| August 7, 2015 | to | August 9, 2015 |
Toronto International Queer West Film Festival – The Queer West Film Festival is gaining international reputation for offering the best of independent queer cinema and the opportunity to meet filmmakers and artists, participate in workshops and panel discussions, attend galas and after parties and see unexpected performances. Toronto, Canada.
Toronto Queer West Film Festival 2015
The Toronto Queer arts and Culture Festival won’t be hosting an arts festival in 2015, instead we are expanding our annual film festival from an evening screening to a three day event. Each year we receive hundreds of entries that we have to refuse because of time constraints. Increasing the event will allow us to showcase the very best of emerging LGBTQ filmmakers both locally and internationally.
A NEW GENERATION OF QUEER FILM ARTISTS AND FESTIVALS
Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America and one of the most multicultural cities in the world. As one of the main creative hubs in Canada and host of the Toronto International Film Festival (one of the largest and most influential film festivals worldwide), Toronto is home to a great wealth of creative talent. This is strengthened by its three world-class universities and countless film college programs. As North America’s third largest screen-based production center, film makers at every stage of their career have access to a diverse and well-developed filmmaking community along with all the tools they need to develop their work. It also guarantees Toronto’s 35 film festivals (and counting!) with a never-ending stream of emerging talent.
Indeed, Toronto’s film festival circuit is booming, drawing a consistently high volume and variety of talent from around the world. The Toronto queer film scene owes a lot to the success of TIFF, Inside Out and Hot Docs, with the first, in addition to its annual festival, acting as a year-round hub for film discovery and appreciation. Each of Toronto’s festivals responds to a need within a community such as representation, activism or education. Just as the Queer West Arts Collective responded to the need for alternative events outside of Toronto’s traditional gay village, our film festival has grown out of a desire to share films and media that may not have found a home at other festivals.
Social media has allowed us much greater insight into the lives of members of our community around the world. It has also inspired a new wave of film making and queer film makers to broaden the reach of their work. We hope that our film festival, which is still in the early stages of its growth, helps to represent and document the changes and challenges representative to the queer community around the world. This means celebrating universal themes such as discovery of new love and giving voice to those who continue to remain voiceless within our community.
Currently, we are working towards partnering with other film festivals and cultural organizations, to be able to more widely promote our unique offering to the local and international community.
By Michel F. Paré and Lauren Tenn, July 2015
Queer West Arts Collective
We are an illustrious group of Queer West Village film activists; Emily Siu U of T; designed our 14 page, Film Festival Program Guide, Ivar Johnson (Designed all our Artwork), Lauren Tenn, Richa Shrotriya, Donna Elliot, Madison Fitzgerald, Katherine Hibbs, Deanne Embree, Stacey Copeland, Catlin Foster, Jim Yi, Michel F. Paré, Jeff McIntosh, Paul Bradley, Ted Scarf. Plus two senior citizens; Antoinette Schokman-De Zilva and Marc de Zilva are managing the operations of the film festival, everything from advertising, to program guides, to posters, to public ambassadors on film nights. There are 601 members in the Arts Collective. All festival volunteers will receive evening tickets and/or $25 weekend passes. The Queer West Board of Directors will be donating a few tickets to local charities and cultural organizations.
Event information & Ticket Sales
Movies @ THE REVUE CINEMA Doors Open @ 3:30 PM | Films start: 4 PM | Accessibility: The washroom is not wheelchair accessible. | Tickets online @ TICKETSCENE | Tickets also @ Revue Cinema Box Office and For Your Convenience tickets will also be available @ Sun Milk Variety Store,1547 Dundas W & Sheridan 416-531-8580 (July 15 to August 9) Ticket Prices: $10 each night or Three Day Passes for $25 | All screenings – Restricted – No one under 18 admitted. ID Required.
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