Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a movie screening event that takes place each October in Tampa, Florida. The primary venue is the Tampa Theatre, but several other cinemas in or near the downtown area and in St. Petersburg simultaneously host the event as well. While most of the films focus on homosexual themes, some films explore other areas of human sexuality including transgender issues and gender roles.

The mission of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is to, "continually showcase selections of compelling film and relevant digital media that Entertain, Empower, and Enlighten a diverse audience by, for or regarding the LGBT community and its supporters through the sharing of personal experiences surrounding thoughtful discussion".

The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) was founded in 1989 by representatives of several groups: The Tampa Bay Business Guild (TBBG), the Bay Area Human Rights Coalition, and the Tampa Bay Gay Men's Chorus. Started in 1990 as a 3-day extension of Tampa's gay pride celebrations, the festival grew to become the fifth largest gay and lesbian film festival in the United States. After the 1999 festival, the festival's core team of volunteers organized themselves as the Friends of the Festival, Inc., a nonprofit 501c(3) entity.

Friends of the Festival now produces year-round programming, which includes a Film Series from January through August, year-round outreach screenings, and the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in October.

Much of the success of the Film Festival continues to be driven by a large pool of volunteers who carry out a multitude of festival tasks, which include major fund raisers, screenings, a committee to preview and select films with the Programming Director, staffing of multiple events throughout the Film Festival, post festival wrap-up, reporting, and updating of the database.

In November 2006, Chuck Henson was hired as Executive Director. He departed following the successful conclusion of the Festival's 20th anniversary in December 2009. The current Executive Director is Larry Biddle

In 2009, Friends of the Festival established its first endowment trust: the Friends of the Festival Fund, which was created with a gift of $151k from the estate of Alan Dusowitz. The endowment fund is managed by the Tampa Community Foundation.

For the 2007 event, seventy films from more than 20 countries were included in the line-up of the 18th annual Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The festival ran for 11 days.

Additional events related to the annual film festival include, the Presidents Reception (Opening Night), Festival Gala, Frisky Friday (Women's) Party, Saturday Surge (Men's) Party, Festival Awards Brunch, and Business Guild Expo. Additionally a "festival" atmosphere is maintained outside the Tampa Theatre throughout the event.

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