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The 25th anniversary of the Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival is the weekend. WFYI’s Abriana Herron sat down with festival committee member Ted Letherer to talk about the history of the event and its impact in Indianapolis.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Abriana Herron: How did the Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival first get its start?
Ted Letherer: The first festival was back in 2001, — and this is a time when there wasn't a whole lot of representation of the queer community in the media — so it really was like festivals like this that really allowed people to center queerness in their stories. And so there were a couple other festivals that had started early around the country, and a group of people here were like, ‘Hey, we could have this in Indianapolis as well.’
Herron: So how has the festival evolved?
Letherer: Wow, if you kind of think about how society has evolved or changed, or just the attitudes towards the queer community has changed, we're starting to see like more representation of queer people. Maybe not mainstream media, but certainly like on Netflix or just like in social media and that kind of thing. And so how we've kind of have adapted is just really kind of like a focusing on just the different stories, making sure that different communities, different intersectionalities, are represented as well.
Just because we're seeing more queer people in mainstream media doesn't necessarily mean that everyone in the queer community is getting represented. Of course like we're thinking trans people. We're thinking Black people, Asian people, even communities outside the United States, which we really don't think about ‘how are they living?’ So we get films from all over the world.
Herron: What are some of the highlights or standout events attendees can look forward to at this year's festival?
Letherer: Premiere night, which is the seventh, we are going to be showing a documentary called “It’s Dorothy!,” which talks about Dorothy Gale, for Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” the importance of that character. Judy Garland, she was always beloved by the queer community, but it was her death, kind of coincided with the Stonewall riots and the first Pride. Of course, like the rainbow is like the, you know the most like known gay symbol or flag, which is related to over the rainbow, Wizard of Oz kind of thing.
The filmmaker, who is Jeffrey McHale, he may or may not be coming down. We're not really sure, but it would be really great if he does, so you can interact with him. Sunday, one of our favorite filmmakers, Kevin Hartford, is coming down from Halifax, Nova Scotia for his movie “To the Moon.” We have a Q&A with him afterward, so we're definitely looking forward to that.
Herron: What do you hope audiences take away from this year's milestone celebration?
Letherer: I hope that they take away just how big we are, our creativity, our culture and the importance of queer art and queer culture. But also how cool it is, right? Also it is important to support queer art and queer cinema. That's been true for more than 25 years for sure, but certainly has been true for all 25 years. I think it will continue to be true for the next 25 plus years as well. No matter how much progress I think that we're making, we need to continually step up and support the queer community, queer art, queer cinema.
Herron: Thank you so much, Ted.
Letherer: Yeah, thank you.
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