GAY LIFE

The festival was born in the mid- 1970s, when Gay Lib raged throughout the land. I started attending in the 1980s; the festival only lasted a week, but I'd see 20 films if I could. The films often were bad, but who cared? Short a few truly torturous movies, it was amazing to sit in a theater day after day and see films about us.
At the time, Hollywood films showed gay people as suicidal social outcasts, serial killers or suicidal social outcast serial killers -- or Charles Nelson Reilly.

On my own personal note, I love the film festivals, but often find it hard to be involved in the one here in the City because it's just so huge! When I was in DC I would annually buy an all-access pass for the full festival. As it usually was at a local theater across the street from my apartment building, it was so easy for me to just sit in the festival day-in and day-out, all day long, with other friends who were there all the time. Woodja was one of my friends that I bonded with throughout the week of the festival. We have many, many fond memories of good and very bad movies. Good times.