August 22nd Film Society Film BEYOND GAY:
THE POLITICS OF PRIDE
By Deb Riney
In honor of and in preparation for Savannah’s own upcoming PRIDE celebration in September, the Savannah Gay & Lesbian Film Society is proud to present our next series film, “BeyondGay: The Politics of Pride””, a splendid film from Canada that follows the Vancouver Pride Society’s Parade Director Ken Collen and his colleagues as they travel to places where Pride is still steeped in protest to personally experience the rampant homophobia that still exists. We will screen this special PRIDE film on Sunday, August 22nd at Telfair’s Jepson Center for the Arts.
Increasingly the Pride movement is globalizing. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people cheering in the streets of many cities and countries, Pride is much, much more than a parade and a party. It is a giant step on the road to true equality. The LGBT community during Pride is an entertaining and engaging multi- ethnic group than can bring attention to the issue of human rights with diversity, insight, and of course plenty of fabulousness. Some film highlights include:
InterPride 2007, Zurich Switzerland
Coolen and co-parade director, Dean Nelson, attend the Swiss international conference of Pride organizations. Many human rights activists are interviewed, including American artist and activist Gilbert Baker creator of the first rainbow flag.
Sao Paulo Pride Parade, Brazil
This begins a tour Coolen and the crew will never forget. VIP access to the world’s largest Gay Parade where 4 million people take part in their government sponsored Pride: a street party that defies the imagination. Their theme this year: Homophobia Kills!
Moscow Pride
Coolen and crew are the only foreigners involved in the clandestine preparations for this event. Secret meetings, hidden identities, police harassment, the first successful peaceful Pride March, and a violent counter protest reveal just how passionate people can be about a parade.
Pride Colombo, Sri Lanka
Pride events here are only advertised after they take place, in order to protect the identities of those brave enough to attend. Their host, Pride organizer Sahran Abeysundra, later travels to Canada to be a Grand Marshal in Vancouver’s Parade.
Vancouver Pride
Back in Vancouver, where equal marriage is legal and the parade entertains half a million people, Ken struggles to make the parade have some meaning after all he has seen.
This film just completed screening last month in San Francisco and to date has screened literally around the globe: Budapest, Hungary; Florence, Italy; Vienna, Austria; Cape Town, South Africa; Athens, Greece; Zurich, Switzerland; Minsk, Belarus; Cannes, France; Vancouver & Toronto, Canada; and now makes its way to Savannah! It is a rousing and joyous documentary that asks us to take a moment from our celebrations to “remember, you are not walking for yourselves but for the millions of people around the world who can’t”.
Mark your calendars for August 22nd to attend this special global award-winning PRIDE film HERE in Savannah. Tickets on sale in August. For more information go to the film society’s website at: sglfs.com. To see the film trailer go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AoczKsiCt8.
A portion of the net proceeds from our screening of this film will go to Savannah PRIDE! |
