Fresno Reel Pride 26
runs from September 16th to September 20th. Visit reelpride.com for all the details. Also check
out their Facebook Page.
Gay
Central Valley will once again be running the concessions stand at this
year’s film festival. This year, we will partner with local LGBT organizations My LGBT Plus and Trans-e-motion.
Haley White is a new
addition to the Fresno Reel Pride family. She came on board this year (Reel
Pride 26) to work on programming the films for the festival. I reached out to
her with a few questions about this year’s film festival.
Check out Gay Central Valley’s BLOG for
continued coverage of Fresno Reel Pride 26 …
How did you get involved with Reel
Pride?
I met Reel Pride Treasurer Brian
Carnes at a party back in February. He mentioned how they needed more
volunteers. I initially thought he meant they needed additional help the
week of the festival. I’ve volunteered in the past to help out Gay Central
Valley with concessions, so I told Brian I’d be happy to help usher and
whatnot. I had no idea Jon Carroll had retired and that they were searching for
a new programmer. When they talked to me later about the position and asked if
I had any interest in potentially filling it, I think I said yes before I
entirely thought it through. I’m glad I did, though. It’s been a lot of a hard
work and I’ve been flying blind a good majority of the time, but I’ve met a lot
of great people and the work is right up my alley.
Why do you think Reel Pride is
important to Fresno and the LGBT Community?
I’m all for anything that brings
art and culture to underserved areas. We have a lot of great things happening
in Fresno (in spite of our bad rap for being a hick town), but outside of Reel
Pride, special Fathom events at Regal and Sierra Vista, and the great work
Fresno Filmworks is doing locally, we don’t have a whole lot of independent
cinema available in town. I believe it’s very important for people to see themselves
represented in art, so I think it’s great thing that, at least once a year,
local LGBT folks have the opportunity to go to the movies and see films that
prominently feature LGBT love stories and characters. It’s also a good way to
bring business and foot traffic to the Tower District, which is my ‘hood. So I
love that, too.
Tell us a bit about your
background. Why did you become involved with Reel Pride? What are you
passionate about?
I’m pretty involved in the local
film and theatre scenes. I work as a Production Coordinator at Windsong
Productions by day and I volunteer a lot with The New Ensemble and Stageworks
Fresno in my spare time. I’m also the Campaign Coordinator for I Bike Fresno. I
am a big proponent of “being the change” you wish to see in the world. For me,
as an artist, a big part of that means getting out and making sure art does a
better job of representing actual reality. I’m a filmmaker and writer, I’m
always cognizant of trying to tell stories from the point of view of ‘the other’.
Even as a consumer, I don’t want to see whitewashed, clichéd, heteronormative
storytelling all the time. I imagine there are plenty of other people out there
who feel the same way. Any opportunity I have to bring art that fits “outside
the box” to people, so to speak, I definitely want to be involved in that.
On a separate-but-related note:
I’m bisexual. My sister is gay. We grew up in one of those typically anti-gay
religious households where being LGBT just wasn’t an option. It took us both a
lot of heartache and pain to get to a place where we could be ok with being
ourselves outright (including my sister’s divorce from her high school
sweetheart and my own long and ugly road to a place of much-needed sobriety
five years ago). Anything I can do to help normalize the way LGBT people are
perceived, or help a young or struggling LGBTQ person see there are plenty of
people out there just like them, without them having to go through the same
years of self-torment and abuse…I would definitely say that is something I am
passionate about. That is huge for me.
How many films can we expect to
see from this year's festival?
Including shorts, we have about 60 films this year.
Which communities will be directly
impacted by films at this year's festival?
We made every effort to ensure our
programming was as diverse as possible. We cover all the L,G,B and T groups.
We’ve got a film about an asexual man. A few films about drag performers. A
short about a genderqueer woman. Films that cover multiple spectrums of sexuality
and/or gender. A film about living with AIDS. Films about first love and coming
out of the closet. Love stories for older demographics. Films about LGBT
children with supportive parents. Films about bullies. Films that might be a
little divisive for our audiences. And even outside of that, we really tried to
get a healthy balance of drama vs comedy, foreign vs American, documentary vs
feature, and so on and so forth. We really wanted to live up to our “Films For
Everyone” motto.
The Tower Theater is the main venue. What are the other venues for this year's festival?
Our second venue is the Voice Shop, just down the street from Tower Theater. It’s an intimate setting that holds about 50 people, so I recommend showing up early for seats there or buying tickets in advance.
What is the film opening the
festival all about?
Addicted to Fresno
was a great score for us, for obvious reasons. The movie is directed by Jaime
Babbit, written by Karey Dornetto, and produced by Andrea Sperling. If you
don’t know those three names, you should get on google because all of them are
important powerhouse women doing big things in Hollywood.
The film follows the lives of two co-dependent sisters (Judy Greer
and Natasha Lyonne) as they work as maids in Fresno. It’s a raunchy comedy and
it pokes A TON of fun at our little town. Anyone who wants to come see it is
going to need to bring their sense of humor with them or they might find
themselves a little offended.
What about the closing film?
Our closer is Tangerine. It’s an indie film and Sundance darling that was shot
solely on an iPhone 5S. The film centers around Sin-dee, a hooker who finds out
her boyfriend/pimp cheated on her while she was in jail serving a 28 day stint,
and her best friend, Alexandra. Kitana Kiki-Rodriguez and Mya Taylor star in
the film; they are both transgender actresses who are garnering Oscar-buzz for
their performances. Although the movie is a revenge comedy, it has a ton of
heart.
What do you see as the highlight
of the foreign films this year?
Gosh, I have so many favorites.
The foreign entries were actually very strong, across the board, this year. In The Grayscale was a hit with our
entire Reel Pride Board of Directors. Same with The New Girlfriend. I also am a big fan of Drown. Liz in September.
A Gay Girl in Damascus. So many
more. I’ll stop now or I’ll end up naming all of them.
Tell us about the youth film
highlight?
We’re showing a total of four youth films this year and they’re
all built around “The Year We ThoughtAbout Love”, which is this great documentary about a group of queer teens
in a theatre group in Boston. Their stories are awkward and charming and
endearing; so much so, you can’t help but remember what it feels like to
be that age yourself while you’re watching it.
Can you tell us about the
transgender films included this year?
We have a fair amount of trans-centric films this year. I’ve
already mentioned Tangerine and The New Girlfriend. Deep Run is a documentary about trans
life deep in the conservative Bible Belt. In
The Turn is a documentary about a 10-year-old transgender girl who finds
acceptance and empowerment in the company of a queer roller derby collective.
We’re showing that one free to the public at 1pm on Sunday. There are a couple
other drag movies I think people will be excited to see.
We’ve also got some really great Trans shorts this year, I’d
specifically like to mention two animated films by filmmaker Iris Moore; Mindtease and Dancer and the Crow. They’re just fantastic. Keep your eyes peeled
for them.
How are lesbians represented in
films this year?
We’ve got festival favorites Marina Rice Bader and Michelle Ehlen coming to support their movies (Raven’s Touch and S&M Sally, respectively). Liz
in September and Summer of Sangaile
are both beautiful foreign language dramas. All About E is an Australian comedic thriller with a great, tender
love scene. Portrait of a SerialMonogamist is a lot of fun. Out inthe Night and A Gay Girl inDamascus: The Amina Profile are both powerful documentaries about really
important, timely subjects. And again, we have some great shorts. I’m really
excited to feature the short film Ma/ddy
by filmmaker Devon Kirkpatrick. The movie totally punched me in the gut when I
saw it for the first time at Outfest. Kirkpatrick won a feature package from
IFC so I hope we’ll have the opportunity to bring her full-length version back
to Reel Pride down the road.
What is your favorite film of the
festival?
How can I answer that?!?! Haha. I was moved by so many of these
films. Charmed by so many others. There’s a reason they all made the line-up.
That being said, I think The New Girlfriend is damn near a perfect piece of cinema and The Glamour and The Squalor is a really well-made
documentary.
But man, I could pick about a dozen more.
What about the parties? What are
the must go to events?
Some must go to events? All of
them! Opening night and closing night both have great movies. Directors
preview party for all passes holders at Engelmanns is also a great event to experience
prior to the festival and this year our men's and women's party will have
special hosts and entertainment. The men’s party is scheduled for Friday night
and the women's party will take place on Saturday evening. The youth
pizza and froyo party, for students age 16-25, will happen on Saturday
afternoon.
Give us the inside information.
How does the public get the best deal to this year's festival?
Festival Passes are really the way to go. Five days of films for
as low as $95. The best deals come with Directors Level passes and above; they
allow entrance to all parties and earn you priority seating. People can check
out reelpride.com for
membership prices and perks.
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