Film Festival A celebration of lesbian and gay film will be taking place at the Valley Art Theatre at 509 S. Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, February 15, 1997. The festival will be bringing in films which have not been previously screened at local Phoenix movie theaters, although they have been highly acclaimed at recent gay and alternative film festivals in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Arizona has hosted very few gay oriented art or cultural events in the past so response from the gay and lesbian community in the Valley of the Sun has been a mixture of surprise and anticipation...with a lot of comments such as "Wow, it's about time...maybe Phoenix is finally growing up and becoming a real city."
Featured films include two full length movies, EVERYTHING RELATIVE and RED RIBBON BLUES, a 38 minute film, SCREAM, TEEN, SCREAM as well as a compilation of three short films entitled DYKE DRAMA which showcases IFE, a five minute film, MAYA, a 10 minute film and THINGS WE SAID TODAY which runs for 34 minutes.
It's Halloween and a serial killer with a taste for full figured teenage girls is on the prowl. In SCREAM, TEEN, SCREAM an all-frills
thriller, no slumber party is complete without loads of fattening treats,
sex, heartbreak and a maniac on the loose. The cast includes actress Jackie
Beat as "Jackie De Palma," Alexis Arquette as "Lisa Blair" and Robert Ring
as Lisa's best friend "Jennie Lee Curtis." As the crazed killer stalks the
unwitting teens they enjoy an evening filled with Ouija Board predictions
by the cranky ghost of Karen Carpenter; the agonizing discovery by the
chain-smoking, spandex-wearing teenage vixen Lisa that her two timing
boyfriend is carrying on with Jennie Lee; and the antics of Jackie and her
bong-smoking, overeating (Halloween candy of course) group of delinquent
girlfriends. Naturally the thriller ends with a shocking surprise. Directed
by Peter Spears. 38 minutes.
The short films to be screened include DYKE DRAMA which encompasses stories of relationships, cruising, and coming out.:
The Awareness project is proud to collaborate with the Festival sponsors in bringing gay and lesbian artistic expressions to the Valley. Cash Sponsors for the Festival include: Planet Systems Network, Movies on Central and Obelisk Bookstore. Media Sponsors: New Times and Echo Magazine.
The Lesbian and Gay Film Festival proceeds benefit the Awareness Project's educational programs. The strong support from our sponsors bode well for making this an annual event in keeping with our role in disseminating information on our community to the broader public. Your support will help ensure that this film festival becomes an Arizona tradition.
Advance tickets are $7 for Group A: Everything Relative and Dyke Drama OR Group B: Red Ribbon Blues and Scream, Teen, Scream. $12 for both groups. Advance tickets are available at Obelisk 602.266.2665 (24 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix), Movies on Central 602.274.0994 (4700 N Central, Phoenix), and after 7pm at the Valley Art box office (509 S Mill, Tempe). Tickets bought on the Festival day are $10 and $18 respectively. Showings for Group A are at Noon and 6:10pm, Group B at 3:10pm and 9:20pm.
Get those walking shoes out because we're going to march down Central Avenue and show our pride to the world, starting right here in Phoenix. It has been many years since a Pride parade was staged here, and we welcome the rebirth in public demonstration of our community spirit. The Arizona Central Pride committee, the same folks who bring us the annual Pride Festival, are planning the parade for this March 29th. There will be a mini-Pride Festival after the march.
With the recent attempts in the legislature to further reduce our rights, the same-sex marriage issue making the national rounds, the continuing tragedies of gay youth suicide and lack of AIDS responsiveness, this is truly an important year to make a public statement.
To march with us, or to offer your skills in making appropriate parade paraphernalia such as banners and signs, please call us right away at 602-351-3080.
Our first litter cleanup of 1997 will take place on Saturday, February 8. This is a great way of demonstrating that we are responsible members of the community-at-large. You also get to see old friends and make new ones-you'd be surprised how much you can chat while picking up trash! We provide gloves, safety vests, bags and a picnic at the park by the Salt River next to our stretch of road. Call us at 602-351-3080 to sign up.
Mark your calendars and start calling friends for another fun and exciting fund raising event brought to you by the Awareness Project. On Saturday, March 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you will have a chance to participate in a photographic scavenger hunt. You and your team of up to five people will compete in an effort to visit a number of gay related sites in the Metro Phoenix area. Your team will be awarded points based on difficulty as well as number of sites visited and photographed. You can imagine how much fun we are having planning this! Prizes, including an exciting Sedona Weekend Tour, will be awarded to teams. Your registration of $100 per team of 2-5 people, or individuals at $25 each will be tax-deductible and will support our public education programs. For more information, read upcoming local gay publications.
The recent Nabozny case in Wisconsin, where high school officials were held legally liable for permitting the anti-gay harassment of a student, will help our Speakers Bureau gain greater access to school administrators and officials concerned about their responsibilities to their students. If you are involved with an educational institution and know the name of a person in your school to contact for a Speakers Bureau engagement, you can remain anonymous in forwarding that information to us by phone or e-mail. The Speakers Bureau will come to your school, workplace or church and educate listeners about our issues as related through personal stories. It's a highly acclaimed and effective program, made possible through your contributions of funds, volunteer time and contacts.
Our Quick Response Team is an increasingly important way for you to educate the general public and decision-makers on our issues. Letters to the editor, e-mail and phone calls to the media, private corporations and government at all levels can be very effective in framing the discussion on lesbian and gay concerns and counteracting the misinformation spread by religious political extremists. For information on how to participate, call us at 602-351-3080, or e-mail Awareness@swlink.net.
The sad story of Bobby Griffith's suicide, just one example of the senseless and cruel tragedy of homophobia, was one of the inspirations for the Awareness Project's founding ten years ago. Bobby's mother, Mary Griffith, has collaborated on many public education campaigns, including our own "Are You Abusing Your Child Without Knowing It?" series of ads. LeRoy Aarons has written an indepth book on the subject of family pressures on young lesbian and gay people, "Prayers for Bobby."
To honor their public education contributions, and to start preparing for National Coming Out Project 1997, we are hosting a brunch this spring, tentatively for Saturday, May 18. Mary and LeRoy will join us with inspirational words and you will have a chance to meet them in a friendly and relaxed setting.
Do you want to help the Public Awareness Project with a completely anonymous $3 contribution? We know that does not sound like much, but every little bit helps. If you have a touch-tone phone and are over 18, you can take 30 seconds to leave us a donation. You will be billed on your local phone statement, with the only description printed being "Donation" (no organization name). It's so anonymous, we won't even know who you are! Call the free information line at 602-222-8678 for detailed instructions, then call 1-900-CALLING and use our code "4PAP." So, call early and call often!
The Awareness Project extends its appreciation to those who generously responded to our "Non-Event" fund raiser. A special thanks to all the volunteers who pitched in and helped with the concept, production and mailing of the solicitation. Your contributions made it possible to buy thousands of copies of our educational brochure to be distributed at Speakers Bureau engagements, the Mill Avenue Fair, to people who call for them, and to other organizations which use them as educational tools. We all had a great time and the food was not bad at all! See you next year!