(SEATTLE)
SIFF Cinema presents the 500th
community screening of Seattle filmmaker Drew Emery’s award-winning documentary, Inlaws
& Outlaws on Thursday, March
29th 7 pm at the Uptown, 311 Queen Anne N. in Seattle. The event reunites the film, filmmaker and much
of the cast for this event benefitting Washington United for Marriage, the state-wide coalition created to advance equal marriage in Washington – and defend it at the ballot box in November. (See below for screening details.)
Starting this Spring, the film’s Hearts + Minds Campaign will partner with Washington United for Marriage to present community screenings all over the state in support of the recently passed equal marriage bill that Governor Gregoire signed into law on February 13th. “As an American, a wife, and a mother, I believe marriage equality is fair, just, and right. And it is time” Governor Gregoire stated at the time.
Sheila Stickel, Deputy Campaign Manager for Washington United added, “Our campaign has a goal of reaching out to thousands of Washington voters this Spring to secure their support early in this campaign season. It is fantastic to have the support of SIFF and Inlaws & Outlaw for this important issue.” The film’s unusual odyssey of how it’s found its audience roughly parallels the circuitous journey that the marriage equality movement has been on in the same time frame.
“When we set out to make this film, I certainly wasn’t expecting to be married to it all these years,” admits the film’s director, Drew Emery. “But at that time marriage equality was largely seen as a fringe issue that concerned only the gay community. Now as equal marriage has increasingly been seen as the civil rights issue of our times, the film has found it’s feet and taken on a life of it’s own.” Inlaws & Outlaws owes much of its wide appeal to the way it circumvents the usual rhetoric around gay marriage to present straightforward storytelling with universal themes. The film weaves together the true stories of couples and singles — gay and straight — into a collective narrative that embraces what we have in common: we love. The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival back in 2005 and for the next year and a half, went on a fairly typical route of film festivals and industry events, generating positive critical notice and winning some awards (the Grand Jury Award from Oklahoma’s deadCENTER Film Fest, Best of Fest from the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Best Local Film at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.) Unsatisfied by offers of niche distribution to gay-only audiences, Emery re-cut the film and readied it for self-distribution by unconventional means, creating the Hearts + Minds Campaign, a DIY grassroots program that empowers individual activists, schools, non-profits or congregations to present the film locally and inspire change. Since launching in 2007, the Campaign has given the film an unusually long afterlife, playing in cities and small towns from Oklahoma, Indiana, Maine and, naturally, Washington. Emery notes that nearly half of the film’s 500 screenings have been hosted by churches and synagogues. “That’s not big box office but it’s a mighty big impact,” he added, noting that this flies in the face of the media perception that gay rights are inherently in conflict with religious communities. style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now with the 500th screening at SIFF Cinema, the film’s come full circle. “SIFF was thrilled to premiere Inlaws & Outlaws, one of the first films telling the stories behind the marriage equality movement,” noted Carl Spence, Artistic Director of Seattle International Film Festival. “It's great to see that the film remains an important catalyst for ending marriage discrimination in our state and nation." “Having the film play to gay audiences on the coasts would’ve been fine,” says Emery. “But our goal was always to reach across the usual divides and create common ground. Now as the equal marriage debate has finally moved from the fringe to center stage, more and more people are moving to where the film has been all along: marriage is about love, about creating family — pretty mainstream American values.”
The Hearts + Minds Campaign gives screening hosts the option of using the film to educate, advocate, raise money or just provide a social gathering for diverse audiences to come together. The Campaign provides a website full of tools to support the grassroots events and, if screening hosts choose to sell DVDs of the film at their screenings, the Campaign splits the earnings with the hosting organization to further empower their grassroots efforts. “We want to make this as win-win as we can,” says Emery. “There are a growing number of people and organizations working toward full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people but we feel that the most powerful tools we have at our disposal are our own true stories. That’s not only what the film delivers but what it brings out in its audiences.”
For more information visit: www.inlawsandoutlawsfilm.com.
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