Pride Film Festival comes to the BCT

Bloomington will continue its tradition of celebrating gay pride this weekend with its annual PRIDE Film Festival at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

The PRIDE Film Festival is a freestanding nonprofit organization with events scheduled from Thursday through Sunday.

There will be a wide variety of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender-themed films screened at the festival, including “Five Dances,” “Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf?,” “Carl(a).” “GBF,” “It’s Consuming Me” and “Weather Diaries.”

“Our festival is the largest queer event in Bloomington, and it attracts thousands of queer individuals and allies from throughout Indiana and the surrounding states,” said Sarah Perfetti, one of the longtime directors of PRIDE Festival Week.

Along with Perfetti, co-director Abby Henkel and a board of 12 directors lead PRIDE. The committee planned all the details of the event such as the film selection, decorations, dance party, the Celebration of Love ceremony and survey design.

“Our theme for the film selections this year is entitled ‘Queer Arts,’” Perfetti said. “The films presented contain a broad category of comedic and dramatic genres that are contained in the films and live performances.

“The films were selected from over 155 film submissions. For seven months, we watch the films and rate them based several categories — including technical accomplishment and unique voice — and then we compare the overall ratings in a final meeting.”

In addition to the film screenings, the festival will also contain many other free activities Saturday.

This includes a tour of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction’s exhibits, a silent auction and a dance party at the Back Door.

According to its main website bloomingtonpride.org, there will be a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies wedding entitled Celebration of Love on Jan. 23 for any same or opposite gender couples to get married.

There will be local politicians and a clergy present to pledge support for gay marriage.
 
The 13 LGBTQ couples who participated in the ceremony last year will also attend.
The festival will conclude Sunday with a free breakfast at IU’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Student Support Services Office.

Students who had a positive experience building upon their identity with the festival’s activities in the past are expected to return this year.

“I loved the festival from last year,” Gay Straight Alliance President Megan Kelly said. “It is an event that is very unique to Bloomington and demonstrates what an open-minded and expressive town we live in.

“To anyone who hasn’t gone, I would say it is definitely not something to miss. If you are interested in opening up your mind and celebrating diversity with your fellow citizens, you should definitely head to the PRIDE Festival.”

Follow reporter Anthony Broderick on Twitter @aebrodakirck.