Organization

The story of QFest begins in 1996, when a group of maverick arts organizations collaborated and created The First Annual Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, better know as The HGLFF. Inaugurated by Loris Bradley of DiverseWorks, Liz Empleton of Rice Cinema, Sarah Gish of Landmark Theatres, and Marian Luntz of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The HGLFF would soon grow to include Steve Buck of The Angelika Film Center and Andrea Grover of The Aurora Picture Show. In its early years as a multi-venue annual event, The Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) served as the festival’s non-profit fiscal sponsor. The first co-presidents of the HGLFF were Gudrun Klein and Andrew Edmonson, followed by Margaret Zigman and Ernie Manouse. In 2005, Margaret Zigman would become the festival’s first solo President.

In 2006, the festival’s tenth anniversary, The HGLFF launched its most pivotal year. The HGLFF consolidated into an independent not-for-profit entity. With consolidation came new leadership. Rob Arcos, formerly of Landmark Theatres, was named Festival Director and Kristian Salinas was named Program Director. Now in charge of its own programming, the festival no longer exhibited programs at multiple venues over a two week period; instead, the festival was condensed into a single location over one weekend. The changes were risky, but brought about dynamic growth, allowing for some of the biggest hits in the festival’s history: Ash Christian’s Fat Girls, Carlos Portugal’s award-winning East Side Story, Andrea Meyerson’s Laughing Matters…More!, and the Spanish comedy Reinas.

The growth of 2006 inspired a whole new direction for 2007. Led by new Executive Director Kristian Salinas, The HGLFF’s 11th year is being inaugurated with a dramatic name change to reflect this new energy - QFest 2007: The 11th Annual Houston Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. The festival’s new name ushers in a new concept, one devoted not only to film, but also to art and music, refracted through a Queer prism. Inspired by the spirit of our maverick founders, QFest aims to be a vanguard for all things Queer: both an incomparable event for the community, and an inspiring experience to be shared by all.

MISSION STATEMENT
QFest is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts as a powerful tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presenting programs by, about, or of interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community.