Reel Pride

Reel Pride programming committee member David Wyatt has maintained a detailed account of every film that's ever screened as part of the festival. We asked him for a list of his five favourites, but with 30 years' worth of programming to choose from, it's no wonder he had trouble choosing. In his own words — and in no particular order — here are his top picks: • Edward II: Director Derek Jarman melds contemporary themes with Christopher Marlowe's 1594 play. Tilda Swinton is amazing as the rebellion-leading Queen Isabella. • Undertow (Contracorriente): Directed by Javier Fuentes-Leon, this Peruvian drama won many awards for its touching tale of a villager who finds freedom only when his lover returns as a ghost unseen by the other townspeople. • Gun Hill Road: Directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green. A young transgendered teen's world is thrown into turmoil when her father returns from prison, expecting the son he left behind. • Cloudburst: Directed by Nova Scotia's Thom Fitzgerald. A comedy/drama starring Olympia Dukakis, in which Stella and Dot — a Maine couple in their seventies — elope to Canada to thwart their families' plans to split them up. • Portrait of a Serial Monogamist (screening Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.): Directed by John Mitchell and Christina Zeidler. The rom-com finally gets its lesbian on as middle-aged Elsie encounters the complication of modern relationships. • Pride: Directed by Matthew Warchus. LGBT activists in Margaret Thatcher's Britain reach out to striking Welsh miners, and change everything about common cause politics. • HellBent: Directed by Paul Etheridge-Ouzts. Exactly like every other teen horror slasher film — except it's not. • Parting Glances: Directed by Bill Sherwood. An issues- driven drama, but being gay was not the issue. A radical idea in 1987. BooktodaywithCAATravel! Winnipeg:204262.6000 Brandon:204571.4100 Altona:204324.8474 Toll-free:1800222.4357 caamanitoba.com/travel JoinCAATravelandpremierelesbiantravelcompany OliviaTravelforaCaribbeanescape.GrammyAward-winning artistPattiLaBellehelpsgetyourvacationoffontheright notewithanonboardconcertinFortLauderdale! PORTSOFCALLINCLUDE: GrandTurk,Turks&Caicos•SanJuan,PuertoRico St.Thomas/St.John,U.S.VirginIslands•HalfMoonCay,Bahamas *Pricesareperperson,basedondoubleoccupancy. Priceshownaboveisforcruiseonly. CruisewithPride 7-nightCaribbeancruiseonboard HollandAmerica'smsWesterdam January30-February6,2016 From$2,099 USD* Membership isaperk,nota requirement. H e's been a tireless Reel Pride volunteer for longer than some of this year's contributors have been alive. Only fitting, then, that when it came time to name the festival's first scholarship for emerging filmmakers, organizers thought of David Wyatt — long considered the lifeblood of the Reel Pride board. Over the past 26 years, Wyatt has occupied pretty much every position on the Reel Pride masthead, having first joined the organization while the festival was still in its relative infancy. Since that time, he's seen Reel Pride's mandate change and evolve alongside the larger LGBT movement — though in the early days, as he points out, the queer cinema scene was all but non-existent in Winnipeg. "The commercial outlets and even the arts community at the time just didn't bring in LGBT films to be seen," says Wyatt. "In those days they were difficult to find on VHS — and of course they didn't appear on television and there was no such thing as the Internet." Now a member of Reel Pride's programming committee, Wyatt has a hand in selecting the many features, documentaries, short films and other media that are featured each fall as part of the festival. He also maintains an archive of every film that's been screened over Reel Pride's 30-year history. An avid film buff, he's especially interested in the depiction of LGBT issues in cinema — an area that's broadened significantly in scope and style over the decades. "Thirty years ago, filmmakers were telling stories of the struggle — the struggle for wider acceptance, and in particular the struggle against the health crisis, and AIDS," he explains. "Those themes still exist in film, but now we can also see a comedy about teenagers, or a story about someone who solves murders — all sorts of other genres of film that didn't have LGBT stories told in them, now do." Wyatt has also paid witness to changing trends in pop culture consumption, though he obviously remains a big proponent of the sort of communal film-going experiences afforded by Reel Pride. "It's interesting to see a collected group of works in a short period of time," says Wyatt, who in 2013 received the Investors Group Arts & Culture Award for Volunteer Excellence. "We watch so much media now when we're isolated — at home, or on our computers or phones. But the experience of watching a film with a group of other people is quite different from watching it at home. I think it's still important, not only to tell these stories and share them, but to make a community event out of it." Though he's characteristically modest about the new scholarship being named in his honour, Wyatt does hope the resulting financial boost can help up-and-coming filmmakers tell their stories — particularly those who use fiction to frame the real- world experiences of the LGBT community. "One of the interesting things about the whole issue surrounding the place of LGBT people in society, is that really, the issue is about who you're attracted to, and who you fall in love with and who you form a relationship and a family with," says Wyatt. "Those themes are often better told — are more engaging — in fiction than they are in reports or documentaries. To really capture that notion — of how ordinary it is to the outside world, and how special it is to the individual to fall in love — is really a story that you can capture better in fiction." The David A. Wyatt Reel Pride Film Festival Scholarship is available to local GLBTTQ* filmmakers who are registered or plan to register in film-related education at any recognized post-secondary institution in the world. Each year, an award of $1,000 will be granted to a candidate who best demonstrates a commitment to their community and craft that mirrors the dedication Wyatt has shown to Reel Pride's mission and mandate. The first scholarship will be awarded during the 2016 festival. A Gentleman and a Scholarship Best of the Fest David Wyatt PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL MONOGAMIST

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