NEPA Rainbow Alliance: Gay Pride Service Organization

Weekender 9/26/07 — OUT to the Movies (page 40)
Donna Talarico | Weekender Correspondent

It’s one more sign of the growth and acceptance of diversity in Northeast Pennsylvania: A gay and lesbian film festival.

The Eastern Pennsylvania Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will be held Friday through Sunday at various venues. In fact, the county seats of both Luzerne and Lackawanna counties will share the hosting duties of the inaugural fest, with films being shown in theaters in both downtown Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.

John Dawe, executive director of the sponsoring organization says this “tour format” was selected because the Rainbow Alliance is a regional organization.

“We wanted to give opportunities for people across the region to attend some part of the festival,” Dawe said. “If you can’t make it down to Wilkes-Barre or up to Scranton, we hope you’ll attend at an event in your home county.”

The festival will include a selection of films and shorts, a few from NEPA natives.

“This is our first time doing a film event,” Dawe said. “We wanted to keep it as simple as possible and solicited films from filmmakers that we knew who had done GLBT-themed films. We also partnered with the Community Film Project.”

Dawe explained the collection of films is not just geared toward a gay and lesbian audience — there are themes in each movie applicable to everyone. Even lessons.

“We think we’ve programmed films that will appeal to a diverse audience. ‘Saint of 9/11’ for example — it will be meaningful for teens and senior citizens — and you don’t have to be GLBT either,” he explained.

The critically acclaimed “Saint of 9/11” is about a friar and chaplain of the Fire Department of New York City who died the day of the World Trade Center attacks. “Rolling” is a film about drug abuse. “Steam Cloud Rising” is a story about love — and a nuclear power plant. The short comedy “Red/Blue” is the story of a young lesbian faced with a choice. “Gay Pioneers” explores early GLBT activism, and “Justice for ALL” tackles the judicial system.

The weekend-long festival kicks off with “Shorts in Scranton,” co-sponsored by the Community Film Project. In fact, one of the GLBT-themed shorts was a CFP project and was perhaps a mini-predecessor to the Eastern PA Gay & Lesbian Film Fest. “Red/Blue,” the comedy/drama about an 18-year-old lesbian deciding to come out, was premiered at the 2006 Rainbow Alliance Summer Soiree.

“It’s a gay-themed movie, and filmed in part at the 12 Penny Saloon in Moosic,” said Dawe. “Our organization provided a large number of the extras in the film. We saw there was lots of interest and things went from there.”

In addition to “Red/Blue” and “Gay Pioneers” (produced by WHYY), nine CFP films will be shown. These shorts, each between four and 12 minutes, are of various genres including comedy, suspense, drama and even animated. One highlight is “President Swap,” a parody of TV’s “Wife Swap” where President Bush trades places with a “Saved by the Bell” fan club president.

The festival continues Saturday with a matinee showing of “Steam Cloud Rising” and an evening show of “Justice for ALL” and “Rolling,” which was co-written by former NEPA resident Cody Parrish Thompson.

“I am very excited to be having the East Coast Premiere of my film Rolling in NEPA,” Thompson said. “I lived there for almost three years and left behind my mother, sister and friends to come to Los Angeles and pursue my dreams. I will be visiting everyone and doing some film promotion.

A self-taught film industry pro, Thompson said he was incredibly lucky to have Rolling as his first feature film. He is currently working on a horror script, The Cult for which he’ll be returning to the area next year to shoot. (He’ll be looking for local cast and crew, he added.)

Sunday begins earlier with a worship service, followed by a lunch and then a matinee of “Saint of 9/11.”

For $25, folks can purchase a pass to attend all movies, the lunch and the after-party event. Sold separately, movie tickets are $8 each. A Sunday-only pass, which includes lunch and movie admission, is $10.

For more details about the movies, see the sidebar. Or get a sneak peak with trailers and snippets of each movie at nepafilms.com and communityfilmproject.org.

When asked what he hopes people will feel after exiting the theaters, watching one, some or all of these movies, Dawe responded: “We have our motto, ‘Learn, Grow, Understand.’ We hope each of these goals are met by attending this festival.”

Thompson agreed.

“I think the festival is a great idea and a fantastic way to get people more involved in the arts and LGBT acceptance,” he said. “Having a university full of students from around the country and the world, it’s good to see that people are taking the time to make a difference and spread the LGBT culture to those who may not be familiar with it.”

More information: nepafilms.com