GAZE are proud to announce that former Assistant Programmer, Seán McGovern has taken over from Roisín Geraghty as Head of Programming at the GAZE Film Festival.
McGovern, who is based in London and Dublin, has an extensive background in programming LGBT+ cinema. He has programmed with Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest and is part of the Short Film programming team at the BFI London Film Festival. He gained experience as part of the festival production team at BFI Flare and as an independent film programmer at London’s historic Cinema Museum.
Chair of Board, Sarah Williams says:
‘’GAZE is about visibility, advocacy, remembrance and sharing a vision for the future. We are passionate about providing a platform for new International and Irish LGBT films and are thrilled to welcome Seán to the team in this new capacity, leading our 2020 Programme. Seán joined us last year as Assistant Programmer during our 2019 Festival, and the Board are confident we are in very safe hands moving into our 28th year.’’
Regarding his appointment McGovern says:
“It is an honour to be appointed Head of Programming at GAZE, the first film festival I ever attended many years ago. GAZE has developed to become a prestigious international film festival, with a level of programming highly regarded by all kinds of festivals and filmmakers. But at its core is a need to tell stories, to put our lives on screen, and to feel part of a community - united by our love of film.”
What to expect from GAZE 2020:
McGovern: “Evolution not revolution - I have the privilege of taking over a world-class festival, and intend to keep it that way! But what we can look out for is greater diversity in the types of films we show, with an extended group of short film programmes - which I have always believed are the quintessential film festival experience. We will be introducing Experimental Shorts as well as a Sexy Shorts programme - the latter a perfect late-night screening. We know that each festival is determined by the films available, but we want that perfect mix of narrative features and documentaries, brilliant shorts programmes, challenging filmmaking and unabashed crowd-pleasers. There is no schematic of what a queer film festival needs to be - so why can’t it be everything?”
The 28th edition of GAZE takes place this August Bank Holiday weekend, at the Light House Cinema, IFI and the Project Arts Centre in Dublin.
Submissions for GAZE can be made via Filmfreeway and close on April 3rd, 2020.