MQFF OPENING NIGHT EXTRAVAGANZA

Presented in partnership with Palace Cinemas and Collins Place.

Dress Code: Your Queer Utopia

Join us for the MQFF’s Opening Night Extravaganza – a fully catered evening with open bar thanks to our friends at Melbourne Gin Company, Mountain Goat and Squealing Pig Wines. Enjoy complimentary popcorn and ice cream when you head into the cinema, followed by a sizzling post-screening party with food under the Louvre-inspired Collins Place atrium. Arrive for MQFF’s red-carpet followed by the opening ceremony, where Queens of the Dead star Dominique Jackson will be honoured (in-person!) with the inaugural MQFF Tribute. Following the screening, you’ll dance the evening with the fabulous DJ Tanzer, and guests of the festival until late.

FILM SYNOPSIS

“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.

Screens with Pitch, Pleez! winning short Flight Risk directed by Mohammad Awad.

HOMMAGE

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.

*For content warnings, please see content advice.