>Top>A Brief History of TILGFF
The Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival was founded in 1993 as a division of Gay Art Project. At that time, influenced by a new wave of queer cinema, lesbian and gay related films enjoyed continuous theatrical release in Japan, and lesbian and gay people were often in the media spotlight.Since then, the TILGFF has continued to grow stronger with the strong demand for gay and lesbian films, the friendly support of the lesbian and gay community and a sincere audience.

The TILGFF not only premiers films by the likes of Greg Araki, Barbara Hammer, Chery Dunes and John Greyson, but also shows many Japanese queer films including those by Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Hiroyuki Oki and Toichi Nagata. The TILGFF has also regularly featured the queer cinema of particular countries, including Canada, Hong Kong, Israel,South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom, with strong support of the cultual institutions and embassies of these countries.

The TILGFF offers discusion programs with invited guests on topics like AIDS, the transgendered, queer life in tokyo, homosexuality in education and gay images on Japanese television. The TILGFF continues to improve the diversity of its program, offering a wide selection of films that transcend the boundaries of nationality, language and gender. We hope you enjoy our festival. See you soon.