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  • © 2016

The Queer Film Festival

Popcorn and Politics

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides the first full-length study on the queer film festival
  • Presents a new approach to thinking about community arts organizations
  • Considers queer film festivals in Melbourne and Hong Kong
  • Collects a diverse array of original interviews, from audience members and interns to film festival directors

Part of the book series: Framing Film Festivals (FFF)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 1-37
  3. The Queer Film Festival and the Creative Industries

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 39-97
  4. The Queer Film Festival as a Social Enterprise

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 99-142
  5. Queer Film Festival Programming and Homonormativity

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 143-216
  6. The Space of the Film Festival

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 217-237
  7. Conclusion

    • Stuart James Richards
    Pages 239-246
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 247-256

About this book

This book examines the queer film festival and opens the discussion on social enterprises and sustainable lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisations. With over 220 events worldwide and some of the bigger budgets exceeding $1 million, the queer film festival has grown to become a staple event in all cosmopolitan cities’ arts calendars. While activism was instrumental in establishing these festivals, the pink dollar has been a deciding factor in its financial sustainability. Pretty gay boys with chiselled abs are a staple feature, rather than underground experimental faire. Community arts events, such as these, are now a creative industry. While clearly having a social purpose, they must also concern themselves with the bottom line. For all the contradictory elements of its organisational growth, this conflict makes the queer film festival an integral site for analysis. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach in examining the queer film festival as a representative snapshot of the current state of queer cinema and community based film festivals. The book looks at queer film festivals in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Melbourne to argue for the importance of these institutions remaining as community events. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Stuart James Richards

About the author

Stuart Richards received his doctoral degree in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches at both The University of Melbourne and RMIT University. He is a programmer for the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and on the committee for online film journal Senses of Cinema. His primary research interests are queer cinema, film festivals, the creative industries, and contemporary Hollywood.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Queer Film Festival

  • Book Subtitle: Popcorn and Politics

  • Authors: Stuart James Richards

  • Series Title: Framing Film Festivals

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58438-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-59034-3Published: 06 January 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95861-0Published: 09 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-58438-0Published: 05 January 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2946-3734

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-3742

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 256

  • Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Film History, Cultural History, Gender Studies, Film Theory

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access