Director: Tina Romero
Unclassified 15+ | 1:39:00 | USA | 2025 | English
Gay | Lesbian | Queer | Trans
Comedy | Horror
MQFF OPENING NIGHT EXTRAVAGANZA
Presented in partnership with Palace Cinemas and Collins Place.
Screens with Pitch, Pleez! winning short Flight Risk directed by Mohammad Awad.
“A Zombie Farce That Wears Its Bedazzled Heart on Its Sleeve” – Variety
When zombies crash a Brooklyn warehouse party, a fierce crew of gays, lesbians, trans folks, drag queens, club kids, and messy frenemies drop the drama, grab their sequin-encrusted heels, and slay—literally.
Step into the eerie stillness of an empty mall as MQFF 2025 opens with Queens of the Dead—a dazzling queer apocalyptic zombie survival tale directed by visionary debut filmmaker Tina Romero, the rightful heir to horror legend George A. Romero.
Party with the brightest starts living and fabulously undead, as we herald in a bold, innovative chapter in queer cinema. This stunning cult phenomenon expertly marries biting horror with sharp wit, delivering the kind of queer representation we have been longing for and features a stacked iconic cast including Margaret Cho, Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Dominque Jackson (Pose), Cheyenne Jackson, Jack Haven (I Saw The TV Glow), and Nina West.
Join us for this fully catered celebration thanks to our partners Melbourne Gin Company and Treasury Wines, with a post-screening party at Collins Place atrium, and you might even bump into a few very special guests (wink).
MQFF Opening Night pays homage to the queens who braved the streets in drag when cross-dressing was illegal, but for one day on Halloween—when drag balls occurred despite oppression, and for a single evening, queer utopias were realised.
Dress Code: Your Queer Utopia
*For content warnings, please see content advice.
DIR: Mohammad Awad
When Muhammad is “randomly selected” for airport interrogation—again—they expect the usual racism. But when accused of joining ISIS and questioned for the Milo in their bag, the pressure mounts, and Muhammad is faced with an impossible choice: come out to strangers before telling their own mother or find another way. Darkly funny and radical, this sharp, satirical Pitch, Pleeze! winning short flips the script on surveillance, identity, and dignity. Muhammad may be a menace—but they’re no terrorist.