STEVEN LINDSEY | Contributing Writer
stevencraiglindsey@gmail.com
Thirty years ago, in 1996, Fort Worth Star-Telegramjournalist and film critic Todd Camp went to an advance screening of The Celluloid Closet, a documentary chronicling the history of LGBTQ+ representation in Hollywood movies. That one movie was about to change Camp’s relationship to film.
“As a relatively newly out man who was also a huge film fan, the movie really kind of just blew my mind,” Camp said. “I had no idea about the level of coding and secret histories behind movies that I’d seen 100 time. It really kind of opened my eyes to this entirely different world.
“Also, it introduced me to an entire world of queer cinema that I had never been exposed to.”
One of the first things he did was screen the movie at his house with friends as sort of an informal discussion group. Then he approached his alma mater, Texas Christian University, about doing a film discussion group in the J.M. Moudy Building for Visual Arts and Communication.
Soon, he was screening films that not many people could easily find.
“We screened things like Victim, The Boys in the Band and The Killing of Sister George. All of these early queer films were very hard to find,” Camp said. “I’m very grateful to Tapelanders in Dallas. It was my major source for finding VHS copies of these movies because they just weren’t available. This was pre-streaming. DVD was still relatively new, so not a lot of things were finding their way into these formats.”
After showing each film, Camp would lead hour-long discussions.
“That was really the beginning of it. I think we did a public screening of The Bird Cage out at the church on Sandy Lane, where PFLAG was meeting at the time. That was when Shawn Moore and I kind of connected, and she pitched me on the idea of starting a film festival,” he said.
In 1999, Camp and Moore produced the first Q Cinema festival at the AMC Sundance 11. Because of Camp’s role as a film critic for the Star-Telegram, he had connections with film studios.
“We were able to reach out to Fine Line Cinema and get Trick as our first opening night film, which was not opening for another month. So that was kind of the emphasis for really building this relationship with the studios and allowing us to show movies and premiere them in Texas,” Camp explained, adding that Q Cinema premiered several major queer films for the first time in Texas.
Q Cinema had a successful initial run until 2020, when the pandemic led to the festival’s closure.
But like any good franchise, it was prime for a reboot.
Roger Calderon, president of Trinity Pride Fort Worth, recalled his introduction to Q Cinema. “The first movie that I ever went to at any film festival of any kind was actually Q Cinema and Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” he said. “And it was also like the first time that I was going to a gay movie, out in the world, and I just remember really, really loving it because it felt like I was there with the community.
“When I took over Trinity Pride, I tried to think about how it could sustain itself when it’s my turn to turn it over,” Calderon continued. “I tried to find ways that we could provide cultural programming throughout the year, and that is when I landed on the idea of Q Cinema.”
Calderon had recently returned from the Telluride Film Festival, and he had enjoyed seeing how organizers transformed buildings and venues, from libraries to elementary schools, into temporary movie theaters.
“It occurred to me that we could do something along those lines here, as well,” he said. “I’ve always loved movies, the performing arts in general. I keep a spreadsheet of movies leading up to the Oscar season. I listen to all the podcasts. I even listen to straight podcasts, because I feel like I need to know what the straight bros are talking about in the world.
“Q Cinema was something that really excited me,” he added. “It fit the mission of Trinity Pride, which is to create safe spaces for our community and, by extension, create safe spaces for creative self-expression. And so when I went to Todd and said I’m thinking of doing this, and Todd said something like, ‘You’re crazy, but if there’s anyone that could do it, it probably would be you.’”
In keeping with the Telluride Film Fest inspiration, Q Cinema returns this Nov. 13-15 to Amphibian Stage, 120 S. Main St., in Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood. The live theater will transform into a digital cinema for the weekend.
The space holds only 100 people, so it will be an intimate experience for attendees. Plus, limited ticket availability means you should purchase tickets today to guarantee a seat.
This year’s festival includes three showcase features (Bookends, Clarissa and Jaripeo), short film collections, as well as additional features and associated programs. To bring the Q Cinema experience full circle, there will be a screening of The Celluloid Closet featuring a conversation with Camp.
“We’re also partnering with Cinéwilde [Texas’s only monthly LGBTQ+ film series] for the screening of a short film, Get Ready with Me, about a local individual getting ready for a ballroom competition. We’re pairing that short with a full-length documentary called 10s Across the Borders about people in Southeast Asia who have taken the ballroom culture into their own communities as well,” Calderon said.
“Working with local film groups and local queer groups as well, we are able to just expand the reach of it.”
Camp, meanwhile, loves that the event he started will reach a whole new generation of movie lovers.
“You know, this was 14 years of my life and my husband’s life. It was a huge impact on me and the person I became,” said Camp, who recently started YesterQueer, the Tarrant County LGBTQ+ History Project, with a mission similar to The Dallas Way. “We did a pop-up exhibit during Trinity Pride, which was a look back at 30 years of Q Cinema from our archives. We’re bringing that back and it’ll be in the lobby. I’m super excited about that, as well.”
Tickets to individual screenings are $15 and weekend passes to the three-day festival are $125. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For the complete schedule and more details about Q Cinema’s return, visit trinitypridefw.org