[2] One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymond Murray, describes QFest's mission as giving gay and lesbian audiences the opportunity to see films that accurately reflect their life experiences without the filter of the "straight" Hollywood system.
[3] There is a juried competition for best features and shorts (gay male and lesbian) as well as audience awards, selected by the viewers.
Due to lack of fundraising and the unavailability of Raymond Murray to lead the film programming, the festival was postponed and then canceled for the year.
[4] Due to the cancellation of the festival in 2014, Thom Cardwell, QFest head, and James Duggan announced that they would launching qFLIX Philadelphia to take its place.
[6] TLA had previously hosted an annual lesbian and gay film festival in the 1980s at the two cinemas the company ran in Philadelphia at that time: the TLA on South Street and the Roxy Screening Room on Sansom Street; however, it lacked the visibility, influence and longevity of the more recent festival.