Understanding the (non)audience of queer film festivals.

Queer film festivals have become important cultural platforms that celebrate LGBTQ+ identities while also promoting activism, visibility, and community engagement. Despite ongoing challenges such as global discrimination and recent legal setbacks impacting queer communities, these festivals continue to function as alternative spaces that challenge mainstream narratives and heteronormative frameworks. This thesis aims to understand if queer film festivals successfully function as empowering spaces for the queer community while engaging non-queer audiences. It explores multiple themes including festivals as cultural institutions and as sites of activism, community and cultural space, the public sphere and counterpublic, as well as audience engagement. This research was conducted using survey, a quantitative method of data collection.