Looking for something to do this weekend that will be both entertaining and different from the typical end-of-week activities? The Stonewall Center has put together the REEL Out Film Festival to give you just that.
The festival is presented yearly by the center and shows films that deal with lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender issues. Each film being shown is either a premier or a film that has received critical praised. The film festival is fairly new and the Stonewall center hopes to continue the tradition throughout the years, center official Melanie Marcoa said.
The film-filled weekend started yesterday and continues through Sunday. REEL Out began with “Brother to Brother” in the Isenberg School of Management building last night at 7 p.m. This dramatic film focused on the Harlem Renaissance told through the experiences of Bruce Nugent and his voyage with a black gay artist. Nugent is cofounder of the revolutionary literature journal “Fire.”
It continues tonight with the debut of “Tying the Knot” at 7 p.m. in Bartlett Hall, room 65. This is a documentary that makes a compelling argument for gay marriage. It also focuses on the history and change of marriage. There will be a discussion with the filmmaker, Jim de Seve after the screening, and a second showing of the film at 9 p.m.
Transgender Awareness Day is on Saturday and the Stonewall Center has planned several events. The Junk Film Festival, which is a traveling festival put on by Malaqueerche Productions, will start the day’s festivities. On the bill are pieces from independent underground films like “Venus Boyz,” a documentary about female masculinity. There will be four short Trans films shown following “Venus Boyz,” and finally, the day will end with “Cookie Project,” a film that tells the life of Cookie, a transsexual lesbian. Each film on Saturday will be shown in SOM 137.
The films shown on the final day of REEL Out, Sunday, will be shown in SOM 137 as well. The day starts out at noon with “By Hook or By Crook,” a film following the life and friendship of a “small town butch” and a “wise-acre adoptee” for three weeks.
“Yossi and Jagger” is being screened too. A true story, the film tells the story of two soldiers in the Israel army and their love for one another.
There will be six short gay and lesbian films shown after this love story. The romantic film “The Trip” is the story of the love affair of two men and their lives together and will be displayed after the short films. “Amour de France” is another intriguing story about a mother and wife who experiences a feeling she never experienced before: affection for another woman. “Radical Harmonies” focuses on the subject and the history of the Women’s Music Cultural Movement. The festival is finished up with a romantic comedy about a group of multiracial and poly-sexual friends titled “Relax! It’s Just Sex.”
The Stonewall Center hopes to educate and entertain students with the festival and provide a weekend of interesting films. Showing times and locations can be found at www.umass.edu/stonewall.
