PRIDE Film Festival expands to include kick-off party

Drag queens, transgender people and gay adoption are only a few among the slew of topics for films in this year's PRIDE Film Festival, which will take place Friday and Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 144 E. Kirkwood Ave. The festival has expanded greatly since its premiere last year, and this year's film list has more than doubled from 10 to 21 titles, making the festival a two-day event. \nSuzanne Strick, marketing director for the Buskirk-Chumley Theater said this great expansion was, in part, because of the extra staff.\n"With a larger staff we were able to devote more time to recruiting films and as a result there is a much greater variety available this year," she said.\nKim Davis, president of the IU Alumni Association and member of the selection committee, said the diversity among this year's films is key to the festival's success.\n"Some of the films were silly, some were incredibly thought-provoking, others may disgust or anger people, but they all have one thing in common, which is to evoke some kind of emotion from the viewer," she said.\nLoraine Addison, marketing associate for the Buskirk-Chumley, said the caliber of the films is amazing.\n"It's great for people in the Bloomington area to see cutting edge films such as these, especially the short films because it's an uncommon occurrence outside of events like this," she said.\nFriday evening following the first program there will be a party open to all who attended the showing. Davis said the idea for the party sprang from viewing Web sites of other GLBT film festivals, most of which featured some sort of gala event. \n"Last year there was so much positive energy afterward that we decided we needed a place to sit down and talk about everything ... where we could celebrate diversity and give people the opportunity to digest the films, open the door for dialogue, discussion and celebration," Addison said. \nThe film festival impacts not only members of the GLBT community, but Bloomington as a whole. Davis said it is important to have events such as this in Bloomington.\n"The community embracing this can only help people, especially young adults like high school students," she said. "It's so wonderful for them if they might be questioning their sexuality to attend this festival and see a variety of GLBT films as well as hundreds of GLBT people varying in age, skin color and professions."\nDavis also said that it is important for people to see GLBT members being active in the community.\n"This helps us get a physical picture of our community and to know that we are not alone, we aren't few in number, and that there are more of us than you think," she said.\nThis year's festival takes place in three sections, the first of which begins at 7 p.m. Friday, showing eight of the 21 films. The festival continues at 3 p.m. Saturday with a showing of five more films. \nA panel discussion will follow the second screening. Filmmakers Jonathan McNeal and Bloomington resident Scott Schirmer will speak during this discussion. The third program, which includes the last eight films, will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday. \nStudent admission is free to all shows with a valid student ID. General admission fee is $8 per program or $25 for a festival pass which includes admittance to the party Friday night. Tickets for the party are be $15. Tickets can be purchased at the Sunrise Box Office, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave., or by calling 812-323-3020. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Lynndi Lockenour at llockeno@indiana.edu.