The First Inaugural Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, October 25–31, 1996.

Skyler Fein Seattle Lesbian Gay Film Festival

Broadside

LGBTQ promotional broadside for the first Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, held at Seattle's Harvard Exit Theatre in October 1996. Organized by Three Dollar Bill Cinema, the inaugural festival presented twenty screenings over seven days, establishing an important exhibition platform for LGBTQ filmmakers in the Pacific Northwest. Opening night featured Hettie Macdonald's Beautiful Thing (1996), a British coming-of-age romance between two teenage boys, while closing night featured Bruce LaBruce and Rick Castro's Hustler White (1996), an independent film exploring gay male sex work in Los Angeles. The contrasting selections illustrate the range of gay cinema emerging during the 1990s, from accessible romantic dramas to experimental and sexually explicit filmmaking.

Original color-printed broadside poster, measuring approximately 19 x 23 inches. Designed by Skylar Fein and printed by Girlie Press in Seattle, featuring a large halftone illustration of a vintage film projector against bold yellow, red, blue, and black graphics. Prominent text advertises "7 DAYS of NEW QUEER FILM and VIDEO," with additional references to international cinema, local filmmakers, Halloween screenings, and queer television. Includes advance ticket information, venue details, and logos of supporting organizations, including Seattle Gay News, Seattle Weekly, and the Pride Foundation.

Established during the expansion of New Queer Cinema and shortly after the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in September 1996, the festival provided a dedicated venue for LGBTQ stories frequently excluded from mainstream distribution. The inaugural Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival was held in 1996 by artist Skylar Fein, after drawing inspiration from a gay film festival in San Francisco. Now known as the Seattle Queer Film Festival, it has grown to become the largest LGBTQIA+ film festival in the Pacific Northwest. Clean en recto and en verso. Overall in very good condition.

Item #24039

Price: $285.00