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This article first appeared on Queer Kentucky, a GLAAD-nominated nonprofit covering queer news in a deeply red state.
Every Memorial Day weekend, something extraordinary happens in Paducah: queer women from across the country and around the world gather for Cinema Systers Film Festival<, the only all-lesbian film festival in the United States. In a town known for quilting and riverboats, this four day celebration of lesbian filmmakers has quietly and powerfully carved out space for queer women in the arts—on their own terms.
Cinema Systers is more than a film festival. It’s a cultural gathering, a reunion, and a declaration: that lesbian voices belong, and that they deserve to be heard loudly—in rural places too. Since 2016, the festival has brought feature films, documentaries, comedies, horror, and more to Maiden Alley Cinema in downtown Paducah, with all works told through the lens of queer women. Founded by Laura Petrie after the closing of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Cinema Systers was born from a desire to plant something new—an “acorn,” as Petrie calls it—in her own hometown.
“I initially thought about showing films in a barn on my farm,” Petrie said. “When we saw how many women wanted to come, we knew we needed to move it downtown.” Maiden Alley Cinema welcomed them, and so did the city.
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It’s no small thing that this happens in Western Kentucky—a region that can be left out of statewide conversations about queerness. Paducah stands out: in 2018, the city passed a Fairness Ordinance protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. More than 250 people showed up at city hall for the vote. It passed 4-1, making Paducah the only city in the region with such protections.
The creative culture of Paducah played a role too. A UNESCO Creative City and home to the National Quilt Museum, the town has long drawn artists from all over the globe. That spirit of openness helped make Cinema Systers possible—and now, nearly a decade in, it’s helped it thrive. What began as a three-day screening event has evolved into a full-blown arts festival: music, comedy, spoken word, workshops, 2D feminist art shows, networking events, and the popular Artist Meets Audience filmmaker Q&A.
“The mission of the festival is to amplify lesbian voices,” said Petrie. “And provide a stage for artists whose work is rarely seen in mainstream spaces.” Over time, that stage has grown.
While every year brings standout films, Petrie recalls one called Dance Me To The End Of Time, about a remarkable woman from Kentucky who grew up on a tobacco farm and later lived in South Africa. She eventually succumbed to an illness linked to chemicals used in tobacco farming during her childhood. “There have been hundreds of films screened at Cinema Systers since 2016, and many stick with me,” Petrie said. Though not all are explicitly queer in content, she emphasized that all the films are made through a lesbian lens.
“There are thousands of film festivals in the U.S., and even quite a few LGBTQ+ ones,” Petrie said. “But we’re the only one that showcases exclusively lesbian-produced films. That matters. We celebrate the feminine point of view here.”
What does it feel like to walk into this festival? For many, it’s a kind of homecoming. The atmosphere is welcoming, relaxed, electric with connection. You’ll find people deep in conversation between films, swapping stories over drinks at the Saturday Night Party, or sharing silence together in the dark of the theater as the screen glows with the work of queer women who dared to make something true.
Looking ahead, Petrie hopes to grow Cinema Systers to match the audience capacity of the Columbia Art House—a nearly century-old art deco theater in Paducah currently undergoing renovations. And with My Systers Art, Inc., a nonprofit formed to support the festival and other year-round events, she’s continuing to build infrastructure for queer women’s art in the region—including turning her own 34 acre farm into The Art Farm Women’s Retreat, which hosts events like the upcoming Lesbian Labor Day weekend.
“Growing up riding horses, driving tractors, and playing sports shaped me into a confident person with a can-do attitude,” Petrie said. “I have always lived outside of normative hetero-patriarchy and often had to fight to live life on my own terms. So when the opportunity to create a women’s event presented itself, I just went for it.”
And year after year, more women come. They come for the films, for the freedom, for the chance to sit in a room full of people who understand. They come because this isn’t just about watching a movie—it’s about being seen.
Don’t miss out! Buy your ticket here to join the celebration at Cinema Systers this Memorial Day weekend.
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