The Beloit Queer Shorts Film Festival, a collaboration between the college and Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF), takes place in the Weissberg Auditorium on April 4, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event, coordinated by Beloit alum and Visiting Instructor of Media Studies Rick Rose’s Content Creation and Marketing Class, is a part of the Impact Beloit initiative which gives students real world experience while strengthening the bond between the college and overall Beloit community.

This is the Beloit Queer Shorts Festival’s second year celebrating LGBTQ+ voices in film from across the world. Over the past two years, the festival has received over 500 submissions, with finalists from countries such as Bolivia, Russia, Poland, United Arab Emirates and Spain.

The class worked to advertise the festival to local and international filmmakers, design and create merchandise, and coordinate panel discussions. “I had event planning experience before but I have never been in such a large team like this when the entire class is involved in the preparation process,” says Trang Tran ’25. “It’s been interesting to see everyone going into different places, completing different tasks, working with new people so we can all achieve the same goal.”

Student judges also helped to select the 11 finalists. The award winners among this group will be presented at the festival. Filmmaker Ernie Zahn, whose “Liminal Spaces” was selected as a finalist, traveled from New York to attend the festival. He will speak to the class earlier in the day, a talk that will be open to the public.

The festival will kick off at 7 p.m. with a panel discussion, including faculty representatives and executives from Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and Students for an Inclusive Campus (SIC). Then, at 7:30 p.m. the selected short films will be shown and awards presented. After the festival ends at 9:00 p.m., an after-party will be held in the Stack, on the fourth floor of the Powerhouse.

More information about the films and event’s mission can be found on Instagram at @biff_queer_shortfilm. Admission is free for Beloit College students and tickets can be found on beloitfilmfest.org.