Symposium: My Formative Queers
210 Mins
In keeping with the Festival’s “Formative Sound and Vision” theme, My Formative Queers turns its gaze — and gays — to music videos, those short films that captured the soundtracks of our youths. In particular, those queerly beloved music videos that reflected our emerging queer selves back at us for what might have been the first time.
Featuring a keynote by international guest of the fest, Darryl W. Bullock, author of David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music, this free event brings together speakers from university professors to national treasures, presenting short, moving and hilarious tales of the music videos whose queer representations, overt or otherwise, ignited, informed or, indeed, confirmed the glorious queer they were to become.
Be the first to hear the stories that will be published in a collected dossier in 2025 for esteemed online journal Senses of Cinema.
Supported by RMIT’s Design and Creative Practice Enabling Impact Platform, and conceived by MQFF Program Director Cerise Howard in cahoots with queer screen academics Patrick Kelly and Stayci Taylor, the storytellers include festival filmmakers and alumni, screen producers, writers, actors, designers and professors.
MC: Stayci Taylor
Keynote: Darryl W. Bullock
Speakers: Angie Black, Carol D'Cruz, Cerise Howard, Connor Mulvaney, Davey Thompson, Emily Gray, Kaali Maicha, Lucy Schmidt, Patrick Kelly, Pinar Fontini, Rohan Spong, Sandy O'Sullivan, Stuart Richards, Timothy Despina Marshall.
REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL.
ACMI Gandel Lab
Federation Square, Flinders Street
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
ACMI is located at Fed Square, Melbourne, on Flinders St between Swanston St and Russell St.
ACMI has two entrances: one on Flinders Street (look for the revolving door), and one at the top end of the Fed Square plaza.
ACMI has lifts at every level of the building.
Public Transport
Most of Melbourne’s trains and trams will take you to ACMI.
Our location at Fed Square sits opposite Flinders Street Station within Melbourne’s
Free Tram Zone.
BicyclesIf you plan to cycle to ACMI, you can lock your bike to purpose-built bicycle racks installed around the perimeter of Fed Square, but you’ll need to bring your own lock. You can’t bring your bike into ACMI itself.
Parking
Paid parking is available at the Fed Square carpark, located on the Russell Street Extension or via the second entrance off Batman Ave. It's a 2 minute (200m) walk from Fed Square car park to ACMI.
There is also a Wilson Parking at 172/192 Flinders St, directly opposite our Flinders Street entrance.
Lifts
Level 1 – Cinemas access
There are two lifts located on Level 1. As you enter from Fed Square, one is around the corner on your right, as you pass the Tickets and Information Desk and approach the stairs. If you make a hard right towards the cafe and bar and the Level 1 toilets, you will see the lift. This is the best lift option to reach the Cinemas level (Level 2).
Wheelchairs
If you use a wheelchair you can access all our spaces.
If you need to borrow a wheelchair for use inside the museum, present your ID at one of our Tickets and Information Desks on arrival and we’ll organise one for you free of charge.
Guide dogs
Guide Dogs and registered assistance animals are welcome throughout ACMI. But only registered animals.
Hearing loops
Free hearing devices are available for use in the ACMI Cinemas and Studios and can be borrowed on presentation of ID. Visit the Tickets and Information Desks on Level 1 or Ground Floor to arrange.
The devices come with headphones or connect with hearing aids via a neck loop. You can choose what you prefer.
Toilet Facilities
Toilets are located on Ground Floor and Level 1. We have wheelchair accessible toilets and gender neutral toilets on both levels.
Baby change facilities are available at the Flinders St (Ground Floor) and Fed Square (Level 1) entrances near the toilets.
