Bi Request is back for a second round

Great news: Bi Request is happening again in 2008!

Bi Request is the bisexual short film program at the annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious LGBT film festival in the world. This is the festival that sets the standard for film fests on a global scale. If a film is shown at the San Francisco International, it often gets requested by dozens and dozens of other festivals, many of whom create their roster in part by going through the program guide of this festival. That means big exposure for the film and the opportunity for the filmmaker to share their art with LGBT people around the world.

A couple of years ago, the B and the T were added to the end of the SF International name - but I noticed right away that that didn't correspond to having any bi films in the program. I riled up a bunch of bi folks and our allies and turned into a major squeaky wheel about this! Frameline, the organization that puts on the festival, was quick to respond, and worked with me to actively solicit and promote bi material in last year's festival. Yay!

With Frameline, I volunteered on projects around bi-inclusively, including: helping update their submissions form to include an emphasis on the search for work by bisexual film-makers/ about bisexual people; sharing information with them on how to see bi content in films; and curating the first ever Bi Request program.

Bi Request was a huge success, with a packed theatre and fabulous short films about bisexual lives and by bi film-makers from around the world. Five of the film-makers were in attendance, including one who flew all the way from Australia to proudly show her work.

And now, we're doing it again! Frameline has asked me to volunteer again this year to curate Bi Request, and I jumped at the chance - it's so much fun! So please help me spread the word. Bi film-makers (and film-makers who have make films about bisexual lives/ featuring bisexual characters) can send their short films directly to me for consideration in Bi Request, or they can go through Frameline. If they want to send their films to me, the deadline is February 15th, and the address is:

Amy Andre
PO Box 14821
San Francisco, CA 94114

Let your film-making friends know about Bi Request. And, if you're in San Francisco in June, please make plans to attend Bi Request, too!



Here are some links of interest:

To send a submission to Frameline: http://www.frameline.org/filmmaker-support/festival-submissions/
(You’ll see the new statement about looking for films from underrepresented communities - including bi folks!)

To read about my "squeaky wheel" dialogue with Frameline: http://www.amyandre.com/film.html

To read about Bi Request: http://laughingsquid.com/squidlist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=168645&year=2007&month=6

And info about Bi Request in Wikipedia, of all places!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frameline

Cheers,

Amy