The 16th Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival wraps it all up today with the powerful closing film, “Vito”.

October 23, 2011• bySeattle Gay Scene

Vito Russo and Nancy Reagan: Not the best of friends.

Wow! That went by really quickly…it seems like yesterday that the 16th Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival opened with “Dirty Girl”…The ten days of the film festival zipped by faster than a Tea Bagger at the all you can eat line at a Luby’s. We’re at the final day of SLGFF 16 but there are still some great cinematic viewing choices to make…like the Reel Queer Youth Shorts program today at noon at Pacific Place featuring work made by local queer kids as part of Three Dollar Bill’s Reel Queer Youth summer program. Or, the documentary “Out for the Long Run” about young queer athletes coming out in high school and college, featuring a local young gay man as one of the subjects. OR, the adorable film, “Sister Smile” the REAL story of The Singing Nun best known for the earworm song, “Dominique”.

But, the festival wraps up completely at the Cinerama at 6:30pm with the West Coast premiere of “Vito”, the powerful, moving and frequently very funny documentary about the life of gay film historian and AIDS activist Vito Russo by filmmaker David Schwarz. Mr. Russo was best known for his ground breaking book, “The Celluloid Closet” which examined gay images and representations in film but after being diagnosed with AIDS in the mid Eighties, he became one of the predominant AIDS activists and a co-founder of Act Up. It’s a beautifully made film but it doesn’t have a happy ending…we suggest you bring some tissues.

After mopping up your tears, you can head to the Closing Gala Party at the South Lake Union Discovery Center for food/drink and a chance to say good bye to the Festival for another year.

AND, check out the FINAL promo video for SLGFF…catch Programming Director Jason Plourde and Reel Queer Youth’s Reid Kuennen as they talk about all of today’s films.