Browsing Tag

film festival

Q Fest 2021 Hits Screens for the Last Time—With A 25-Year Legacy in Tow

Posted on September 26, 2021

A photo of Swan Song, a QFest 2021 featured film.

By Autumn Rendall After 25 years, QFest—Houston’s international LGBTQIA+ film festival—is hitting screens for the last time. The festival kicked off with its competition short film screenings on September 24 at Aurora Picture Show and will continue with two more in-person screenings of the feature film Swan Song (September 26 and October 2, both at 5:00 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). All feature and short films will also be available to screen virtually through the Cinenso platform…

QFest 2020: Houston’s Annual LGBTQ Film Fest Hits Virtual Screens Sept. 24–28

Posted on September 23, 2020

The 24th annual QFest, Houston’s international LGBTQ film festival returns to screens this September 24–28—virtual screens, that is. This year’s fest will be held completely online, hosted by Cinenso, and feature nine feature films and 19 shorts from over 15 countries that highlight a variety of new filmmakers and stories. “I feel that people who engage with us this year will probably get the clearest understanding of what QFest has always meant to us,” says Kristian Salinas, executive and artistic…

Señorita Cinema, World’s Only All-Latina Film Festival, Returns to Houston November 1-3

Posted on October 29, 2019

A photo of Stephanie Saint Sanchez, founder of Señorita Cinema.

As Señorita Cinema, the world’s only all-Latina film festival, gears up for its return to Houston this November 1–3, founder Stephanie Saint Sanchez promises attendees “can absolutely expect to see things that they haven’t before.” Launched in 2007, the biannual festival was born from Saint Sanchez’s lifelong love affair with filmmaking. She begged for a video camera for her 13th birthday and, after finally getting her hands on one, has been obsessed with creating film ever since. But as her career…

Coffee (and Cherries) with Jonathan Caouette, in Three Acts

Posted on July 22, 2019

A photo of Jonathan Caouette in Tarnation.

You send your partner a text: Tell me if this piece isn’t good enough. I need this to be as perfect as it can be. Your partner knows the significance of this piece because shortly after the two of you met, you fangirled out over its subject and maker, Jonathan Caouette’s indefinable, hybrid, crossgenre, tour-de-force film Tarnation—a capsule of a young queer artist’s relationship to himself, his childhood (and adulthood) in Houston (and New York), his sexuality, but most of all,…

QFest 2019: Houston’s International LGBTQ Film Festival Returns July 24–31

Posted on July 18, 2019

There’s something magical about the first time you connect with a queer character on screen. For me, it was Spencer Carlin in South of Nowhere (shout out to 2005!). Seeing someone who looks like you, loves like you, and is navigating similar struggles can be life altering—even life saving. The leadership behind QFest, Houston’s international LGBTQ film festival, understands the need for such representation. This July 24–31, the festival celebrates its 23rd year with an extended, seven-day lineup of more…

QFest 2018: Houston’s International LGBTQ Film Festival Hits Screens July 26-30

Posted on July 19, 2018

A photo of QFest film The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

We will never achieve real progress unless we move beyond our own, often limited, perspectives. It is only when we open our eyes and minds to identities, cultures, and relationships different than our own, that we can find true strength in our togetherness, both as a community and as a force to be reckoned with. On July 26-30, QFest, Houston’s annual international LGBTQ film festival, will bring those stories and experiences to audiences across the city as it celebrates its…

QFest 2017: Houston’s LGBTQ Film Festival Premieres July 27-31

Posted on July 17, 2017

Houston's LGBTQ film festival, QFest runs from July 27-31, 2017.

There are infinite ways to describe resistance. But for queer folks—especially for those of us in the South—our visibility is a radical and defiant form of resistance. Now, more than ever, it’s important for us to be seen, heard, and have our stories shared. That notion has been the driving force of QFest—Houston’s annual LGBTQ film festival—for over two decades. On July 27 through 31, the festival celebrates its 21st year by bringing queer intersectional documentaries, shorts, comedies, and biopics…

Señorita Cinema: Meet the Queer Filmmaker Behind the World’s Only All-Latina Film Festival

Posted on July 7, 2017

A photo of Latina filmmaker and Señorita Cinema creator Stephanie Saint Sanchez, founder of Senorita Cinema in Smithers Park in Houston, Texas.

Texas filmmaker Stephanie Saint Sanchez used to work at a mom-and-pop video rental store for many years. She would wander through the aisles and look at the covers of the shop’s nearly 70,000 movies, mesmerized by the fact that each film started off as a small idea in someone’s mind—and, for better or for worse, they persevered and saw their idea through to the end. …

film festival

spectrumsouth