BRATTLEBORO — The CineSLAM LGBT Film Festival of Shorts will offer more than just award-winning independent films this June. Between films, this eighth annual event will host a “Wedding Cake Intermission” in recognition of the marriage equality case awaiting decision by the Supreme Court.
CineSLAM 2013 is Saturday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Hooker-Dunham Theater on Main Street in Brattleboro. Advance tickets are available online, and reservations are recommended.
The festival brings together films offering an intriguing glimpse of the diversity of life, and the travails and triumphs of LGBTQ people in short narrative, documentary, and art video formats.
Among the many noteworthy films this year is “Spooners” (2013) from Bryan Horch, a filmmaker from northwest Massachusetts, which won Best Short at the 2013 Seattle Film Festival.
Other offerings include Becky Lane's “Happy Hour” (2012), inspired by lesbian pulp fiction novels of the 1950s, and in turn was the inspiration for Lane's next film “The Chanticleer,” the name of the Ithaca, N.Y., bar where both were filmed.
“Dating Sucks: A Genderqueer Misadventure” (2013) brings to Vermont the work of Sam Berliner, recently selected as festival director and programmer for Seattle's Translations Film Festival.
Intermission will feature its own entertainment: a wedding cake donated by Little City Baking Company, new to Brattleboro's Main Street, opening Aug. 1. With the Supreme Court due to rule on same-sex marriage before the end of June, the CineSLAM screenings will open with a montage of local wedding photos and share the traditional three-tier cake with attendees.
Admission of $10 includes the film screenings and all refreshments during intermission. Reservations are strongly recommended, and can be made at www.cineslam.com.
The annual Pride Dance begins afterwards, at 9 p.m., at the American Legion, 32 Linden St.
CineSLAM is programmed by Guilford resident and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker John Scagliotti, who created the first LGBTQ television series, “In the Life,” on PBS. It celebrates its 20th season this fall.
Scagliotti also programs the Pride of the Ocean LGBT Film Festival, which takes place every year on a cruise ship, this year embarking Aug. 18 in Seattle and sailing to Glacier Bay, Alaska.
CineSLAM workshops for the independent filmmakers are held aboard ship as part of a week of programming including screenings, panels, and special guests.
CineSLAM is sponsored by the Kopkind Colony, a nonprofit project based in Guilford bringing together political journalists, grassroots activists and independent documentary filmmakers. Launched in 1999, it serves as a living memorial to the late Guilford resident and journalist Andrew Kopkind. The Kopkind Colony organizes seminars for its resident participants and hosts a number of free public events.