The 2020 Long Beach QFilm Festival is going to be available worldwide for the first time from September 10-13. The festival celebrates the diversity and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities.
Viewers will be able to access the more than 40 plus new documentary, short, and narrative films through a streaming device or TV. These films will not be in theaters or any major streaming platforms.
“We made lemonade out of lemons this year,” said Andrew Dorado, interim executive director of The LGBTQ Center Long Beach in the press release. “COVID-19 was not going to stop The Center from presenting unique queer stories and storytellers while raising funds to serve the community.” The Center supports more than 25,000 people a year through programs including youth services, senior services, counseling, legal services, domestic violence support, trans health programs, HIV and STI testing, and more than 20 weekly support groups. Currently, many of these services are offered online during the pandemic.”
Some of the featured films this year include:
Breaking Fast: “Mo, a practicing Muslim living in West Hollywood, is learning to navigate life post heartbreak. Enter Kal, an All-American guy who surprises Mo by offering to break fast with him during the holy month of Ramadan.”
The Archivettes: “This inspiring documentary profiles the scrappy and determined cross-generational team of women who literally rescued history from the trash to form the Lesbian Herstory Archives.”
Ahead of the Curve: “with a fist full of credit cards, a lucky run at the horse track, and chutzpah for days, Franco Stevens launched Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine ever published. This documentary is about the extraordinary woman who started the magazine, and the women carry on her fight for lesbian visibility now.”
Gossamer Folds features Yeardley Smith of the Simpsons, who was also the producer. “A tender tale of friendship between a lonely boy and his grown-up transgender neighbor, Gossamer and her retired college professor father.”
A complete list of the films can be viewed here: www.QFilmsLongBeach.com.
The films will be available for viewing at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10 all the way through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Each film has a cost of $10 and an All-Access pass has a cost of $50.
There will be two new short film categories, one being Queer Activist shorts that will inspire the LGBTQ community and allies in the fight for equal rights. The other, Dance like Everyone is Watching is described as “channeling one’s inner Beyonce.” This is a series of documentary-style and narrative shorts that celebrate the beauty and various movements of dance. There’s an additional four categories that will be shown, which will include Women, Men, Queer & Trans, and Universal.
Welcome to Chechnya, part of the Universal program comes from the director of How To Survive A Plague, an Academy Award-nominated documentary. The doc features a group of activists, who risk inconceivable danger to tackle the anti-LGBTQ pogrom raging in the Russian republic. The late LGBTQ activist and author Larry Kramer will be honored with the showing of How to Survive a Plague, a documentary film that talks about the early years of the AIDS epidemic and the efforts coming from activist groups ACT UP and TAG.
The Long Beach QFilm Festival will be awarding the Jury and Audience prizes to winning films in various categories.
“We are excited that this year, QFilms has the potential to not only reach our local community but also reach the LGBTQ community and our allies all around the world,” said Robert Cano, the founder of the festival in the press release.
Tickets are available at www.QFilmsLongBeach.com.
