Institutional engagement with queer cinema visibility: State funding and festival programming in Taiwan

This article examines institutional and cultural conditions shaping queer cinema in Taiwan through two forces: the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF) and the Domestic Feature Film Guidance Fund (DFFGF). Analysing their programming and funding from the 1990s to the 2020s reveals that support for queer cinema has been neither linear nor uniformly progressive, but rather conditioned by shifting politics, activism and institutional constraints. Although both institutions experienced moments of retreat, DFFGF’s engagement was more fragmented, often tied to the prestige of key creative personnel, international reputation or broader state strategies. TGHFF, though inconsistent, more often served as a curatorial ally, responding to queer activism and helping to shape queer space in Taiwan. The article, therefore, argues that, in Taiwan, queer visibility depends not only on activism but also on cultural allies and the strategic mobilization of national narratives in response to the relatively conservative stance of state institutions.