On Monday night, the 26th Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) closed its inclusive doors after 12 fabulous days.
During its 26th run, the festival was home to 128 films from 22 countries, including 11 Australian premieres, and welcomed more than 16,000 attendees.
Executive director of the festival, Dillan Golightly, said he was thrilled with the response from Melbourne audiences.
“Single ticket sales have increased and the program has been embraced by the audience, keen to see diverse queer content on the big screen, and be involved in the industry and community,” he said.
Highlights of this year’s festival included a screening of We Hated Pigeons accompanied by a live score, the 20th anniversary screening of seminal Australian film My Cunt, and a live stream of the festival’s opening night to express solidarity with the Russian queer community through the festival’s To Russia with Love campaign.
Director Madeline Kelly took out the City of Melbourne Award for Best Australian Short with her film Nineteen, while best feature was awarded to Canada’s Stephen Dunn for Closet Monster. Nickolas Bird and Eleanor Sharpe’s Remembering the Man took out Best Documentary and Joshua Longhurst was awarded for his work as an emerging filmmaker in Oasis.
Preparations are already underway for next year’s event with festival dates to be announced soon.
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