2006 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

2006 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
October 13-22

It is time once again for the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival which consistently excels in its programming. Over the past six years of covering this event, I have seen the festival grow in number of days, venues and films without losing its quality of programming while pursuing a higher quantity of films. This year's festival, the eleventh one, opens with a real programming coup, screening what will probably be the most controversial film of the year, James Cameron Mitchell's follow up to his brilliant directorial debut, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the sexually explicit Shortbus. The characters include a dominatrix, a sex therapist, and a gay couple looking for a third partner, all of whom are dealing with a variety of sex and intimacy issues. This film reflects the spirit of the rest of the programming, one of true diversity.

The diversity of the programming this year shows in the range of genre: documentary, comedy, romance, erotica, political satire, musical performance, and the ever popular annual sing-a-long musical, this year it's Funny Girl. Funny Girl is one of several archival screenings this year, they are also presenting Ken Russell's lush epic, The Music Lovers, a film about the life of Tchaikovsky (one of a series of films Russell made about great musical composers.) Both are being screened at the Cinerama. The festival is also screening the late Russ Meyer's ode to big-busted women and the violence they do, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Its iconic star, Tura Satana will be in attendance.
The festival will also have a diverse range of subjects in its feature length and short documentaries and narrative films. The subjects include some of the most pressing issues in the current human rights battle: marriage and family, religion, race and transgender issues. The films also cover non-political subjects like the humorous and tragic travails of love, the perils of music fandom and gay zombies.
Yes, gay zombies! Creatures from The Pink Lagoon, produced right here in Seattle will be playing at the festival. (This shameless plug brought to you by a minor crewmember of the film.) Also for the locally minded there is Boy Culture, which was also shot here in Seattle. (Click here:http://www.siffblog.com/reviews/boy_culture_003516.html# for a full review of it.) Plus there is an entire program of locally made shorts called Local Produce: Local Shorts that is also screening at the festival. Check out the schedule for show times and ticket information.

Image from the New York Times (From left, the actors Raphael Barker and Sook-Yin Lee with John Cameron Mitchell, director of Shortbus, Credit: Photographs by ThinkFilms).