Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: A more accurate title would be: Am I The Homophobe. So here’s my situation; 

I’m an indie film Writer/Director, based in Australia. Myself and my crew have recently completed a short film, and have just launched our festival run. For this film, I was the Writer as well as Co-Director (important). It’s also worth note that our crew is full of very close friends, and there was no negativity or tension on-set.

For context, I’m a straight male. My Co-Director is female, and currently in a serious relationship with a woman. My Producer (male) is gay, and engaged to his partner. And my Assistant Director identifies as a lesbian. The four of us have the say on where the film is entered, festival wise.

Within the crew of roughly 20 people, I’d estimate that 6ish people openly identify as LGBTQ+. Like I said above, I’m the only person in one of the executive roles that is straight. 

There’s a particular festival that caught the other threes eyes when we were shortlisting. The festival is specifically for LGBTQ+ films or filmmakers. One of the entry rules is that your film must have some kind of LGBTQ+ themes/context OR you as a filmmaker must identify as LGBTQ+. Our film has absolutely nothing in it relating to the LGBTQ+ community, and this fact is something that all four of us agree on.

So the only way we’d be accepted, is if the key people identify as LGBTQ+. The problem is I don’t. Now the other three are fairly keen on the idea of entering the festival, but my concern would be that I’d either be assumed by the festival organisers/audience/media to be LGBTQ+ or that I’d be excluded from receiving awards, based on my sexuality. If my Co-Director were to win awards for OUR role in the film, and I wasn’t eligible, I feel like that’s somewhat discriminatory. Obviously this doesn’t sit well with me.

So AITA for opposing entering the festival? Should I support something that I can’t really be apart of?





not wanting my film in an LGBTQ+ festival