Pride flick picks: Vancouver Queer Film Festival and Pride Movie Night

Pride Week and the Pride Parade are fast approaching. In the lead-up to the big party, there are a number of film-related events to take note of.

Tickets and festival passes for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (which runs from August 12 to 22) will go on sale tomorrow (July 17) at their Web site as well as at Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium (1238 Davie Street) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (And there'll be cupcakes too! Yay!)

If you can't make it to the West End, keep in mind that there are going to be ticket sale events in East Vancouver as well.

On July 24, tickets will be sold at Black Dog Video (1470 Commercial Drive) from noon to 5 p.m. Then on July 25, you can drop by Rhizome Café (317 East Broadway) from 3 to 8 p.m. to purchase tickets or passes.

Those sale days will be held just after the OUTrageous! fundraising event on July 23 (7:30 p.m.) at the Roundhouse Arts and Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). There'll be a live and silent auction by Fred Lee, with auction items from Arsenal Pulp Press, Sofa So Good, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and more. (You can even bid on a date with Lee himself!) Plus, there'll be performances by drag queen Joan-E, burlesque artist Jenny Magenta, and musician Aaron Chan. And the whole shebang will be hosted by comedian David C. Jones. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased on-line.

Separate from the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, there's also Pride Movie Night on July 29 (from 7 to 10 p.m.) at Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street), which will feature two thought-provoking documentaries. Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride follows Vancouver Pride Society's Ken Coolen around the world as he travels to various pride parades that range from massive events to secretly arranged, risky attempts to stage parades in homophobic countries.

It'll be followed with the 2007 film She's a Boy I Knew, which documents local filmmaker Gwen Haworth's transition from male to female and all the challenges that entailed.

There'll also be discussions with the directors and participants as well.

Tickets are $20 for the evening and can be purchased at the Pride office (603–1033 Davie Street) or at Little Sister's (1238 Davie Street).