Notre Dame Queer Film Festival - 2004

2004

The first Notre Dame Queer Film Festival ran from February 11, 2004–February 14, 2004 on the campus of The University of Notre Dame. All films were shown at the Hesburgh Library Auditorium. The festival was sponsored by The Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College (GALA-ND/SMC) as well as several university academic departments, including the Department of Film, Television, and Theater, Department of English, Department of Anthropology, Gender Studies Program, and OutreachND (an unrecognized gay and lesbian student group).

The original official mission of the festival was to promote discussion and awareness of queer films in a context of acceptance of all sexualities at the University of Notre Dame, and, in the words of Liam Dacey, co-founder and festival student chair, to "normalize the existence of gay students on this campus and offer to the entire community the opportunity to enjoy and study the extraordinary accomplishment of gay cinema artists in the United States." The other co-founder, Richard Friedman, a fifth year architecture and psychology major, worked to establish University and community support and to promote the event. After gaining the support of academic departments, the Queer Film Festival was sanctioned an official academic event. Notre Dame, under president Rev. Edward Malloy, C.S.C., allowed the festival to occur on the principle of academic freedom. As stated by Richard Friedman at the time, "You have to understand what a breakthrough this is - the University's administration had even barred gay groups from advertising in the student newspaper."

Liam Dacey, a senior film major at the time, worked with Gus Hinojosa, co-founder and GALA ND/SMC Chair, to raise funds, attract national filmmakers, and seek community support. Other notable GALA ND/SMC members who worked on the festival included David Pais and Kevin Heffernan.

In a 2004 interview, Dacey said: "We want to create an awareness that the gay members of the Notre Dame community are members like anyone else. We also wanted to exhibit a lot of different films by gay artists that you wouldn't normally see."

On February 11, 2004, the documentary Jim in Bold screened with producer Malcolm Lazin and Young Gay America co-founders Mike Glatze and Scott MacPhae. On February 12, 2004, Hedwig and the Angry Inch was shown to a sold-out audience. A question and answer session followed with director and star John Cameron Mitchell. Go Fish was shown on February 13, 2004 with an introduction by Notre Dame Professor Jill Godmilow. The final day of the festival featured two films and talkbalk sessions: All Over the Guy with producer/star Dan Bucatinsky, and The Opposite of Sex with director Don Roos.

Three panels also took place during the festival. Tom O'Neil led a panel called "Gay Hollywood: Still in the Closet" on February 12, 2004. Don Roos hosted a screenwriting workshop on February 13, 2004, and Ron Gregg, Programming Director and Lecturer for the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, moderated an academic panel entitled "Film and the Construction of Sexual Identity" on February 14, 2004.

The Queer Film Festival attracted national media attention and was covered in such outlets as The Chicago Tribune and The Fox News Channel. Dacey said at the end of the festival that ""it's been the best weekend I've had at Notre Dame."