Let the Festival Begin!

If you are near my mountain, we got your weekend covered. The Southern Appalachian International Film Festival is at ETSU. You can read about it on the front page of today's Johnson City Press: Growing Attraction: Film Festival has more than 100 offerings:

And they are all FREE!

Here is the link to find out about them.

My simian friend, Dr. Monkey, is screening the film Abel Raises Cain at the Acoustic Coffeehouse Saturday night at ten. I could say more, but I will let him tell you about it. If you live in the area and you do NOT attend, Dr. M. has a little something for you...

I and some other PFLAGers will be leading a discussion following the screening of the film Chasing the Devil. It is a documentary about wack job homophobic ignoramuses (oops, I guess I should be a little more measured) who run those so-called ex-gay ministries.

This documentary presents an unflinching look at the personal journeys of four people who claim to have changed their sexual orientation from gay to straight. Their stories mark the first time documentary filmmakers have been allowed inside the ex-gay movement and provide an empathetic and at times devastating portrait of those who claim homosexuality is an illness that can be healed.John Sterback is a member of the most politically incorrect subculture in America. He’s a self-described “ex-gay,” someone who claims to have changed his sexual orientation from gay to straight. Richard Cohen is John’s inspiration and represents the public face of the ex-gay movement while hiding his own controversial past. “Chasing the Devil” uncovers the truth behind the claims of the reparative therapists who attack gay identity as nothing more than a developmental disorder that can be fixed with a healthy dose of therapy and prayer. Joanne Highley and Peterson Toscano take viewers deeper inside the world of ex-gay ministries with their journeys inside New York City’s Life Ministry, where demons are believed to cause homosexuality and exorcisms are the preferred from of treatment.

That will be Sunday at 3 p.m. at Ball Hall, Room 127.

There is a good line-up of LGBTQ films this year. See the trailers here.

Pilkey just sent me this:

SOAPIFF is screening the best of the International Black Film Festival tonight. One of the films is called "Beneath The Skin: Baptists and Racism" It won the best feature length documentary at the IBBF. I thought I would pass this on to you and you may pass it on to anyone else who may be interested in attending this film. By the way, here's a link to the IBBF films:

Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism (8:00 p.m.)

Written for the Screen and Directed by
Robert Parham and Cliff Vaughn

Running Time: 47 minutes

“Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism” considers past mistakes and future challenges regarding racial unity and social justice. From the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the current immigration debate, “Beneath the Skin” peels back prejudices found inside and outside the church and considers how they have become “encoded racism.” It confronts these injustices with biblical mandates and suggests ways forward for people of faith. Interviewees come from nearly a dozen states and represent the best in Baptist life, including: preacher and activist Will Campbell, Aidsand Wright-Riggins of American Baptist Churches USA; Fitz Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College; and Javier Elizondo of Baptist University of the Americas.

That's tonight at 8 p.m. at Ball Hall, Room #313.

Over 100 films, all different genres, all this weekend in--historic yet magic--Johnson City.