Wedding theme for gay-lesbian film fest
Written By Carla Meyer
Source: Sac Bee Ticket

The Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will offer plenty of ways to spend a kick-around weekend afternoon. Festival-goers can catch a film, grab some popcorn, maybe get married.A s part of its wedding-themed celebration and program next Sunday at the Crest Theatre, the festival will let couples with licenses get married on the spot. Festival sponsor Ikea will provide the arch. Among those planning to get hitched is Kate Moore, director of “Words Matter,” a documentary focused on the Sacramento weddings that followed the state Supreme Court’s overturning of the ban on same-sex marriages earlier this year.

Moore and her partner, Tina Reynolds, had a ceremony last year, and although Moore says they feel married already, “actually getting a marriage license is really a big deal for us because it’s something we weren’t allowed to do before.” Moore works as multimedia director for Uptown Studios, a graphic and Web site design firm owned by Reynolds. When the couple heard the ban was being lifted, they decided to use their technical know-how to capture the “I do’s.” “I was holding the camera and she was asking questions,” Moore said. Among the newly marrieds shown in “Words Matter” are former Assemblyman Dennis Mangers and his spouse, Michael Sestak, with Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and state Sen. Sheila Kuehl among those officiating.

“Usually, you see people in San Francisco getting married” in films or news reports about same-sex marriage, Moore said. “But people all over the state are getting married, and it’s nice to celebrate with people we know here in Sacramento.” Moore’s short film and two others will play at 4 p.m. Sunday, the final day of the four-day film festival. Because the festival occurs each year in October – which some years means just before election time – its content can seem especially topical. That’s true this year, with a vote on anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 on tap for Nov. 4. “We don’t really politicize things, but by virtue of the fact that we are a (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) festival,” political themes arise, said Patti Barcena, the festival’s artistic director. Started in 1991 at California State University, Sacramento, as a way to mark National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), the festival routinely draws high-quality LBGT-themed films from around the world. Organizers also strive to add something new each year, whether it’s a wedding arch or youth- oriented programming.

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