'More hearts and minds': Calgary queer film fest grows, connects, represents, persists

It's likely Canada's longest running, and it's got no time for those anti-drag troublemakers. It's the 25th annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival, and an organizer says it's all about connection.

"Connecting queer artists and filmmakers in our community to the international queer art community is a huge deal," Marissa Cupples told the Calgary Eyeopener in a Friday interview.

"Honestly, just bringing queer people together to see queer art represented on the big screen, I think it's just really important and exciting to have that space."

But some in the LGBT community may feel their space is under fire as waves of anti-drag protests continue across the country and south of the border, at times forcing event cancellations.

"We are obviously very aware of and concerned like everyone else, about these things happening," Cupples said.

"The first festival ever, 25 years ago, I wasn't there but from what I know, it was met with a lot of protest and people being really angry about it existing at all. But there has been a lot of progress and more acceptance [over time]."

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And that first festival, a quarter century ago, looked a lot different.

"It started as a bunch of volunteers from Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers and a few other folks starting a two-day festival because there was nothing like it in Alberta," she explained.

"From a small, fledgling, two-day event into something that is now 10 days long with over 60 films this year from all over the world. We are one of the largest and longest running film festivals of our kind. It has changed and evolved a lot with the times."

Someone who was at the first festival in 1999, Kevin Allen, says a lot has been accomplished since that hot day in June.

"Back in the late 1990s, queer representation was a real issue. There was not a lot of queer content on TV or in cinemas," Allen told CBC News in a phone interview.

"That was the reason for the festival's beginning, and it's delightful that it's still around 25 years later."

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Allen was one of three founders of the festival, which in 1999 was held at the Garry Theatre in Inglewood, which was the Loose Moose Theatre at the time.

"It was sold out for the whole festival weekend. There was a lineup down the street," he said, with pride.

But there's still work to do.

"Our community's human rights struggle is not over as we've seen in some high profile news events in Calgary. We have a lot of legal rights that we did not have when the festival started, but we still need to win over more hearts and minds."

The 25th annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival runs June 9-18 at the Globe Cinema.