Lights, Camera, Tomboy Film Club!

Founded in 2025, Tomboy Film Club is a community of lesbians, bisexuals, and queer women who seek to put a spotlight on local sapphic media—be it on television, film, music, theater, literature, or any other medium. We advocate for more representation and visibility for queer women in Philippine media, as well as greater support for sapphic and queer creators.

Founder/s: Camille, Hannah, Eli, Ace
Founding Year: 2025

Let’s start easy. How would you introduce your group to a child? Get creative with colors, metaphors, or anything to spark their wonder! 

Fairly easy! We watch movies and TV shows, and sometimes those movies and TV shows have gay people in them.

What is one hill you would die on? Even if it’s controversial or goes against the grain of the typical queer or female experience, what is the one thing you refuse to compromise on? 

You don’t have to be queer to play queer roles, but you HAVE to know and understand and respect the responsibility of playing queer roles. 

“The hope is that the more visible we are, the more people will understand us, and from that understanding will stem legal rights and protection.”

Community building isn’t always rainbows. It’s hard work. What is one growing pain your group has faced, and how did you navigate it while keeping yourselves and your space safe?

Unfortunately, the realization that some within the community are gay but not queer.

What is one thing you still wish to see in the community? Whether it’s a physical space, a project, or a radical culture shift—tell us what’s missing and why you think it’s worth dreaming about. 

Mainstream representation. To see ourselves in primetime television, on free TV. The hope is that the more visible we are, the more people will understand us, and from that understanding will stem legal rights and protection.

Manifestation time! Name one Filipino queer or women-led initiative you wish to work with. What is it about their mission that sparks a fire in yours?

We might be a little too “Midnight Girls”-pilled at the moment, but if Direk Irene Emma Villamor wants to make a sapphic/tomboy film, then we will be there from Day 0.

The struggle is real, but it is shared. And there is love. There is hope. There is community! Why do you think it’s necessary to celebrate and insist on queer and female joy? When we laugh, dance, or exist peacefully together, what are we actually reclaiming? 

-Communal watching of a queer/female-led film, for example, creates in us a sense of belongingness. It’s as if we’re saying, “If the world refuses to give us space, then we’ll make it ourselves!”