Festival Director's Welcome.

Greg Thorpe

The image shows a man with short curly hair and a beard, smiling while seated in an outdoor garden at sunset. The background features blooming flowers and a structure with columns entwined with climbing plants.

Hello friends, and welcome to the GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival for 2024.

It's a big one! This year we present 25 in- ternational features and 10 eclectic shorts programmes over five days, including Irish, European and World Premieres. We have mas- terclass conversations with filmmakers, actors, musicians and gamers. We present forgotten gay artists, lesbians from Lesbos, trans women on the catwalk, and trans guys in the sauna. We celebrate Black queer artistry, Bollywood musicals, and old lesbians. We bring you a bisexual music icon, a nude beach, a drag dramedy and queer cheerleaders. We interro- gate taboos and we celebrate resistance. We also offer a workshop for film critics, a get-to- gether for festival-goers and filmmakers, four parties (at the last count), a brand new ticketing system for festival bundles and offers, and of course world class cinema from end to end.

We've an incredibly talented team at the helm to bring you this year's event, so let me say thank you and welcome to new Festival Manager Sam Ahern, new Marketing Manager Jack O'Dea, and new Festival Intern, Mayra Xavier. Your commitment, excellence and imagination has re-ignited our enthusiasm. Thank you also to Assistant Programmer James Hudson for consistently unearthing cinematic treasure, and Samuel Foxton who has been with GAZE for over ten incredible years. Samuel not only makes sure we secure 100+ pristine cinema files to enjoy every year, but he is also the talented artist behind our stunning annual festival trailer. Thank you Samuel.

We've also expanded our Board of Trustees, welcoming an amazing team of individuals ded- icated to strengthening and future-proofing this great festival. We are lucky to have all of you and I give you each my heartfelt gratitude. There has b een sad news too since our last get-together. In October, GAZE lost a dear friend and Ireland lost an icon and trail-blazer when the irrepressible and irreplaceable Edmund Lynch sadly died. We honour Ed's memory at this year's festival with a screening of his ground-breaking documentary, A Different Country, where his work and legacy will be remembered and celebrated. Aside from being at the forefront of queer cinema, the most rewarding thing about directing a film festival is sharing the platform through collaboration. This year we have a plethora of partnerships; some new, others longstanding; bringing comradeship, diversity and community to our programme. A huge GAZE thank you to Queer Spectrum Film Festival, Sporting Pride, Iris Prize, Leathermen of Ireland, Small Trans Library Dublin, aemi, Gay Health Network, TENI, Bealtaine Festival, and Queer Cinema For Palestine.

Above all we have a renewed sense of vigour and excitement to share all things cutting-edge, challenging and fun from the world of LGBTQIA cinema with you, our audience. This is my third year directing GAZE and it has been a genuine privilege and adventure from the very beginning. Only last summer, Ed Lynch - always the committed GAZE supporter - spoke in one of our workshops. Don't forget that you can change the culture, he reminded us. So let's do that, and let's change it for the better.

We'll see you in the cinema.