The Pink Festival (Philippine International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival)
unfolds with three powerful yet heartwarming films that highlight the
civil and political rights of gay and lesbian people featured in the
“American Pink Saturday” on June 4.
Created by Academy Award-winner Debra Chasnoff and producer Helen S. Cohen, the groundbreaking It's Elementary, Talking About Gay Issues in School, features frank classroom discussions of gay and lesbian issues where wide-eyed children surprisingly reveal how much they know and feel about the silent problem of gay bashing and bullying in the playground and classroom.
Two thousand educational institutions that acquired the film proves the popularity of the film among teachers, parents, and community leaders throughout the United States, The US National Education Association president Bob Chase endorses the film as “a great resource for community leaders working to teach respect and responsibility to America's children.”
It's Elementary won dozens of awards, including the CINE Golden Eagle for Best Educational Film, the Silver Apple (National Educational Media Network), and the Silver Spire (San Francisco International Film Festival). International Documentary calls the film "a model of intelligent directing."
Chasnoff’s second film That's a Family! sustains the entertaining and delightful teaching spirit of Pink American Saturday. The children here take viewers on a tour through their lives as they speak candidly about what it's like to grow up in a family with parents of different races or religions, divorced parents, a single parent, gay or lesbian parents, adoptive parents or grandparents as guardians.
This top-notch production aimed at elementary and high school-aged
kids goes a long way toward encouraging tolerance in general. The film
makes a great learning tool for classroom discussions on difficult,
often-confusing terms such as lesbian, mixed-race and adoption because
it stresses that love and support - not blood or skin color - hold families
together.”
That’s a Family! won the CINE Golden Eagle Master Series Award, Non-Broadcast Films; First Place, National Council on Family Relations Media Awards; Best Documentary, San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; Audience Award, Best Short Film, Barcelona Gay and Lesbian Film Festival; Best Short Documentary, Santa Clarita International Film Festival; and Best Short Documentary, Burbank International Children's Film Festival.
The third entry also by Chasnoff One Wedding and A Revolution recorded the historic first same-sex marriage granted on February 12, 2004 by the mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco to pioneering activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon who were celebrating their 51st anniversary.
Michael Falguera, secretary general of the Pink Festival lead organizer ProGay Philippines, praised the three films from the San Francisco-based Women’s Educational Media for their power to touch and convince hard hearts into accepting the misunderstood feelings of oppressed gays and lesbians. ProGay strongly recommends American Pink Saturday to educators, school administrators students, child-care givers and government officials.
The Pink Festival unreels from June 1 to 7 at the Gateway, the newest mall to rise in Cubao, Quezon City. On its third edition this year, the event joins the world’s observance of annual Gay Pride Month of June.
The human rights celebration is presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Mowelfund Film Institute, with the support of the Finland Embassy, the Swiss Embassy, Philippine NGO Support Program (PHANSuP), Women's Educational Media, Norweigian Film Institute, University of the Philippines Film Institute and AIDS Society of the Philippines.
Reservations and Season's Passes will soon be made available. Corporate sponsorships and provincial bookings are now being accepted. For more information, call: Mowelfund Film Institute at 410 4567; 727 1915 local 203; or 3673109.
Posted May 6, 2005