150-film fest is way beyond "Brokeback"

The 11th annual Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, opening this Friday, offers a dazzling variety of cinema: international hits, archival films, local films, soon-to-be-in-theaters releases, shorts, documentaries, and even a Barbra Streisand sing-along. It's a 10-day celebration of breadth and variety, showing, in this post-"Brokeback Mountain" year, that there's more to the genre than gay cowboys.

" 'Brokeback Mountain' certainly brought a lot of awareness to gay and lesbian films and filmmaking," said the festival's programming director Jason Plourde. "It's a great thing when films with queer subject matter get out to the mainstream, and people all over the country can see them. We try to have programming at the festival that includes some of that work that would be seen in mainstream venues, but still have a strong focus on some of the works that get overlooked."

Toward the end, Plourde and executive director Rachael Brister have planned a festival with 73 different programs, containing more than 150 films. It begins Friday with a gala opening-night screening of "Shortbus," John Cameron Mitchell's much-buzzed film about a group of New Yorkers and their (very explicit) sexual explorations. Actors Jay Brannon and Peter Stickles will be on hand for the screening, which will be followed by a party at the Seattle Aquarium.

In its 11th year, the festival is presenting a few changes, aimed at making its offerings more accessible to a wider number of filmgoers. On weekdays, the first screenings have been moved to 6 p.m. (from 5 or 5:30), to make it easier for those attending after work. Ticket prices for each day's first matinee (including weekends) are a modest $6. And the festival offers two free programs. "Free for the Community," at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Capitol Hill Library, and "The Celluloid Closet of Yiddish Film," at 2 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Central Library.

The festival continues its emphasis on local works. Plourde noted that the SLGFF has a fiscal sponsorship program that helps Northwest filmmakers. "We want to make sure that Seattle as a city stays a thriving filmmaking place," he said. Among the festival's local offerings are Q. Allan Brocka's feature "Boy Culture," Jennifer Ting's documentary "Straight Into Gay America" (about a Washington minister who pedaled his unicycle across the East Coast), the documentary "Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mother's Custody Movement," and Chris Diani's B-movie spoof "Creatures from the Pink Lagoon," starring Seattle actor Nick Garrison.

From the festival's crowded program, Plourde and Brister offered several recommendations. The International Spotlight film, "50 Ways of Saying Fabulous," is from New Zealand director Stewart Main. "It's a really beautifully shot film," said Brister, "about two outcast kids who are also cousins and best friends. It's a story that has humor and drama, a really wonderful film."

She also singled out the documentary "Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig," about the creation of a tribute album of the musical "Hedwig and the Ingry Inch." Musicians such as Yoko Ono, the Breeders, Rufus Wainwright and Cyndi Lauper sing the "Hedwig" soundtrack as a fundraiser for the Harvey Milk High School for gay and lesbian teens in New York City, and the film features video diaries from some of its students.

Plourde recommended the film's archival offerings. "I know people want to see the freshest films that are out there," he said, "but I also like to go back and explore films that are part of our queer history as well as part of filmmaking history." "Desperate Remedies" is a 1993 New Zealand film from Stewart Main and Peter Welles — "really great, over-the-top melodrama, highly stylized, a beautiful and colorful film and a rare print," said Plourde.

He's also proud that the festival will present "The Music Lovers," Ken Russell's 1970 film about composer Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (played by Richard Chamberlain, with Glenda Jackson as his wife). "It's Tchaikovsky's music and life story. He lived a closeted life, and the movie really explores that. It's very melodramatic. [Russell] did an incredible job of marrying the music with what's on screen."

Oh, and that Streisand sing-along? It's "Funny Girl," in all its Technicolor splendor, at Cinerama on Sunday at 2 p.m. Attendees are urged to dress as Barbra, from whatever era strikes their fancy. Rain on this festival's parade? Never.