2002 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

Welcome to the 7th Annual
Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

Tipping the Velvet Welcome from the Festival Director
It has been a time of big changes at Three Dollar Bill Cinema. After six years, we lost our beloved codirector Kirsten Schaffer to Outfest, the Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - though we’re trying to think of it more as having gained a secret agent in the heart of movieland. Returning to the festival are Jason Plourde, as our new Programming Director, and Tim Halloran, Marketing Director. And we’ve expanded our ranks to include a Development Director, Tara Morgan, and a Volunteer Coordinator and Office Manager, Cresdan Maite. Please say hello if you see them around this week.

You’ll also notice some venue changes. We’ve added a night at the Cinerama, and we’re returning to our roots, with the lovely Harvard Exit as our mid-size venue. We’re also trying out some new community spaces this year - the Asian Art Museum, the Rendezvous, and EMP. Let us know how you like them. We’ve got a record 63 programs this year, but let me tell you about some of my favorites...First and foremost, we are thrilled to have the North American premiere of TIPPING THE VELVET, the BBC production of Sarah Waters’ award-winning novel. With Sarah Waters in attendance, this benefit screening is the dazzling centerpiece of this year’s festival.

For fans of the original QUEER AS FOLK which played here in 1999, we’ve got Russell T. Davies’ hot new series, BOB AND ROSE. The rest of our international line-up includes the first lesbian feature out of Slovenia (GUARDIAN OF THE FRONTIER) and a searing portrait of the gay male counterparts to the comfort women of the Philippines (MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY).

We’ve also got a bumper crop of documentaries on subjects ranging from longtime communityactivist and cofounder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Joan Nestle, to Georgina Beyer, the first transgendered person elected to national office anywhere in the world. Of this year’s 14 shorts programs, The WONDER QUEERS and ARAB AND IRANIAN SHORTS are particular standouts.

And you definitely won’t want to miss this year’s Sing-Along, HEDWIG, with very special guest Stephen Trask, and hosted by star of the long-running Re-bar production, Nick Garrison.

As the recession continues (what happened to that recovery?), so do the struggles of small nonprofit arts organizations, especially queer ones. Putting on an event like this one is expensive, and it wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of hundreds of people who believe in the importance of showing queer film. This festival is a community production on the part of the sponsors, members, staff, board, and volunteers who give so extravagantly of their resources, time, and talent. When money is tight, non-essentials tend to fall by the wayside, but supporting the arts is essential, especially in the current political climate. If you haven’t yet become a member of Three Dollar Bill Cinema, we hope that you’ll do so right away.

Have a great festival!

Justine Barda
Festival Director

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