CSULB Film Department Celebrates LGBTQ History Month Through Collaborations and Partnerships

Every October, LGBTQ History Month is celebrated to elevate the achievements and struggles of Queer people and ensure Queer history is taught, shared, and celebrated. This year the Film & Electronic Arts Department is proud to partner with the Long Beach Queer Film Festival, and support independent faculty events celebrating Queer cinema.

Now in its 30^th year, the Long Beach QFilms Festival is the second largest event in Long Beach celebrating the incredible diversity in the LGBTQ community through screenings of independent LGBTQ films. The festival was first started when a California State University Long Beach student, Robert Cano, wanted to find a way for more Queer stories to be shared and provide an opportunity for both CSULB students and members of the community to gather and celebrate Queer cinema. Funds raised by the festival directly benefit The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach which supports more than 25,000 people annually through HIV and STI testing, youth services, trans health programs, senior services, and more.  The CSULB film department was proud to partner with the festival and advertise discounts for current film students to attend. The QFilms Festival is hosted in the historic 4^th street Retro Row community, The Art Theatre of Long Beach, a frequent venue for screenings from CSULB films including Born This Waydirected by recent CSULB Film Grad Tatiana Navarrette. In addition to increased visibility of Queer cinema, the annual QFilms Festival provides a dedicated space to celebrate Queer stories and countless opportunities to network with independent LGBTQ-identified and allied filmmakers.

In addition to partnering with the Long Beach QFilms Festival, Film & Electronic Arts Assistant Professor of Critical Studies and Queer Media & Film course professor Dr. Diana Anselmo is scheduled to host an event at the annual Circa Queer Histories Festival presented by One Institute. The festival, which is co-presented by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, features programming throughout Los Angeles County during the month of October. Dr. Anselmo, who recently published her book A Queer Way of Feeling: Girl Fans and Personal Archives of Early Hollywood (University of California Press, 2023) in spring of 2023, will host the “The Queer Lives of Early Moviegoing Girls” lecture on October 4^th from 7-8:30pm in the Advocate & Gochis Galleries at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Tickets are free and can be reserved on the Circa Festival website.

Outside of LGBTQ History Month, the CSULB Film Department partners with Newfilmmakers LA to provide all access passes to their monthly InFocus: LGBTQ+ Cinema Film Festival each year in June and continues to support current students and alumni screenings and events throughout the year.