QWOCMAP - Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project

Mission

Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP) creates, exhibits
and distributes new films that address the vital social justice issues
that concern queer women of color. We actively invest in, develop and
nurture the leadership and creativity of Asian Pacific Islander,
Black/African American, Chicana/Latina, Native/American Indian and
Mixed-Race lesbian, bisexual, queer and questioning women. Our free
programs guarantee full access to our community, especially to
low-income and immigrant queer women of color. Our work increases the
arts participation, civic engagement and visibility of our community
to transform film and diversify the cultural fabric of society. Our
vision nurtures queer women of color filmmakers as artist/activist
leaders to create systemic change through art, activism and community
building.

Programs

QWOCMAP provides professional training, equipment, screening
opportunities, resources and career and leadership development free of
charge to queer women of color. We operate three artistically
significant programs that promote social justice for our historically
marginalized communities: Since 2003, over 140 films have been created
through our free filmmaker Training Program, single-handedly
increasing the number of films created by queer women of color. Our
free annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival became the largest
event of its kind in the nation through a combination of film and
activism with public discussion and civic engagement. Our Distribution
Program links works by, for, and about queer women of color to local,
national and international audiences hungry to see their communities
authentically represented in film.

Our Training Program was launched in 2000 by award-winning filmmaker
and community activist Madeleine Lim.  Our free 16-week workshops
demystify filmmaking to make it accessible to queer women of color as
an art form and activist tool. Each year, QWOCMAP provides
professional training in screenwriting, film directing and
digitalvideo production and equips 40 queer women of color with the
artistic and technical skills to create high-caliber films. These
personally poignant, socially relevant and politically insightful
works have screened at international film festivals around the world
and won juried awards.

Our Exhibition Program began in 2003 with a free screening of QWOCMAP
films that drew standing-room-only crowds to the SF LGBT Community
Center. In 2005, our packed annual one-night screening expanded into
the 1st Queer Women of Color Film Festival. In 2007, our weekend event
moved to the 375-seat Brava Theater to better accommodate community
demand. By 2008, it had expanded into a three-day event that attracted
almost 2,000 people -- queer women of color and our families, friends
and allies. Decisively different from traditional film festivals, the
Queer Women of Color Film Festival combines innovative filmmaking, art
and activism with public dialogue and civic engagement. It
consistently attracts diverse audiences who yearn to see reflections
of their lives. In addition to showcasing new films completed through
the Training Program, the Film Festival also screens films by queer
women of color filmmakers from around the world.

Since 2004, our Distribution Program has expanded audiences for
QWOCMAP films beyond the Bay Area and heightened the local, national,
and international visibility of queer women of color
filmmakers. QWOCMAP films have screened at film festivals across the
U.S. and North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia.  QWOCMAP
serves additional audiences through domestic and international film
festivals, arts organizations, cultural events, universities and
community groups who seek to attract queer women of color to their
programs. Requests pour in from Toronto to Turin to contract QWOCMAP
to curate screening programs and purchase films.  QWOCMAP films are
also streamed on www.qwocmap.org to make them available outside the
traditional film festival circuit.

QWOCMAP
59 Cook Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
415.752.0868 :: www.qwocmap.org :: events@qwocmap.org