Philadelphia Weekly

For 14 years, the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival—
unfelicitously pronounced PIGLFF by everyone in the know—was reliably produced by TLA Video. A large-scale event at venues across the city, it featured notoriously long lines and smug volunteers who, for some reason, believed they were better than you because they had a laminated business card on a shoelace around their neck. 


Every year, the same thing, more or less, but if you heed Ralph Waldo Emerson (who wasn’t above a little sexual experimentation himself) a foolish consistency can be the hobgoblin of little minds. Which is to say: The whole thing—despite being one of the largest and most successful LGBT fests in the country—seemed a little stale. 


Not everyone noticed. The gay community turned out for it in high numbers, but the fest drew especial attention from white men, who were most often the subjects of the films. And no matter what, local critics were often punishing about the content. Sure, these movies had gay themes. But did they have to suck?


This year, everything is different, and it all starts with a welcome name change: from PIGLFF to QFest—the Q standing in, of course, for queer. White gay men? You’re still welcome. But black lesbians, Jewish transmen, Buddhist intersexuals, straight grandmothers, people who don’t know what the hell they’re feeling—you’re all welcome too. 


That’s right: It’s the 15th year of an LGBT film festival in Philly, and it’s finally going to be inclusive. Put another way—in the radical terms of the movement’s beginnings—it’s here, it’s queer, get used to it.


Part of what created the impetus for change was really an accident: the Chernobyl in the Philly indie film community (see next page) that had some worried the concept of PIGLIFF would die entirely. Instead, when the dust settled, there was an excellent opportunity for rebranding. “PIGLFF”? Out like last year’s torn and dirty rainbow flag. Time for something new. 


Then there was the hiring of QFest’s current Associate Artistic Director Carol Coombes, an experienced programmer who’s brought a totally new point of view. She moved to Philadelphia last fall after working on the London and Miami LGBT film festivals for a combined 12 years, and she thinks QFest has the potential to bring new people into the fold. Ironically, there’s room for improvement in the LGBT community in terms of inclusion, which Coombes is sensitive to. She emphasizes in particular people who are still unsure of how they fit into what can seem like a rigid community. 


“I think [the name QFest] is much more embracing in terms of films which might be more marginal in terms of questioning sexuality,” she says. 


She points to two films in particular that represent people who aren’t “gay”—who don’t outwardly identify as being in the community.


The first film is We Are the Mods, directed by E. E. Cassidy. 


“The characters in that film are more bisexual,” Coombes says, “and I think their sexuality is more fluid than what you would traditionally define as lesbian sexuality.” 


The other is Pop Star on Ice, about Johnny Weir, the Coatsville-born figure skater. 


“He’s very known and very flamboyant and a fashion icon, and there’s all these 
rumors that he’s gay,” Coombes says. “But he’s never come out and said he’s gay. There’s this great interview in the bath with him and his ‘best friend,’ and clearly it’s kind of wink-wink nudge-nudge—we all kind of know he’s gay, but it’s not explicit in the film.”


Both Mods and Pop Star have been screened in mainstream film festivals. And both films are targeted at a youth audience. 


“On the younger level, there’s people who don’t clearly see being gay or being lesbian or bisexual as a big deal anymore,” says Coombes. “Certainly Pop Star on Ice and We are the Mods [have the] kind of people who don’t even question their sexuality. It’s just fluid. They’re attracted to girls, they’re attracted to boys—it doesn’t really matter.”