Lesbian Films and Media: The curation of the Lesbain Lives Film LineUp
An Interview with Meghan McDonough By Mel Oliver

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To complement the launch of the WMM Lesbian Lives Virtual Film Festival, in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom, we’re sharing an Interview with curator of the conference lineup, contributor to Sinister Wisdoms 2026 calednar and Independent filmmaker Meghan McDonough!

I spoke with filmmaker and journalist Meghan McDonough over Zoom in the aftermath of the Lesbian Lives Conference, where she curated a striking and expansive film program that continues to resonate beyond the event itself. As part of a virtual film festival presented by Women Making Movies, the selected films are available to stream from December 22–29, offering audiences a rare opportunity to engage with lesbian cinema that is intimate, international, and deeply rooted in lived experience.
Our conversation unfolded as both a reflection on Meghan’s first time curating a program of this scale and a broader meditation on queer film festivals as sites of connection, discovery, and collective care. From volunteer labor and international networks to works-in-progress screenings and audience dialogue, Meghan speaks thoughtfully about what it means to build cinematic spaces where lesbian histories, futures, and everyday lives can be seen and felt.

Q- Mel: Meghan thank you so much for speaking with me, I’m still reeling from the conference and all the wonderful connections that started and rooted themselves deeper. I was looking forward to the films and found the theatre to be a sanctuary itself within the rhythm of the conference. Each time I caught a showing I immediately felt wonder, seen and entranced by watching these stories with a room full of lesbians. I wonder, was this your first time Curating a program like this?

A-Meghan: Yes, it was a totally new experience for me. Old Lesbians, was the first independent film that I’ve directed, so that came at the end of 2023, and that was my introduction into the world of film festivals as a filmmaker.
I had been to several events like this in the last couple years, but it was my first time being on the programming side of things.
And, yeah, it definitely gave me a lot of appreciation for all the volunteer work that goes on behind the scenes, not just in terms of film curation but in terms of conferences too!
I was so impressed by all the volunteers that were making everything happen, a really monumental achievement and it was a lot of fun! Lesbian and queer film is my favorite topic so it was just a great excuse for me to explore new, great lesbain films I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Q- Mel: Wow, that's fantastic! What guided your choices when curating the film lineup for Lesbian Lives? What were your thoughts, feelings and emotions?

A-Meghan: Like when I first started stepping into curating it? I was definitely very excited, to try to figure out how the puzzle pieces work together, how the films might complement each other in a program like this. I was excited to showcase films that I had already seen and wanted people to see and I was super interested to delve into others that I had never heard of.
It was a mix of submissions and then reaching out to filmmakers, whose work I’d seen at other festivals or just were recommended to me by friends in this community.
As someone in the audience, films I enjoy the most are ones that make me laugh and cry ideally. So I’m always looking for stories that feel nuanced and personal to the filmmaker’s experience, whether, place specific or identity specific and I think that specificity lends itself to powerful emotions that resonate in the audience.
I also wanted the scope to be as international as possible given the theme of the conference, “The Lesbian International: Creating Networks of Knowledge Across Space and Time”,So I spent time looking to see what films festivals around the world programmed.

Mel: Yes, the films I was able to see (Es la reducción mínima del abismo (15 min) directed by Delfina Romero Feldman and Ferro’s
Bar (24 min) co-directed by Aline A. Assis, Fernanda Elias, Nayla Guerra, Rita Quadros.) during the conference were in different languages and gave such a layered, exuberant look into enclaves of lesbian lives in places that I’d never heard of and I really appreciated the non-US context, it felt mystical, to see lesbians carving space wherever, whenever!

Meghan: We really are everywhere. And I think in a lot of ways other countries support independent filmmakers in a more robust way.
So, yeah, it definitely felt like a magical discovery process and I love meeting other filmmakers and film enthusiasts too.
That's been one of my favorite parts of showing Old Lesbians at festivals is getting to see the choices the other performers have made, and getting to watch those films together. One of the films I showed, Saigon Kiss, shout out to my friend, Hồng Anh Nguyen. She is from Germany, but lives in Vietnam.
And we met at a film festival last year. I loved her film then, so I wanted to make sure that I included it in this program. Just a glimpse of lesbian life that I was not privy to before and film is a really great vehicle for that

Q- Mel: Oh absolutely, thank you. Next, can you talk about the conversations you had with collaborators that helped shape the final line up? Were there moments that surprised you?

A-Meghan: I did bounce some ideas off Julie, but yeah, I was the main film curator. But I started with the submissions and those were great and honestly very difficult choices. There was a lot of work I was really impressed by and a lot of filmmakers I was made aware of, so I was honored to watch all the samples that people sent in.
Tzeli, a Greek filmmaker, who I met by way of our films being screened together a few times, and for the first time when it screened in Lesbos, where she is from. So of course, I wanted her film called Lesvia about the Isle of Lesbos in the program.
In all, I wanted the final lineup to be a mix of films I’d seen at festivals in the last couple years and works that I wasn’t aware of and came up on my radar through submissions.

Mel: Wow okay, A lot of power!

Meghan: Yeah, I was like, whoa. Okay, I had also never been to an event where we had a work in progress screening, so there were a lot of new surprising things that actually worked out so well!
I know as a filmmaker that most of us are working on something new or multiple projects at the same time and I found in my residency with BRIC in Brooklyn, we ended with a work in progress screening, and we got feedback from the audience. I found that super helpful and wanted to bring that atmosphere to Lesbian Lives.s an independent filmmaker it can be a very
isolating process, and I found that as much as you’re able to engage your work with audiences and talk to people about it the better.

Mel: Mmm. That’s amazing to hear, it kind of goes into a later question of mine. I very much admire you using the tools you learned and putting them to action, as an aspiring filmmaker whose like, where are these films going to go? This gave me a little nudge!

Meghan: Yeah, you just kind of do it and then have people see it before it's actually finished and alleviate some of that tension, at least for me, so that's a good start and can be super motivating because you can get out of your head. So I definitely encourage you to share your work as much as you can

Mel: Ahah exactly! Thank you!

Q- Mel: For conversation flow, my next question, if you could dream forward, what would an ideal lesbian queer film festival look like? Or what have the ones you’ve been to been like?

A-Meghan: I would say my favorite film festivals are the ones that involve industry talks and an educational component.
Ones that involve a lot of networking, meals, mixers and gathering opportunities for filmmakers outside of the showings. Hearing from people who work in distribution, artists giving talks on their craft, because I think the best festivals are the ones that have established and emerging filmmakers present. Ideally a place for learning and collaborations to start.
Like, last year, at the Palm Springs Short Fest, which was a great festival, I met a friend and collaborator and we are co-directing a documentary about queer archives around the world. I think the intergenerational component is also important, because there aren’t many spaces where lesbians of different ages get to be in conversation.[At lesbian lives] There was so much going on and it felt like everyone who was there was either volunteering or participating in a panel. So I think when everyone is invested in that way, when they’re bringing their own skill and knowledge to the space , everyone’s learning from each other and that's the best setting to be in!

Q- Mel: Yes, yes I totally agree! Riffing off that question a little more, how do you imagine lesbian and queer festivals evolving?

A-Meghan: Accessibility!
I think since COVID a lot of festivals have a hybrid model. So they have programming for screenings and talks in person and virtual which is a great model to keep.
Most major cities in the U.S. now have a queer film festival, some well known ones; Newfest in New York, Frameline in San Francisco, Old Lesbian played at a festival called Out South in Durham North Carolina, and there's also Wicked Queer in Boston.
They are kind of all over, and for the most part volunteer run, it’s just people who are really passionate about this, making it happen. So I think accessibility can be a challenge due to lack of funding that these organizations can get, so the more support then the better because there is a lot of value to getting people there in person.
I”ve only been in the independent film space for the last two and a half years, but to dream forward I would like to see more dedicated funds for queer filmmakers of color specifically.
I think its really important that people who are telling stories and are telling stories about a specific experience have the lived experience themselves.
Realities and truth can get distorted, otherwise which really changes the public perception in the way that's inaccurate. And yeah, every filmmaker comes with their own perspective. So the more diverse viewpoints that we can get out there the better because it's just reflective of the world we live in.
There’s still a lot of representation gaps, so the more funds that create space to support these voices the better.

Q- Mel: Mm I feel that struggle consistently. As we come to the end of our conversation I am interested in any memorable moments within your experience.

A-Meghan: Moments in General?
I really enjoyed the Q&A portion for the films during the conference. I didn’t know how the conversations were going to work out but there were some really thoughtful questions from the audience and answers from the filmmakers that came.
Although you try to curate and be there for everything that can go wrong, there is bound to be technical failure, which unfortunately happened while I was out of the theater. So another memorable moment–because it's a lesbian conference, of course a friend stepped in (shout out Cheryl Furjanic) and saved the day, and that felt amazing!
That's the great part of being in a community in a safe space is people step up and make things happen. So even though I was intimidated going into this, as a younger filmmaker, never having curated a filmfest program, I felt really safe and in good hands with everyone as well as the audience.

Mel: I’m so happy for you, and glad this was your first experience!

Q- Mel: Before we go, do you have any guiding principles that you would give to emerging filmmakers or folks looking to curate a film festival?

A-Meghan: Be open to films from all different sources. I think subscribing to independent film newsletters is a good way to learn about films, go to as many events and festivals as you can!
For curating, I think it's the better problem to have too many good films you have to narrow down. And try to do as much as you can as early as possible so you can leave a buffer for making sure you get materials, description and technical information on time, leading up to the event.
Also, be open to delegating things. I moderated some of the Q&A’s, but also some of the attendees did an incredible job moderating, so that was wonderful. Do what you can to create a dynamic space for everyone to be an active part of what you're building.

Mel: Meghan, what a wonderful opportunity talking with you! Thank you for speaking with me and I loved the films I saw during the conference. You did a magnificent job and I admire your gusto for taking this on! Those 4 days are going to stick with me for the rest of my life! One last plug for those who will be reading – I want to know – are there any films that you’re excited about seeing, or any films from festivals you’ve been to you’d recommend?

A-Meghan: Saigon Kiss (dir. Hồng Anh Nguyễn) and Lesvia (dir. Tzeli Hadjidimitriou) are actually the only ones on that list that I saw at festivals– Palm Spring ShortFest and BFI Flare respectively. I also really liked Iris Brey's series Split and Rosanagh Griffith's Dope Fiend at BFI Flare. And this isn't a queer film necessarily, but I loved Vidhya Iyer's Giving Mom the Talk at Cleveland International Film Festival. Plus I Could Dom (dir. Madison Hatfield) and Spermicide (dir. Cat Davis) at the same fest.

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Meghan also recommends all the films from the Conference lineup: (p. 8-9 of The Lesbian Lives Conference program )–

The films Meghan curated for the Lesbian Lives Conference reflect her commitment to specificity, emotional resonance, and global lesbian presence stories that make space for laughter, grief, tenderness, and recognition across borders and generations. The full Women Making Movies virtual program is available to stream during the week of December 22–29, inviting viewers to encounter films that might otherwise remain unseen, yet linger long after the credits roll.
Meghan’s own award-winning documentary short, Old Lesbians, is a loving, attentive portrait of lesbian elders and the worlds they have built, sustained, and passed forward. The film has screened internationally at festivals and institutions including the British Film Institute, the California State Capitol, and the American LGBTQ+ Museum, and was featured on the 2024 IDA Documentary Awards Best Short Documentary Shortlist. A still from Old Lesbians also appears in the Sinister Wisdom 2026 Calendar, to which Meghan proudly contributed.
You can learn more about Watch Old Lesbians here

Visit Meghan's Official Website to follow her ongoing work and find her on Instagram @mmdonough3.