The first Director, John Badalu, who is a freelancer in both arts management and journalism,[2] said that, as many of the organisers were from an LGBT background, it was decided instead to screen a wider selection of high quality films from across Asia, and the rest of the world, that drew public attention to the issue of sexuality.
As a result, Q-Munity decided to make the film screening their annual activity, and planned to tour the QFS to other cities in Indonesia.
As the first-ever LGBT film festival organised in a predominantly Muslim country, Q-Munity members faced death threats from a strong Islamic group.
[4] The Festival organisers said that the government board of censorship has itself not been supportive towards the nature of the event, whilst commercial sponsors have rejected any connection with "gay issues", partly on security grounds.
It was therefore financed from the start through the savings of Q-Munity members, supplemented by non-commercial private donations and the help of foreign cultural institutions that hired out their venues free of charge.
That year's Festival was attended by 4,000 people, and included many fringe events such as a painting exhibition from Agung Kurniawan, a photo exhibition by six gay and lesbian photographers, a literature talk by a New York novelist, Jamie James, three panel discussions and four international guests, from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan, attending the festival.