Queer and trans filmmakers submitted many pieces for the Queer Film Festival that is taking place in downtown Corvallis at the Darkside Cinema for three days. The short films and documentaries showcased are entertaining as well as educational.

The founder of the festival, Bradley Boovy, started it four years ago. For him, creating a place for queer and trans filmmakers to showcase their work was a great way to start conversations, especially in Corvallis.

“I think Corvallis for it’s size is a really good film scene, you think of international festivals: there’s a crossroads going on right now and the Darkside really makes a lot of that possible. Because of that it seems that it was a great place and a great community to start the queer film festival,” Boovy said. “I think that part hasn’t changed much from what it is now, it’s to start up a conversation right? A conversation about queer and trans-narratives and experiences and their representation in film and to showcase the really awesome and diverse work of queer and trans filmmakers.”

It’s not often that queer and trans filmmakers to have the opportunity to show off their work in film festivals, which is why Juan A. Trujillo, coordinator for world languages and cultures at OSU, believes that that’s what this festival provides.

“One of the things that I’d like to see is an opportunity for queer and trans-identified filmmakers to be able to show their work. Because a lot of the times the topics that we’re working with are not really popular or acceptable for some of the other kinds of film festivals,” Trujillo said. “We’re looking for the opportunity to share our experiences with other people who find some resonance with that. So I wanted to participate partly to provide an opportunity for other filmmakers to have their work seen by an audience who understands what it is that they’re trying to communicate.”

Darkside Theater Manager Joey Bauer hosts the Queer Film Festival because it also provides a connection from filmmaker to audience. It’s not often that an audience can genuinely relate and understand the content being showcased is available for the LGBT community, so he is happy to provide that outlet.

“Corvallis is known as to be sort of a progressive community and so to have this available for people, I think it’s important because otherwise they wouldn’t know about it, or they wouldn’t see it and it’s a community that is there and for them to be known and their art to be shown. I think that that’s something special.”