About Us
Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance (APQFFA) is a regional cooperative of LGBTQ film organisations. We believe that queer cinema and cultural activism can make a difference in the lives of sexual and gender minorities. We work to promote the visibility of Asian and Pacific voices in queer cinema, to support emerging festivals and to advocate for equal rights.
APQFFA was founded by Taiwan International Queer Film Festival in 2015, beginning at a meeting of eight festivals in Taipei. Since then, we have expanded to twenty-five members and growing. From Japan in the North to New Zealand in the South, Hawai'i in the East to Pakistan in the West, our alliance strives to be an inclusive body, offering support and networking to festivals and filmmakers.
The APQFFA Award is an initiative to promote Asia-Pacific filmmakers across the region. Members select the best queer short films from their country to compete for an annual prize and filmmaker fund.
1. To enhance the visibility of Asia-Pacific queer cinema for the public to engage positively with queer issues. We recognize the importance for queer minorities to see themselves reflected onscreen to validate their daily struggles and to ease their alienation. Further, we seek to inform and familiarize the general public of the queer community and build bridges.
2. To support voices in diverse queer minorities that face unique struggles in each country with their production of queer films in the Asia-Pacific region. Through festivals’ organization of spaces to screen queer film, our alliance hopes to directly/indirectly stimulate production and promotion of LGBT films in the Asia-Pacific region.
3. To share and exchange information with its members to find solutions to problems collectively, and to assist each other in curating diverse content. With the assembling of industry professionals at our festivals, we also aim to promote communication between them for possible future collaborations or to exchange pioneering ideas.
Ultimately, the alliance serves as a resource for international filmmakers as well as festival curators.
4. To highlight young talents in the Asia-Pacific film industry through the establishment of the Asia-Pacific short film award
5. In the near future, to build up the database of Asia-Pacific queer films for research, distribution, and exhibition around the world.