Lesbian & Gay film fest is bigger than ever

Two more theaters (Central Cinema, SIFF Cinema) and plenty more films have been added to the ever-expanding Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. The 12th-annual edition kicks off Friday night at the Cinerama with the Seattle premiere of Paul Schrader's sassy whodunit, "The Walker."

Woody Harrelson, mischievously adopting a Virginia drawl to play a vain but smart Washington, D.C., escort (or "walker"), holds his own with an A-list supporting cast that includes Oscar nominees Lauren Bacall, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas and, repeating their husband-and-wife act from "Nashville," Ned Beatty and Lily Tomlin.

The script includes numerous pokes at contemporary D.C., where meanies and narcissists reign ("If there's a more handsome man than me, I'd like to meet him," Harrelson announces to his mirror image), no one wants to mention Iraq but everyone loves to gossip about sexual hypocrisy.

Saturday's lineup at the Cinerama includes Jonah Markowitz's sweet and solid debut feature, "Shelter," with Trevor Wright delivering a breakthrough performance as a troubled California teenager who falls for a surfing buddy (Brad Rowe). Yes, it's another coming-of-age, coming-out story, but it's handled with passion and some complexity. It could turn out to be the festival's perfect date movie.

André Téchiné, who made the memorable "Wild Reeds," directed the unsettling, well-acted and very French drama, "The Witnesses," which has its Northwest premiere Oct. 15 at the Cinerama. Sami Bouajila gamely tackles the complicated central role: a sexually adventurous vice cop whose open marriage allows him to have an affair with a teenage boy in the mid-1980s.

Closing night (Oct. 21), also at the Cinerama, is "The Itty Bitty Titty Committee," a punk-rock comedy focused on sexism and featuring music by Northwest bands. It will be followed by a party at South Lake Union Discovery Center.

"We've got 18 programs at the Cinerama," said Rachael Brister, who's back as festival director. Among the special events on the big screen are a Saturday-night singalong to the looney 1980 musical, "Xanadu," and next Sunday's screening of the new film version of "Naked Boys Singing." The former was recently restaged as a Broadway show; the latter played for years Off-Broadway.

Also returning is programming director Jason Plourde, who aimed for diversity in the 10-day festival. Events range from a Harvard Exit screening of a celebrity-studded documentary about a famous photographer, "Jack Mitchell: My Life In Black and White," to a Broadway Performance Hall evening with "The L Word" star Jane Lynch. Other programs will be presented at Northwest Film Forum and a couple of libraries.

"The programs of shorts are very strong, especially 'Girls Shorts' and 'Straight Guys'," said Plourde. Among the titles: "How to Go on a Man Date," "I Hate Musicals" and "The Gendercator." The festival staff looked at more than 100 films in order to come up with 78 programs of shorts and features.

Central Cinema, which serves drinks and food, will be the location for a new series, "Gay TV Dinners," that focuses on the pre-"Ellen" era on television. Included are groundbreaking episodes of "All in the Family," "Police Woman" and "Maude."

Also new to the festival is SIFF Cinema, which will screen locally produced short films, including "Rock Zombie" and "Travel Queeries"; a 90-minute German film about the history of gay cinema, "Here's Looking at You, Boy"; and a full 35mm restoration of the late Bill Sherwood's once-tattered 1986 classic, "Parting Glances." It's the first restoration from the Outfest Legacy Project, devoted to preserving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movies.

Another look at the past, "Further Off the Straight and Narrow," does an entertaining job of calculating the impact of gay images on television since "Will & Grace" made its debut. "The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome" and "The Best of Lezsploitation" also concentrate on archival footage.

As before, a secret sneak preview of a brand-new film is on the schedule. In the past, this slot has been filled by such future prize winners as "Boys Don't Cry," "Ma Vie en Rose" and "All About My Mother."

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com