The Appalachian Queer Film Festival: A Celebration of Queer/Trans Euphoria

The AQFF, now in its tenth year, continues to be be a source of joy in a region that sometimes struggles to acceptance the queer and trans folks in its midst.

For the past two years I’ve been proud to be part of the planning committee for the Appalachian Queer Film Festival. As someone whose roots run deep in the hills of West Virginia — and, of course, as a queer person — this festival means so much to me. It’s been particularly wonderful to see it go from success to success, with growing attendance, positive word of mouth, and robust merchandise sales.

Most of the credit, however, has to go to J. Gallienne and Jon Matthews, the co-directors, who continue to be wizards when it comes to getting this festival off the ground year after year.

This year marked our 10th anniversary, and we were honored to be hosted by Shepherd University and the broader city of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, located in our state’s eastern panhandle. In just two days we managed to show a remarkable variety of films, from documentary shorts to narrative features and everything in between. It was so exciting and validating to be in a room full of other queer folks seeing queer and trans…