Three Dollar Bill Cinema Announces Galas for SLGFF Including Chris Colfer’s New Film

Lots of local movie news for today with the biggest for lgbtq film fans being the announcement of the gala screenings for the 17th Annual Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival which runs October 11 through October 21. Three Dollar Bill Cinema, the producers of the annual festival, have revealed the theme of this year’s festival: “Come Out and Play” and the identities of the Opening and Closing Gala films, and the two Centerpiece Gala Films. The rest of the schedule will be announced the week of September 17th.

The big “get” of the festival is undoubtedly the Seattle premiere of the new film “Struck By Lightning” written by and starring “Glee” star Chris Colfer. (You might remember we interviewed the director of the film, Brian Dannelly; check it out HERE.)

Opening Night Film: STRUCK BY LIGHTNING (Thursday, October 11, 7:30 p.m., Cinerama)

Chris Colfer, Golden Globe winner for Glee, is the writer and star of this wickedly smart dark comedy, set in a town strikingly similar to where Colfer grew up. Through a series of flashbacks, we get to know Carson Phillips (Colfer), a high school senior whose attitude toward high school is arrogant and cynical. He’d love nothing more than to escape the mediocrity of the meathead jocks, the drama club gays, a mean-girl cheerleader (Sarah Hyland, Modern Family), a spooky goth chick (Ashley Rickards, Awkward), and a clueless college advisor (Angela Kinsey, The Office) who harass him on a daily basis. Home life is no solace for Carson either, what with a pill-popping mom (Allison Janney), estranged father (Dermot Mulroney), and his father’s pregnant fiancée (Christina Hendricks, Mad Men). Quirky and hilarious Rebel Wilson (BRIDESMAIDS) steals the show as Carson’s only ally, who helps him hatch an outrageous plan to humiliate his foes and boost his chances for college acceptance.

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING will resonate with anyone who has suffered through the torments of high school cliques and the burning desire to turn the tables on one’s enemies. The memorable performances in this lively reinvention of the high school comic drama are infused with such spirit and joy that you may even get nostalgic.

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival and was the closing night film at this year’s OutFest in Los Angeles.

In addition to the Opening Night film, the following Centerpiece films were announced.

Centerpiece: CALL ME KUCHU (Sunday, October 14, 7 p.m., Egyptian)

David Kato, Uganda’s first openly gay political activist, is one of the few who dare to publicly protest the state-sanctioned homophobia in his country. Here, homosexuality is not only considered sinful, it is illegal. Gay people—known as kuchus—are at risk of being beaten, harassed, and even stoned to death. A new “anti-homosexuality bill” introduced in Parliament would take the law even further, imposing a death sentence for HIV-positive gay men and a three-year prison sentence for anyone who fails to turn in a known homosexual—even one’s own child. Meanwhile, the government, the media, church leaders, and American evangelicals fuel the fire of intolerance and hatred throughout the greater population.

CALL ME KUCHU was awarded Best Documentary Teddy Award – 2012 Berlin Film Festival and Best International Feature – 2012 Hot Docs.

Centerpiece:  CLOUDBURST (Friday, October 19, 7:30 p.m., Egyptian)

Oscar®-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis (MOONSTRUCK) and Brenda Fricker (MY LEFT FOOT) star in this uproarious romantic dramedy about two lifelong lovers who must go on the run in order to stay together. Stella (Dukakis) is a salty spitfire who lives in a bucolic seaside home with her longtime partner, the near-blind and slightly dotty Dot (Fricker). Though they’ve been together for over thirty years, Dot’s neurotic and naïve granddaughter decides to split them up by putting Dot in a retirement home. Stella soon breaks her beloved out, and the couple head for Canada to get legally married, picking up an impressionable and attractive young hitchhiker-hustler along the way. As the three share past troubles and create new ones, they form an unlikely bond on an unforgettable road trip.

CLOUDBURST received the Audience Award, Best Feature – Frameline 2012 and the Grand Jury Award, Best Film – Milan Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Closing Night Film: YOUNG & WILD (Sunday, October 21, 6:30 p.m., AMC Pacific Place)

Daniela is a petite, pretty teenager raised in the bosom of a strict and well-to-do evangelical family in Santiago, Chile. Daniela is also a 17-year-old who finds that her raging sexual drive is difficult to reconcile with the orders of her religion. With no outlet for her desire, Daniela taps into a rampant underground network of other horny teenagers through her sexually charged blog. As she types the gospel of her life as a fornicator online, Daniela still goes to church and prays to Jesus, “Lord, see to it that Mother doesn’t typeyoungandwild.blogspot.com!”

Award Winner:  World Cinema Screenwriting Award – S.F.

And, Seattle Gay Scene will once again be a major media sponsor for this year’s festival and we promise to pummel you with coverage…stay tuned for more announcements about the festival and the films.

(Rumor: We hear there’ll be a very special film that will be much appreciated by the bears in our neck of the woods…)