About 24,000 people are expected to flood local theaters next week for the 19th annual QFest.
The LGBT film festival runs July 11-22 at area theaters. This year, the festival will showcase 124 films, which cover an array of genres and facets of the community.
QFest artistic director Ray Murray said festival organizers strive each year to present films that deviate from what you can find in typical LGBT film festivals.
“We try to do things that other festivals don’t do. We want to be different,” Murray said. “Our audience seems to enjoy more cutting-edge films. We’re wilder, more unpredictable than other festivals.”
The festival will open with “G.B.F.” and close with “Hot Guys with Guns,” both of which are expected to be big draws, Murray said.
Also expected to bring in a large crowd is “Fall to Grace,” a documentary on former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy’s coming out. The film will screen at 2:15 p.m. July 20 at Ritz East, 125 S. Second St., and will be followed by a meet-and-greet reception with McGreevy at 4 p.m. at Sofitel, 120 S. 17th St., which will raise funds for QFest.
This year’s programming is more heavily focused on gay men, rather than lesbians and the trans community, Murray noted.
“We usually try to have 33 percent women, and this year it’s closer to 25 percent. Sometimes we have to follow the course of filmmaking and this year it was amazingly difficult to get quality lesbian-themed films,” Murray said.
There will be an enhanced African-American presence, he noted, as well as a flourishing docket of films focusing on LGBT-headed families.
“A lot of the films used to be about coming out; that was probably 50 percent of our themes a few years ago. But that’s changed into all different kinds of stories,” Murray said. “There’s a lot less of the gay angst. It’s almost like post-gay filmmaking, where we have stories about everything from gay killers to marriage to family. We have 10-15 films just about getting married and raising families. They speak to what’s happening today.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.qfest.com.