MQFF 2025: Melbourne Queer Film Fest Marks 35 Years With Star-Studded Program

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) has unveiled its 2025 program — a landmark 35th-anniversary edition celebrating decades of queer cinema, creativity and community.

Running from 13 to 23 November 2025, the festival — with the theme of Searching for Queer Utopias — will host its hub at Cinema NOVA in Carlton, while selected shorts and features stream nationally on MQFF+ from 14 to 30 November.

This year’s program features 35 Australian and 15 Victorian premieres, offering audiences a panorama of queer filmmaking talent drawn from major international festivals including Venice, Cannes, Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW, Frameline, NewFest and InsideOut.

MQFF Chief Executive Officer David Martin Harris said the 2025 season represents a major milestone for the festival.

“There’s an incredible lineup of award-winning and premiere cinema for the audience for our milestone 35th season,” they said. “We’re bringing back premium events for our opening and closing night in what is a purely contemporary program that looks at the current and future for LGBTQIA+ communities in Australia and globally.”

“Film gives us that mirror”

New Program Director Ro Bright said they were honoured to join MQFF this year, and that the program reflects both the diversity and depth of queer storytelling.

“This year, we’re seeing more filmmakers, particularly Indigenous, define and tell their own stories,” they said.

“We’re getting to see joy, tenderness, resilience and complex lives on screen, told by the people who are living those experiences. Everyone knows what it feels like to want to be seen, validated and loved as your full self – that’s not only a queer experience, it’s a human one. Film gives us that mirror.”

MQFF 2025 festival highlights

MQFF 2025 opens with a full-scale Collins Place Extravaganza, featuring the Victorian premiere of Queen of the Dead — a riotous queer zombie comedy from debut director Tina Romero, daughter of horror icon George A. Romero. The evening culminates in an after-party celebrating MQFF’s huge 35-year milestone.

Acclaimed Pose star Dominique Jackson will attend as a special guest to receive MQFF’s inaugural Tribute Award, recognising her remarkable impact on queer cinema and culture. On 14 November, Jackson joins author and media presenter Lillian Ahenkan (FlexMami) for An Audience with Dominique Jackson — a live conversation exploring advocacy, creativity and representation.

Celebrated Australian director Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; 52 Tuesdays) will present a Keynote Address ahead of the Victorian premiere of their new film Jimpa on15 November, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow.

On21 November, The Capitol hosts Indigiqueer Voices and The Ramon Te Wake Collection, a double-bill celebrating First Nations storytelling with short films from Australia, Aotearoa and Canada. The evening honours Indigiqueer excellence and connection to country, ancestors and body.

The MQFF Australian Shorts & Awards program returns, spotlighting inventive filmmakers redefining Australia’s cinematic landscape. The winner of the City of Melbourne Award for Best Australian Short will qualify as MQFF’s official selection for the Iris Prize, the world’s largest award for LGBTQIA+ short films.

Closing Night will see Melbourne Town Hall transformed for the Victorian premiere of Carmen Emmi’s Plainclothes, which was the winner of the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at Sundance. Starring Russell Tovey and Tom Blyth, the film’s ’90s setting and blended digital/lo-fi aesthetic deliver a raw, poetic take on queer desire that’s already being hailed as a new classic.

With its 35th edition, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival continues to champion authentic storytelling and community connection — expanding access through streaming, elevating emerging voices, and cementing its place as Australia’s longest-running celebration of queer film.