Hamburg: Männerschwarm. pp. 12–20.
Loist, Skadi (2010). “Queer Film and the Film Festival Circuit.” Curator’s Note. In Media Res 14. Sep. 2010. <http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2010/09/14/queer-film-and-film-festival-circuit>. (10. Dec. 2010)
Loist, Skadi (2011). “Precarious Cultural Work: About the Organization of (Queer) Film Festivals.” Screen 52:2 (2011): 268–273.
Loist, Skadi (2012). “A Complicated Queerness: LGBT Film Festivals and Queer Programming Strategies.” Coming Soon to a Festival Near You: Programming Film Festivals. Ed. Jeffrey Ruoff. St. Andrews: St Andrews Film Books. pp. 157-172.
Loist, Skadi (2013). Queer Film Festivals globally (1977–2013), map of LGBT/Queer film festivals globally since 1977. <http://goo.gl/maps/bGMQt>
Loist, Skadi (2013). “Konvergenzen im Filmfestival-Circuit: Filmfestivalforschung und Queer Studies.” Sexy Media? Gender/Queertheoretische Analysen in den Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften. Eds. Skadi Loist, Sigrid Kannengießer, and Joan Kristin Bleicher. Bielefeldt: transcript. pp. 187–205.
Loist, Skadi (2013). “The Queer Film Festival Phenomenon in a Global Historical Perspective (the 1970s-2000s).” Une histoire des festivals: XXe-XXIe siècle. Eds. Anaïs Fléchet, Pascale Gœtschel, Patricia Hidiroglou, Sophie Jacotot, Caroline Moine, and Julie Verlaine. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. pp. 109–121.
Loist, Skadi (2015). Queer Film Festivals globally (1977-2015), interactive map of LGBT/Q film festivals globally since 1977. <http://tinyurl.com/kmbwzwf>
Loist, Skadi, and Marijke de Valck (2013). “Trans* Film Festivals: An Interview with Eliza Steinbock.” NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies 4 (2013). <http://www.necsus-ejms.org/trans-film-festivals-an-interview-with-eliza-steinbock/>. (19 Nov. 2013)
Loist, Skadi, and Ger Zielinski (2012). “On the Development of Queer Film Festivals and Their Media Activism.” Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism. Eds. Dina Iordanova and Leshu Torchin. St Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies. pp. 49–62.
McWilliam, Kelly (2007). “‘We’re Here All Week': Public Formation and the Brisbane Queer Film Festival.” Queensland Review 14 (2): 79–91.
Olson, Jenni (2002). “Film Festivals.” glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture (2002). <www.glbtq.com/arts/film_festivals.html>. (7 Dec. 2008)
Ommert, Alek, and Skadi Loist (2008). “featuring interventions: Zu queer-feministischen Repräsentationspraxen und Öffentlichkeiten.” Im Zeichen des Geschlechts: Repräsentationen – Konstruktionen – Interventionen. Eds. Celine Camus, Annabelle Hornung, Fabienne Imlinger, Milena Noll, and Isabelle Stauffer. Königstein/Taunus: Ulrike Helmer. pp. 124–140.
Peach, Ricardo (2005). “Queer Cinema as a Fifth Cinema in South Africa and Australia.” Dissertation. Sydney: Univ. of Technology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. (March 2005). <http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2100/425/5/02whole.pdf>. (7 Dec. 2008)
Perriam, Christopher (2013). “Festivals.” Spanish Queer Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 112-122.
Perspex (2006). “The First Asian Lesbian Film and Video Festival in Taipei Celebrates a New Form of Social Activism.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 7:3 (2006): 527–532.
Rastegar, Roya (2009). “The De-Fusion of Good Intentions: Outfest’s Fusion Film Festival.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 15:3 (2009): 481–497.
Rhyne, Ragan (2007). “Pink Dollars: Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals and the Economy of Visibility.” Dissertation. New York: New York Univ., Department of Cinema Studies. (Jan. 2007)
Rhyne, Ragan (2011). “Comrades and Citizens: Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals in China.” Film Festival Yearbook 3: Film Festivals and East Asia. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ruby Cheung. St. Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies. pp. 110–124.
Rhyne, Ragan (2011). “Table 12: Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals in East Asia.” Film Festival Yearbook 3: Film Festivals and East Asia. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ruby Cheung. St. Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies. pp. 264.
Rich, B. Ruby (1993). “Reflections on a Queer Screen.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 1:1 (1993): 83–91.
Rich, B. Ruby (1999). “Collision Catastrophe Celebration: The Relationship between Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals and Their Publics.” [Queer Publicity: A Dossier on Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals]. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 5:1 (1999): 79–84.
Richards, Stuart (2012). “Frameline’s Conservative Hoax: Smashing Frameline’s Homonormative lmage to Reveal a Socially Empowering Organisation.” antiTHESIS: A Postgraduate Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 22 (2012): 123–137.
Schulman, Sarah (1994). “What is the Role of Gay Film Festivals?” My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life during the Reagan/Bush Years. New York: Routledge. pp. 253–255.
Searle, Samantha (1996). “Film and Video Festivals: Queer Politics and Exhibition.” Meanjin 55:1 (1996): 47–59.
Searle, Samantha (1997). Queer-ing the Screen: Sexuality and Australian Film and Television. St. Kilda: Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM).
Siegel, Marc (1997). “Spilling out onto Castro Street.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media no. 41 (1997): 131–136. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC41folder/OnCastroStreet.html>. (10. Nov. 2006)
Silva, Marcos Aurélio da (2012). “Territórios do Desejo: Performance, Territoralidade e Cinema no Festival Mix Brasil da Diversidade Sexual.” [“Territories of Desire: Performance, Territoriality and Cinema at Mix Brazil Festival of Sexual Diversity.”] PhD Thesis. Ilha de Santa Catarina: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social.
Spencer, Norman A. (2012). “Ten Years of Queer Cinema in China.” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 20:1 (2012): 373–383.
Stanciu, Elena-Larisa (2014). “Urban Space and Queer Identities: The LGBTQ Film Festival as Heterotopia.” Analize: Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies 3 (2014): 159–177. <http://www.analize-journal.ro/library/files/numarul_3/elena_stanciu.pdf>. (20 Feb. 2015)
Straayer, Chris, and Thomas Waugh, eds. (2005). “Queer Film and Video Festival Forum, Take One: Curators Speak Out.” [Contributions by Michael Barrett, Charlie Bourdeau, Suzy Capo, Stephen Gutwilig, Nanna Heidenreich, Liza Johnson, Giampaolo Marzi, Dean Otto, Brian Robinson, and Katharine Setzer] GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 11:4 (2005): 579–603.
Straayer, Chris, and Thomas Waugh, eds. (2006). “Queer Film and Video Festival Forum, Take Two: Critics Speak Out.” [Contributions by Juan A. Suárez, Yves Lafontaine, Yau Ching, M. R. Daniel, José Gatti, Joel David, Ragan Rhyne, and B. Ruby Rich] GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 12:4 (2006): 599–625.
Straayer, Chris, and Thomas Waugh, eds. (2008). “Queer Film and Video Festival Forum, Take Three: Artists Speak Out.” [Contributions by Bill Basquin, Maureen Bradley, Q. Allan Brocka, Olivier Ducastel, Su Friedrich, Barbara Hammer, Jacques Martineau, and Onir] GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 14:1 (2008): 121–137.
Stryker, Susan (1996). “A Cinema of One’s Own: A Brief History of the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.” The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian & Gay Film and Video. Ed. Jenni Olson. New York: Serpent’s Tail. pp. 364–370.
Tadeo Fuica, Beatriz, and Skadi Loist (2012). “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Film Festivals.” Listing. Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism. Eds. Dina Iordanova and Leshu Torchin. St Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies. pp. 291–295.
Tang, Denise Tse Shang (2009). “Demand for Cultural Representation: Emerging Independent Film and Video on Lesbian Desires.” Futures of Chinese Cinema: Technologies and Temporalities in Chinese Screen Cultures. Eds. Olivia Khoo, and Sean Metzger. Bristol/Chicago: intellect. pp. 169–190.
White, Patricia, ed. (1999). “Queer Publicity: A Dossier on Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 5:1 (1999): 73–93.
Woitschig, Britta Madeleine (2001). “Raus aus dem Klischee: Transgender-Filmfestivals seit 1996 als selbstbestimmte Darstellung trans- und intersexueller Lebensformen.” Querschnitt – Gender Studies: Ein interdisziplinärer Blick nicht nur auf Homosexualität. Eds. Paul M. Hahlbohm, and Till Hurlin. Kiel: Ludwig. pp. 182–201.
Zielinski, Ger (2008). “Furtive, Steady Glances: On the Cultural Politics of Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals.” Dissertation. Montreal: McGill Univ., Department of Art History and Communication Studies.
Zielinski, Ger (2009). “Queer Film Festivals.” LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia. Eds. John C. Hawley, and Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 980–984.
Zielinski, Ger (2010). “Ger Zielinski in Conversation with Stephen Kent Jusick, Executive Director of MIX Festival of Queer Experimental Film and Video.” Fuse 33:3(2010): 16–22.
Zielinski, Ger (2012). “On the Production of Heterotopia, and Other Spaces, in and around Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media 54 (2012). <http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/gerZelinskiFestivals/index.html>. (7 Oct. 2012)
(Last updated: 25 February 2015)