The 16th Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival starts TODAY, Friday, October 14…are you ready?

The adorable Juno Temple stars as "Dirty Girl" in the Opening Gala Film at the 16th Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

We hope you’ve gone to the Three Dollar Bill/Film Festival website, or picked up a program and started to pick some of the many films and events and parties to check out at the 16th Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival AND bought your tickets and/or passes…’cause it starts TODAY, Friday, October 14th with the big Opening Night Gala Film, “Dirty Girl”! Then, things kick off into high gear on Saturday with multiple film screenings all over the place until the party ends on Sunday, October 23rd with the Closing Night Gala, “Vito”.

AND, to make things easier during this year’s Festival, we’ve teamed up with Three Dollar Bill Cinema to present Daily Video Promos focusing on each day’s films and parties. Jason Plourde, Rachael Brister, Keith Bacon and many of the Three Dollar Bill Cinema volunteers (and Mr. Strangeways) will host the daily segments. Check them out EVERY day of the festival for all the highlights as part of our SGS-TV line-up of programs. Here’s the first one starring Mr. Plourde and Ms. Brister, (Oh, and special thanks to Northwest Film Forum for providing the shooting location!):

We hear that tickets are selling fast for “Dirty Girl” so don’t dawdle…Director Abe Sylvia will be in attendance as well as music legend Melissa Manchester who served as a “muse” on the film and contributed a new song to the soundtrack. Ms Manchester will also PERFORM several songs at the after party reception Friday night, at Fred Wildlife Refuge…you won’t want to miss that!

Saturday highlights include “SaturGay Morning Cartoons” at Northwest Film Forum, (In these cartoons, Yogi and Boo Boo are more than friends!); the comedy “eCupid” about the perils of online dating from director J. C. Calciano; “Man 2 Man – A Gay Man’s Guide to Finding Love” a sexy documentary about the struggles of gay men to find partners, with director Christopher Hines in attendance and “Girls Shorts” a program of short films for Ladies Who Like Ladies that includes a charming lesbian Western called “Slip Away”. YEE HAW!

Cowgirls gettin' it ON!

Another film with strong appeal for women will be “Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together” a sweet romantic comedy from director Wendy Jo Carlton who will be in attendance with some cast which screens at 7:15pm Saturday at The Egyptian.

MORE After the JUMP!

A powerful new documentary, “We Were Here” focuses on the impact of the AIDS Crisis on San Francisco in the 1980’s…it’s an emotional look at the devastation wrought on one community by filmmaker David Weissman who will be attending the screening at The Egyptian at 5pm Saturday and the reception following at Seattle Volvo, 1120 Pike Street. “We Were Here” screens as part of the “HIV at 30” series at SLGFF, films focusing on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the LGBTQ community.

Also on Saturday, the Seattle premiere of Casper Andreas’s new film “Going Down in La La Land”, a sexy comedy about making it big in Hollywood:

Based on the novel by Andy Zeffer, GOING DOWN IN LA-LA LAND is a seemingly simple story: a hunky young man (Matthew Ludwinski) moves to LA, seeking his big break in showbiz while living with his best friend, a straight woman who spends her time shopping and chasing men. But throw in a foray into the steamy world of gay porn stardom and escorting, and a blossoming relationship yearning for survival amid the hysterics of Hollywood, and you’ve got an updated, uncensored twist on the “rom-com” genre from the director of VIOLET TENDENCIES (SLGFF 2010) and FOUR LETTER WORD (SLGFF 2007).

Wrap up your Saturday with the West Coast Premiere of “Varla Jean & The Mushroomheads” the raunchy midnight screening at The Egyptian starring “Girls Will Be Girls” megastar, Varla Jean Merman and her exploits in trying to mount her own children’s television show. (And, check out our interview with the lovely Ms Merman.)

That’s a lot of movies…we’ll be back tomorrow with coverage of the Gala Opening night AND another Promo Video AND stuff to see for Sunday!