OUR QUEER HISTORY
Founded in 1984 by programmer George Mansour, who ran the festival until 1995, Boston's LGBTQ+Film Festival has been bringing the best and boldest Queer cinema to Boston for over forty years.
THE EARLY YEARS
The festival's first years were itinerant, evolving through names and venues. It didn't take long, though, to establish itself in Boston's cultural calendar--the emergence of New Queer Cinema, the urgency of the AIDS crisis, and the new wave of video artists all contributed to the festival's growing popularity.
Early years highlights include US Premieres of Querelle and Mala Noche, and visits from Tom Kalin, Cheryl Dunye, Barbara Hammer, and more. The festival was not held in 1986 due to the closure of the Orson Welles theater after a fire, but has otherwise operated continuously since its inception.
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AT THE MFA
Starting in 1996, the festival was hosted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as part of the museum's film program. Festival volunteers worked with the museum film office programmers to put together the annual festival.
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THE BOSTON LGBT FILM FESTIVAL
The festival's 25th anniversary in 2009 marked a number of changes. The name was changed, dropping "video," since the digital filmmaking revolution had made the distinction somewhat academic, and changing from "Gay & Lesbian" to LGBT. The festival also expanded outside of the MFA, with additional venues at the Brattle Theater, ArtsEmerson, Fenway Health, and more.
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WICKED QUEER
In 2016, the festival rebranded again, this time to Wicked Queer. The name, a regionalism for something that's remarkably strange, captures the festival's contrary appeal, and embraces "Queer" as an inclusive term for all LGBTQIA+ identities. In this era, Wicked Queer celebrates the breadth of Queer identity, the ongoing evolution of cinema, episodic, web videos, and everything else the future of Queer media may include.
WICKED QUEER: DOCS
In 2022, due to the proliferation of boundary-stretching Queer documentaries being produced around the world, Wicked Queer announced a sister festival, WQ: Docs. One of only two festivals in the world dedicated to the art of the LGBTQ+ documentary, WQ:Docs takes place each November to celebrate the best and boldest real Queer stories.
