PRIDE Film Festival makes debut in residence halls

IU residence halls will host a new addition to the PRIDE Film Festival this week. \nWhile this is the third year of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender film festival in Bloomington, this is the first year the IU residence halls will screen festival films.\nMcNutt Quad, Read Center and Collins LLC will serve as venues for four films, two of which will not be shown in the main festival at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Jan. 26 through 29.\nIncluded in the residence hall screenings will be four films: "Hoi Maya," a German dramatic short about two elderly women who meet again after a brief teenage romance, and "My Sister, My Bride," a documentary short about a lesbian couple that goes to California to become legally married. "Flowers from the Heartland" is a documentary short about flowers sent to California in national support of same-sex marriages, and "Daddy and Papa" is a film about a gay couple adopting a child. \n"My Sister, My Bride" and "Daddy and Papa" will be shown only at the residence halls. \nFollowing the film screenings, representatives from GLBT Student Support Services and Residential Programs and Services will play host to discussions.\nWill O'Berry, GLBTSSS program coordinator, will facilitate the discussions at each event. \n"GLBT themes need to present themselves in the realm of film more and more so that we have a voice and a place in one of society's major art forms," O'Berry said. "Film festivals like these allow us to have that expressive space not only esoterically but exoterically as well." \nJunior Courtney Wiesenauer, PRIDE steering committee and funding committee member, stresses the benefit of these films to all students, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.\n"You certainly don't have to be gay to go to this festival," she said. "These are great movies; they just have GLBT issues in them."\nWiesenauer said that the addition of film screenings in the residence halls functions as an educational experience for those who might not have been exposed to GLBT issues before. \n"There are so many students in the residence halls, especially freshmen, who could benefit from being exposed to things like this that are a little bit outside their comfort zone," Wiesenauer said. "Having the film screenings in the residence halls makes it easier to have the educational component, the following discussions, for students."\nSenior Jessica Rudy, a CommUNITY Educator, will help with the screening and discussion in the Collins Coffeehouse. \n"I've been going to the PRIDE Film Festival for the past two years, and I am really pleased with the effect it seems to have in the community," Rudy said. "The festival itself is a lot of fun because having this celebration is a good step toward creating a welcoming environment for people who identify with the GLBT community, and encourages straight people to become allies"