2,000 tickets sold for PRIDE festival

It only took 15 minutes for the staff of the volunteer steering committee to transform the Buskirk-Chumley Theater into a carnival-style dance party.\nThe dance party, which lasted well into the morning, concluded the three-day PRIDE Film Festival. The volunteer steering committee was made up of people of all ages who spent the last year picking out the films for the festival.\n“What I’d like people to do is have a space of honor and respect and play,” said Keith Romaine, chair of party planning for the volunteer steering committee. “(I’d like) a chance to have family and community and a queer space all together.”\nIt took months for the party planning committee to prepare the transformation of the theater. Before the party, volunteers had already set up the theater with banners and flags in the rafters, so all the committee had to do was let them fall in time for the party. It took a full day to set things up so they could quickly transform the theater in 15 minutes. \nThe party was lined with 60 white and burgundy banners, a disco ball and a 15-foot papier-mache sculpture of flames with a large rainbow flag inside. Belly dancers also performed on the dance floor with the rest of the dancers. The orchestra pit and stage were built into the dance floor and the balcony was set up so people who didn’t want to dance could sit and watch the party. About 20 dancers wearing only lingerie and gold body paint lined the dance floor to encourage dancing.\n“I’m so glad the community has this,” said sophomore Jessica Ullrich. “It’s so beautiful that our community can have something like this that the rest of the state wouldn’t have.”\nThe festival kicked off its fifth year Thursday with a mix of films that were diverse in race and sexual orientation.\n“The response to the program has been incredibly enthusiastic,” said Mary Gray, chair of the volunteer steering committee. “I’m impressed on how the audience is so engaged and hungry for these stories. My wildest expectations have been fulfilled.”\nAbout 2,000 tickets were sold to the film festival, with Friday and Saturday’s screenings sold out. Each screening provided a variety of short films ranging from two to eight minutes and a feature film concluding the screenings. \n“We scheduled a lot of really cutting stuff,” said Zak Szymanski, member of the volunteer steering committee. “It was a rich opportunity for a smaller town to receive a big-city perspective. You could only see this in the city for half the price. There were some great events that tackled some great discussions.”\nThe festival also provided four opportunities to watch a film and then discuss the screening with a panel, two of which occurred before the festival’s kick-off on Thursday. These viewings and discussions were free to the public and covered a wide range of topics. Saturday’s viewing of the “Gendercator” was a controversial one, as the film had been banned at the San Francisco International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transexual, Film Festival because of its views on transsexuality.\n“We knew this event would be controversial,” Gray said. “We set up the context to air controversy. (The discussions) are a growing part of the festival. I think that for a number of us, we don’t have an opportunity for us to talk about them in a formal way.”\nAll the money made from the festival went directly to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Funds were raised on campus by several GLBTQ organizations that helped the festival bring the discussions to the program.\n“I’m not gay, but my friends are and I want to support them,” Ullrich said. “The way we celebrate people and not who they are supposed to be is kind of magical. It’s unique to Bloomington.”