Vancouver-based charity and queer arts organization Out On Screen has created a program to foster a new generation of film festival curators.

The inaugural Programming Disruptor Fellowship is a training and mentorship initiative for film programmers who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour (BIPOC) or 2SLGBTQIA+.

Led by Out On Screen’s artistic director Charlie Hidalgo (pictured), the program aims to shepherd new talent into the film programming field that is “in critical need of diversification, in order to further the dignity, liberty, and justice of BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ identities,” according to a news release.

Three emerging film programmers will be selected to participate in the fellowship. They will receive $10,000 and the opportunity to be part of the curation of the 2023 Vancouver Queer Film Festival, which will take place from Aug. 10 to 20, 2023.

The fellowship will unfold virtually with masterclasses, workshops and programming meetings running from February to July. Participants are also expected to attend the festival in person, and will be credited as festival programmers.

Hidalgo said in a statement that “the choices that curators make define whose voices are heard, whose narratives are seen, and what communities are celebrated,” adding that “historically, the pool of film programmers have been predominantly male-dominated, cisgender, straight, white, and middle-class, so stories that don’t feel ‘mainstream’ get pushed to the margins.”

He adds that the “fellowship will empower BIPOC 2SLGBTQIA+ curators to give a platform to the voices that are questioning systems of oppression and reshaping our culture.”

Operating on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sə̓ lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Out On Screen is a registered charity and queer arts organization, with a mission to celebrate and showcase queer stories through film, education and dialogue.

Image courtesy of Out On Screen