It’s been a challenging year for the LGBT community. Gay marriage opponents, DADT wavering, and tragic bullying-induced teen suicides have been weighing heavy on our community’s minds. However, the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival gives the Seattle community and its allies an opportunity to relax, celebrate, come together, and unify with artistic visions that express uniqueness, diversity, and amazing talent.

2010 marks the 15th year for the festival produced by Hill-based Three Dollar Bill Cinema.This year’s festival runs October 15 to 24 and will include 150 features, documentaries, local films, and shorts. Venues include the Egyptian Theater, the Admiral Theater, Central Cinema, Northwest Film Forum, and Pacific Place.

Festival passes and individual tickets are on sale at http://www.threedollarbillcinema.org/10/.

The opening night gala is on Friday October 15 at 7:30 PM at the Egyptian Theatre with the crowd pleasing BearCity as centerpiece. The celebration continues at Neumos after the screening.

BearCity is a great choice for opening night. The plot: New York’s bear scene is about to celebrate a big weekend of partying. A young twink, a cub-wannabe named Tyler, finally acts on his attractions to bears and breaks into a group of close friends. Drama, laughter, and love ensue. Director Doug Langway’s film is as charming as a cuddly teddy bear. It won the Los Angeles Outfest awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor.

Another crowd-pleaser (and a festival Centerpiece Film) is El Niño Pez (The Fish Child) from Spain, Argentina, and France directed by Lucia Puenzo (XXY). Set in Buenos Aires, two young women from different classes fall in love. They plan to escape their conflicts at home and live and love together far away in Paraguay. This film is a beautiful, erotic painting lit with the harsh realities of love, society clashes, and corruption. The Fish Child is showing Friday October 22 at 7:30 PM at Pacific Place Cinema. A reception follows in the atrium at Pacific Place at Il Fornaio Bakery & Café.

Another must-see feature, one that it is currently a hot topic, is Bullied: A Student, A School, and a Case that Made History. This film from the Teaching Tolerance program of the Southern Poverty Law Center is about Wisconsin high school student Jamie Nabozny and his landmark court case against his public school for not stopping his abuse by fellow students for being gay. The documentary is narrated by Jane Lynch and it re-enacts many of the scenes of Nabozny’s horrible experience and ultimate vindication and triumph. The Safe Schools Coalition will copresent a panel discussion of bullying and legal issues. Bullied plays on Wednesday October 20 at 6 PM at Northwest Film Forum. This film presentation is free.

Director Stu Maddux follows up Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure with Gen Silent. This documentary examines the LGBT elder generation. Aging, illness, elder-care are the big issues in the lives of these people. The film also examines how elder-care facilities are dealing with LGBT patients and the obstacles they have to overcome for acceptance and compassion. The director will be in attendance for a Q & A after the film with Lawrence Johnson from the documentary.

Eyes Wide Open is an Israeli drama about two men in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community who act out their hidden passions. Set amongst societal oppression and religious duty, the forces of their most intimate emotions threatens to overcome them completely, but can it be victorious? This film is copresented by Jewish Family Service.

Outside examines LGBT homeless youth in Salt Lake City. Over a three year period, this documentary details what brought them to the streets, their daily survival skills, and their struggles to overcome their desperate situations. If you ever see a homeless youth on the streets of Capitol Hill, you will now see them in a different light. This insightful film is copresented by Peace for the Streets for Kids from the Streets.

Other films to check out: the gore-porn themed Bruce LaBruce feature, L.A. Zombie. Be warned, this film is not for the faint of heart. It stars a French porn star (Francois Sagat) as a mute zombie romping around Los Angeles in search of dead men he can bring back to life (please read the website’s description for the lurid details). It was banned from the Melbourne international Film Festival by the Australian Film Classification Board.

Arias with a Twist is a fascinating look at the most-likely collaboration of avant-garde performance artist Joey Arias and his work with famed puppeteer Basil Twist. This “docufantasy” tells the tale of their respectively amazing careers from the 1980s New York art scene to their present day collaborative works in Las Vegas.

Other suggested features to check out: Florent: Queen of the Meat Market, The Four-Faced Liar, Undertow, The Purple Sea, and the Closing Night highlight The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, a 19th century lesbian love story.

One more noteworthy film is I Love You Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as con-men who fall in love. It’s based on a true story. Oscar buzz? This is an exclusive advance screening for current Three Dollar Bill Cinema members only.

The festival also includes all the films that were shown at the Translations: Seattle’s Transgender Film Festival this past April.

CHS is a proud co-sponsor of the event.