The Appalachian Queer Film Festival is proud to announce their second annual celebration of LGBTQ film, which will take place October 1-4 at the Lewis Theatre in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
Last year’s festival featured Sundance Film Festival award-winning films To Be Takei and The Skeleton Twins. This year, co-founder and director Tim Ward hopes to wow audiences once again with a broad range of films, including 2015’s Sundance favorite Tangerine.
“Since the 2014 festival, we’ve seen a lot of positive movement and some backlash around the LGBTQ community. While we’re still celebrating marriage equality, we also realize, with the recent adverse response from Eastern Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, just how important our festival is in creating meaningful dialogue about what it’s like to be LGBTQ in Appalachia. We have a unique opportunity and responsibility to create a safe space, conversation and thrive in an area that most folks consider to be intolerant or backward. This weekend of film is such a strong vehicle for promoting a more nuanced understanding of Appalachia for outsiders, and an even stronger vehicle for fostering a deeper understanding of LGBTQ issues for those who live within the region’s borders,” says Ward.
The full lineup of the 2015 festival includes:
Feature Length
Add the Words (2014), Cammie Pavesic & Michael D. Gough
Tangerine (2015), Sean S. Baker, Chris Bergoch
The Deceitful Heart: The Cult of JT LeRoy (2014), Marjorie Sturm
Bare (2015), Natalia Leite
From This Day Forward (2015), Sharon Shattuck
That’s Not Us (2015), William Sullivan
Shorts
The Typist (2014), Kristine Stolakis
Been Too Long at the Fair (2015) Charles Lum & Todd Verow
The Dummy (2014), Renato Muro
Scouts Oath (2015), Ryan Rambach
Furious Saint Jack and the Otter, Alone (2015), Ethan Roberts
The festival will also include Q&A’s with the filmmakers of each film screening, as well as the following panels: The Importance of Diversity in LGBTQ Film and The Fight for Equality in West Virginia. Additionally, there will be a dance party Saturday evening in celebration of the festival closing night.
Tickets are on sale now. For more information about individual films and a full weekend schedule, visit aqff.org.
About
The Appalachian Queer Film Festival is based out of Lewisburg, W.Va. that is dedicated to opening hearts and broadening minds about LGBTQ issues and Appalachia through film.
The Lewis Theatre is located at 113 N. Court Street in downtown Lewisburg, WV. (304) 645-6038
– Press release. LBSPY, October 2015.
HASHTAGWV ART & ENTERTAINMENT Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Christina Entenmann-Edwards has been a WV resident since September 2008. She was born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and is no stranger to hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2006, she graduated from Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut), Cum Laude, with a B.A. in History. In 2010, she graduated with an M.B.A. from Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). In February 2012, Christina launched HashtagWV as the area’s first full-color, free arts and entertainment tabloid + online platform. Christina completed the Leadership West Virginia class of 2021, which is an innovative program that grows, engages, and mobilizes leaders to ignite a life passion to move West Virginia forward.