Despite its counterculture origins, queer film as experienced in a lot of mainstream festivals often portrays LGBTQIA+ issues from a position of privilege, centering milestones of white middle-class queer life and depicting queer and trans people of color in a way that reinforces racist, classist, and misogynist ideologies.

 Tag! Queer Shorts Festival aims to disrupt the dominant narrative by centering the voices of BIPOC filmmakers in whatever way possible. We actively search social media and other sources for exceptional work by queer and trans filmmakers of color from around the world and offer fee waivers to artists whose economic and political situation keeps their films from being seen in bigger festivals.

In addition to prioritizing QTBIPOC filmmakers in our submission policies and main festival programming decisions, Tag! Queer Shorts Festival curates dedicated BIPOC programs, both live and online, to help more filmmakers find an audience. 

If you are a QTBIPOC filmmaker working with queer subject matter, we invite you to contact us directly to discuss ways we can support your journey. Similarly, we invite nonprofits and other organizations with a commitment to amplifying the voices of queer and trans people of color to contact us to explore ways we can collaborate to create opportunity for talented filmmakers of color.