2008 Woodie Awards
Pride hosts first gay film festival
James King
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Campus News
Bryant Pride hosted the inaugural gay film festival in the Papitto Dining Room between the days of March 31st and April 3rd. It was co-sponsored by the Diversity Council of Champions. Each showing took place at 7 pm with various refreshments being served. The Archway met with Sam Schultz, President of Bryant Pride, A.J. Sorbera, Vice-President of Bryant Pride and Dan Trapani, Bryant Pride Member, to discuss the festival, a first for Bryant University.
The festival is unique, like Bryant Pride, in the sense that it focuses on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues (LGBT) relevant to the Bryant Community. Bryant Pride is the only student organization that focuses on LGBT issues and seeks to improve the quality of life at Bryant and to promote diversity on campus via education about sexual orientation. Their co-sponsor, the Diversity Council of Champions, is an organization composed of students, faculty, and administration whose goal is to promote diversity in the Bryant Community.
The gay film festival's goal was to provide the community "a good opportunity to educate the community on relevant issues in a fun way," Dan Trapani told the Archway. Sam did stress too, that unlike many other events on campus, the gay film festival also provided a safe place for same-sex couples to come and hang out. The initial idea for the festival according to the Pride members was thought up by Sam over the summertime. When Sam came back to Bryant, he brought the idea before Pride and through the formation of a committee and collaboration the gay film festival came about. The process of film selection took about two weeks with each committee member contributing two or three films, according to festival chair, Sam. The massive list was narrowed down to "Latter Days", "Ma Vie En Rose", "Boys Don't Cry" and several short films. "Latter Days" highlights the clash between orthodox religion and love as it tells the tale of playboy, Christian Markelli and Mormon missionary, Aaron Davis. "Ma Vie En Rose" is a Belgian film (subtitled in English) that addresses transgender issues told through the perspective of a child. "Boys Don't Cry" was the last film of the festival and it shows the unsettling true story of Brandon Teena and his struggles with identity as a woman trying to live her life as a man. Sam informed the Archway that the films were selected based on the relevance of theme to the Bryant Community and added that although it was called a "gay" film festival, the target audience for the event was the entire Bryant Community, particularly straight allies who are not aware of these issues. A.J. Sorbera noted that of all the attendees, 75% of them were not members of Bryant Pride.
"We were very happy to see other members of the Bryant Community attend our important event" A.J. told The Archway, meaning that the event was a success. Sam attributed the success not only to the attendance, but the fact that this type of event had the support of the Diversity Council of Champions, who paid for the rights to the films. He also said that without the Diversity Council of Champions the gay film festival would not have been possible. Both groups strive for diversity and their co-sponsorship of the festival led to success. When asked if there would be another gay film festival in the future, Sam told The Archway, "Pride hopes to continue it in the future." Bryant Pride, based on information from its website, also has many other events planned including a blood donor information session on April 9th through 10th as well as the Day of Silence on April 23rd as of this writing. For more information on Bryant Pride, please visit their website at web.bryant.edu/~pride.
The festival is unique, like Bryant Pride, in the sense that it focuses on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues (LGBT) relevant to the Bryant Community. Bryant Pride is the only student organization that focuses on LGBT issues and seeks to improve the quality of life at Bryant and to promote diversity on campus via education about sexual orientation. Their co-sponsor, the Diversity Council of Champions, is an organization composed of students, faculty, and administration whose goal is to promote diversity in the Bryant Community.
The gay film festival's goal was to provide the community "a good opportunity to educate the community on relevant issues in a fun way," Dan Trapani told the Archway. Sam did stress too, that unlike many other events on campus, the gay film festival also provided a safe place for same-sex couples to come and hang out. The initial idea for the festival according to the Pride members was thought up by Sam over the summertime. When Sam came back to Bryant, he brought the idea before Pride and through the formation of a committee and collaboration the gay film festival came about. The process of film selection took about two weeks with each committee member contributing two or three films, according to festival chair, Sam. The massive list was narrowed down to "Latter Days", "Ma Vie En Rose", "Boys Don't Cry" and several short films. "Latter Days" highlights the clash between orthodox religion and love as it tells the tale of playboy, Christian Markelli and Mormon missionary, Aaron Davis. "Ma Vie En Rose" is a Belgian film (subtitled in English) that addresses transgender issues told through the perspective of a child. "Boys Don't Cry" was the last film of the festival and it shows the unsettling true story of Brandon Teena and his struggles with identity as a woman trying to live her life as a man. Sam informed the Archway that the films were selected based on the relevance of theme to the Bryant Community and added that although it was called a "gay" film festival, the target audience for the event was the entire Bryant Community, particularly straight allies who are not aware of these issues. A.J. Sorbera noted that of all the attendees, 75% of them were not members of Bryant Pride.
"We were very happy to see other members of the Bryant Community attend our important event" A.J. told The Archway, meaning that the event was a success. Sam attributed the success not only to the attendance, but the fact that this type of event had the support of the Diversity Council of Champions, who paid for the rights to the films. He also said that without the Diversity Council of Champions the gay film festival would not have been possible. Both groups strive for diversity and their co-sponsorship of the festival led to success. When asked if there would be another gay film festival in the future, Sam told The Archway, "Pride hopes to continue it in the future." Bryant Pride, based on information from its website, also has many other events planned including a blood donor information session on April 9th through 10th as well as the Day of Silence on April 23rd as of this writing. For more information on Bryant Pride, please visit their website at web.bryant.edu/~pride.
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