“Goin’ to the Chapel…Gonna get Married…” Three Dollar Bill is offering up some gay married cinema

Three Dollar Bill Cinema normally does a Spring Film Series, usually in April, but this year they decided to break up those screenings and will instead offer one off events through out the year in a new series called “Rewind”. They’re getting the ball rolling this month with a super fun event that always raises awareness for the battle for Marriage Equality in Washington State. On April 25, 2012, Three Dollar Bill will screen TWO fun queer films that take a look at marriage and what it means for LGBTQ people.

You’re invited to Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Gay Wedding Celebration, featuring a double feature feast of I THINK I DO and THE WEDDING BANQUET, part of the new <<Rewind program of events.

“As our state moves forward towards marriage equality, we thought it was time to take a look back with films that feature gay couples and their relationship to this institution,” says Jason Plourde, Programming Director for Three Dollar Bill Cinema.

Celebrate the passage of marriage equality in Washington (and help to keep it legal!) with two fun-filled, matrimony-minded classics of queer cinema on April 25 at Central Cinema (1411 21st Avenue, Seattle).

• (7 p.m.) I THINK I DO (1997) Alexis Arquette (back when she was a gay boy) stars in this sexy screwball romp in which old college buddies reunite at their friend’s wedding. As the champagne flows and old crushes are reignited, surprising revelations come out to play between the sheets, with hilarious results. From writer-director Brian Sloan, co-writer of AUGUST (2011).
• (9 p.m.) THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993) Nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award and winner of the SIFF Golden Space Needle Award, this trailblazing film from director Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) is a deeply touching culture-clash comedy. Under pressure from his suspicious Chinese parents, a gay man in New York arranges a marriage of convenience with his female tenant. But when the parents come to America to fete their new family member, traditional customs disrupt the modern-day charade.

Donations will be collected for Washington United for Marriage, a coalition of organizations, congregations, unions and businesses working together to secure civil marriage for committed gay and lesbian couples.  Washington United for Marriage representatives will be at both screenings with information and opportunities to get involved.

Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Gay Wedding Celebration is the first event to be produced under the arts organization’s archival events label, <<Rewind. Hard-to-find movies, rarely screened film prints, and classics from the archives will be showcased in future <<Rewind screenings of vintage queer films. From the festive holiday tradition of An Evening With AUNTIE MAME to month-long retrospective series such as OUTLAW: Jean Genet on Film, these events provide opportunities for generations young and mature to look back at queer themes and imagery in film and see how far we’ve come.

Individual general admission tickets are $10 for each film; $8 for Three Dollar Bill Cinema members if purchased in advance.  Tickets are $2 more at the door.

Special Double Feature: See both films for one low price of $15 (same price in advance or at the door).  Visit  www.threedollarbillcinema.org for more information and to purchase tickets.