Reel Pride gay and lesbian film festival is looking strong for year 29
Fresno’s 29th annual Reel Pride LGBTQ Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 19, with an impressive lineup and three venues in the Tower District. This year’s festival, which runs through Sunday, Sept. 23, features more than 40 films from around the world.
No one covers Reel Pride like James Ward of the Visalia Times-Delta, the hardest working film journalist in the central San Joaquin Valley. (OK, so I’m pretty sure he’s the only working film journalist in the central San Joaquin Valley these days, but that doesn’t detract from his indefatigable enthusiasm for the topic.) He’s put together a good roundup of this year’s Reel Pride, including a review of one of the films. Among his observations:
Happily, the 2018 film lineup looks strong. Titles such as “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “TransMilitary,” “Wild Nights With Emily” and “Ideal Home” all have generated positive critical buzz at other film festivals.
Ward points out that gay/lesbian film festivals are struggling these days to get high-profile titles because of the growing acceptance of LGBTQ films. Your neighborhood multiplex is now competing for many of the titles that in years past could only find a home on the festival circuit. Three of 2018’s biggest LGBT-themed films — “Boy Erased,” “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” and “The Favourite” — aren’t being shown at this year’s festival, Ward writes.
The opening night film is “TransMilitary,” which screens at 7:30 p.m. at the Tower Theatre. Tickets to all films are $10.
