6th ANNUAL OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL BLACK GAY, Lesbian, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER FILM FESTIVAL

The festival takes place at Parkway Theater, located at 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland, August 14-17. The opening film will be Mahogany, the 1975 hit film staring Diana Ross, as a Chicago striver who is trying to reach the top of international fashion scene.

This year's festival selections include: Logo’s (from MTV Networks) screening of its ground-breaking new reality show Shirts & Skins, which is scheduled to premiere on LOGO in mid September. Shot in San Francisco and directed by African-American Leola Westbrook, the show follows the true-life story of the San Francisco Rockdogs, a young all-star gay basketball team who must reunite to uphold their city’s three-generation legacy of international gay games gold medal, and national tournament wins.

Friends & Lovers, is a romantic comedy by Oakland-native Maurice Jamal, and will have its Bay Area premiere at the festival.
U People is a sexy, intelligent documentary about a group of women who are making a unique music video.

Blueprint, directed by Kirk Shannon-Butts, tells the story of Keith, a reserved conservative transplant to New York City from Los Angeles and Nathan, a street-smart, pot smoking Brooklynite who lives on the edge.

Pariah is a coming-of-age drama about a lesbian teenager who unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family.

The Sakia Gunn Project is a documentary that tells the story of Sakia, a 15 year old charismatic, dynamic young woman who was tragically murdered. Sakia was out and proud about being an’aggressive’ (woman who dresses in masculine attire but does not necessarily identify as either lesbian or female-to-male transgender).

The festival also presents a dark look at AIDS with Young & Evil by writer-director Julian Breece who makes a striking debut with a dramatic short about a defiantly promiscuous young man who finds eros in self-destruction. The Alameda County Office of AIDS administration has joined real estate firm, The Harrison Team and others, as sponsors of the festival and will be presenting their new HIV prevention and awareness campaign; HIV Stops With Us (HSWU), created and implemented by San Francisco-based social marketing firm Better World Advertising.

This new campaign builds on the highly successful HIV Stops With Me Social marketing campaign and features the photography of internationally recognized photographer, Duane Cramer. A preview of this new approach to HIV prevention will take place at the Oakland International black GLBT Film Festival August 14th - 17th. Ads will be showcased and spokes-models will be in attendance.

It was six years ago when festival producers Debra Wilson and Joe Hawkins decided to do what many thought wasn't possible; create a film festival dedicated to showcasing films about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people of African descent.

"I felt compelled to produce this festival after I learned from Debra that there was only one black LGBT film festival in the world at that time," Hawkins said. But after doing some research, it was clear to him that the closest thing to a black GLBT film festival that existed in America six years ago, were film screenings that sometimes took place in hotels during "Black Gay Pride" celebrations around the country.

Festival co-producer Debra Wilson said; "When we held our first screening in 2003 at the Parkway Theater, there was a line down the street, I was a little shocked, but I knew that we were filling a void." Hawkins stated that even the one other film festival that existed when the Oakland festival began six years ago, has resorted to offering free screenings on a very small scale.

Oakland is home to some of the world's most notable black gay and lesbian film-makers to include the late Marlon Riggs (Tongues Untied & Ethnic Notions) and more recently award winning directors Debra Wilson (Butch Mystique & Jumpin. The Broom) and Maurice Jamal (Dirty Laundry & Ski-Trip) who's films have also been shown on Logo (MTV-Networks). Another unique characteristic of Oakland is that it is home to the largest population of African and African-American LGBT people in Northern California, according to a recent survey by the International Federation of Black Prides.

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