Curating a regional, queer film festival

Independent film festivals are politically potent public sites. The curated screen contentand the interaction of the festival with the wider local community are avenues by whichsuch festivals stimulate debate. The queer film festival in a regional area, has a uniquerole in bringing about changes in attitudes within the general community, through providinga publically accessible space to self-reflective, non-stereotypical and uncensored modes ofgay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (GLBTIQ) representation, usuallydenied in mainstream media. As Festival Director of Queer Fruits Film Festival, a regionalGLBTIQ film festival in the Northern Rivers area of Australia, the curatorial processes wereinformed by films centred upon current GLBTIQ issues (such as marriage equality,transgender communities, queer identities, health and housing), with films from 36countries around the world submitted for consideration. The selection panel and FestivalDirector previewing all the submitted films are the initial private spectators ofmedia designed for the public arena. The responsibility of these curatorial processesis to create a richly textual festival programme that engages a regional audience.