Eddy steps into film festival role

Hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours go into Melbourne’s largest queer film festival, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF).

From managing the 100 volunteers who are on the ground during the two-week event to ensuring the organisation stays afloat, it’s a hefty task for the festival’s skeleton staff.

But for new general manager Kylie Eddy it’s a task that’s lovingly undertaken.

Eddy has taken over the reins following the departure of former GM Danae Gibson in July.

As a filmmaker and former marketing manager for both the Melbourne Festival and MQFF, Eddy told the Star Observer she was honoured to take on the role.

“My first love is film, and specifically queer film,” she said.

“Having feature films and even short films that represent different slices of our queer life are hard to come by and having that as a shared experience has been really important.

“It might sound corny but it’s a real honour to be working for the festival because I love it so much.”

One challenge for Eddy and the MQFF team is the ensuring the festival is still relevant when films are so easily accessible online these days.

Eddy said the festival had to make sure they were listening to its audiences, but added the festival offered a shared experience for people to reconnect.

The MQFF team is working on some “exciting changes”, according to Eddy who could not divulge more but said it would set up MQFF for the next few years.

INFO: MQFF runs from March 14-24 201, visit mqff.com.au for more details