Seattle Asian American Film Festival presents strong Queerstories lineup Feb.
21-24
by Annie Kuo Special to the SGN
SEATTLE ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
BROADWAY PERFORMANCE
HALL &
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
February 21-24
The 7th annual Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) kicked off Thursday, February 21 and continues through Sunday night, February 24 at Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) (1515 12th Ave. between E Pike & E Pine Sts.) and Broadway Performance Hall (BPH) (1625 Broadway at Broadway & see SAAFF page 5
by Miryam Gordon
SGN A&E Writer
AMERICAN JUNKIE
BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
Through March 10
Watching someone act out shooting heroin and hearing them describe it is definitely discomfiting. Hearing in the description that they are removing wads of tissues from holes in their body that reach the bone to find flesh
see AMERICAN JUNKIE page 4
2019 Academy Awards predictions
After a tumultuous awards season, accurately predicting Oscar’s outcome is impossible
by Sara Michelle Fetters
SGN A&E Writer
91ST ACADEMY AWARDS
DOLBY THEATRE
LOS ANGELES
ABC/KOMO TV @ 5pm
February 24
If anything is clear about this year’s 91st annual Academy Awards it is that absolutely nothing, nothing at all, is clear whatsoever. For reasons having almost nothing to do with the nominees themselves, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have done a marvelous job
see OSCARS page 8
Rock of Ages is a big cheeseball you
by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer
ROCK OF AGES
5TH AVENUE THEATRE Through February 24
Piles of snow didn’t stop the crew of Rock of Ages from puttin’ on a show! Some of the hardier audience members were even able to snag $20 tickets. 5th Avenue admin made the decision to help entice people
see ROCK OF AGES page 4
Ian Bond as Tom Hansen in American Junkie at Book-It Repertory Theatre – Photo by Studio 19 Photography
Galen Disston (center) of Seattle band Pickwick stars as Drew in Rock of Ages at The 5th Avenue Theatre – Photo by Tracy Martin
Bohemian Rhapsody – Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Zero One – Photo courtesy of SAAFF
TV Emmy® Award-winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Ru-veals guest judges for season 11 premiering Feb. 28
“RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE” SEASON 11 VH1 @ 9pm
Emmy® Award-winning host RuPaul will be joined by a star-studded line-up of celebrities to help show regulars Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and Ross Mathews as they decide who will stay, lip-sync for their life or “sashay away” in the new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” premiering Thursday, February 28 at 9pm ET/PT on VH1.
This season’s guest judges include Miley Cyrus, Troye Sivan, Lena Waithe, Joel McHale, Cara Delevingne, Bobby Moynihan, Kandi Burruss, Tiffany Pollard, Gina Rodriguez, Sydelle Noel, Wanda Sykes, Elvira, Guillermo Diaz, Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, Travis Wall, Amber Valetta, Tony Hale, Clea Duvall, Fortune Feimster, Cheyenne Jackson, Katherine Langford and Natasha Lyonne. Additionally, Rachel Maddow will treat the queens to a special guest appearance.
The 15 competing queens will give their all to impress the judges as they vie for the ultimate title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and a grand prize of $100,000. The previously announced queens include: A’keria C. Davenport (Dallas, TX), Ariel Versace (Cherry Hill, NJ), Brooke Lynn Hytes (Nashville, TN), Honey Davenport (New York, NY), Kahanna Montrese (Las Vegas, NV), Mercedes Iman Diamond (Minneapolis, MN), Nina West (Columbus, OH), Plastique Tiara (Dallas, TX), Ra’jah D. O’Hara (Dallas, TX), Scarlet Envy (New York, NY), Shuga Cain (New York, NY), Silky Nutmeg Ganache (Chicago, IL), Soju (Los Angeles, CA), Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (Los Angeles, CA) and Yvie Oddly (Denver, CO).
The series recently made history as the first to win Emmys® for both Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and Outstanding Host for a Reality or RealityCompetition Program categories in the same year. It also scored VH1’s first Producers Guild Award for Producer of Game and Competition Reality Show.
Fans can catch up on past seasons during Logo’s “Drag to Ru-Member MaRUthon” kicking off with the very first episode of season one on Friday, February 22 at 8PM ET/PT. The marathon will cycle through all 10 seasons and end with the season 11 premiere on Thursday, February
28 at 9:00PM ET/PT on VH1.
For more information on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and up-to-date news, go to RuPaulsDragRace.com and follow @ RuPaulsDragRace on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for all the latest tea. Use #DragRace to join the conversation.
About VH1
VH1 is the dominant pop culture brand for adults 18-34. The network is available in 93 million U.S. households and has an array of digital channels and services including the VH1 App, VH1.com and @ VH1. VH1 is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB). For more information, please visit www.vh1press.com, Vh1.com or the VH1 Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter @VH1PR.
About World of Wonder
For more than two decades, award-winning production company World of Wonder has introduced audiences to new worlds,
talent and ideas that have shaped culture. Programming highlights include: Emmy® Award winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1/Logo), “Million Dollar Listing” LA & NY (Bravo), “Dancing Queen” (Netflix), “Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce” (Fuse), and “Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric” (National Geographic); awardwinning films and documentaries including Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, Menendez: Blood Brothers, Inside Deep Throat, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, I Am Britney Jean, In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye, Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking, Monica in Black and White, Emmy-winning “The Last Beekeeper,” and Emmy-winning “Out of Iraq.” Seven of WOW’s films have premiered at the Sundance Film festival including Becoming Chaz and Party Monster World of Wonder has also created a substantial digital footprint with its YouTube channel WOWPresents (1M+ subs), SVOD digital platform WOW Presents Plus, along with an award-winning blog,
The WOW Report. World of Wonder’s biannual RuPaul’s DragCon is the world’s largest drag culture convention, welcoming 100,000 attendees across LA and NYC in 2018. Co-founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey authored The World According to Wonder, celebrating decades of production, which can be found online at http:// worldofwonder.net/. Randy and Fenton were honored with the IDA Pioneer Award in December 2014, celebrating exceptional achievement, leadership, and vision in the nonfiction and documentary community, named to Variety’s Reality Leaders List in 2017, and chosen for the OUT100 list in 2018 for their trailblazing work in the LGBTQ+ community. World of Wonder was also selected for Realscreen’s 2018 Global 100 list, which recognizes the top international non-fiction and unscripted production companies working in the industry today. World of Wonder creates out of a historic building/gallery space in the heart of Hollywood.
The cast of “Rupaul's Drag Race” Season 11– Image courtesy of VH1
Miley Cyrus – Image courtesy of VH1
Troye Sivan – Image courtesy of VH1
AMERICAN JUNKIE
continued from cover
decent enough to shoot into could make the hearer feel like running to the bathroom to vomit. Yet, that is part of what is in store for audiences of a searing, yet compelling new work at Book-It Repertory Theatre.
American Junkie, an adaptation of a novel by former junkie, Tom Hansen, by Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon, is an intense experience. If you’re naïve about what junkies go through or experience, this ride will certainly fill in a few blank spots. So, why would you want to put yourself through that? Because it’s important to understand people who are different from you, or to understand your relative or friend or friend’s friend who is going through something similar. We’re currently living through what is being termed “an opioid crisis,” yet those whose lives are unaffected probably don’t understand why it’s so hard to get ahead of these addiction issues.
And because it’s just damn good theater. The adaptation is a little heavy on the “Book-It style” narration and some of that could just be shown and not said, but this ensemble cast, headed by a spot-on performance from Ian Bond, creates a high level of theatrical reality at every turn.
Bond-as-Hansen performs as his own narrator, moving back and forth through time, to explain how he ended up so sick, so bottomed-out, that he didn’t care if he lived or died anymore. Though, somehow, he seemed to kind-of care if he lost a leg. Yet, he did finally find a way to get off the drug and to make it back to a more-or-less “normal” life.
Hansen’s descriptions are quintessentially ’90s Washingtonian – he starts his life in Edmonds and wanders through Lynnwood, back to Edmonds and eventually in the band scene in downtown Seattle. There’s even a momentary appearance of drugged-out Kurt Cobain.
ROCK OF AGES
continued from cover
who were able to get downtown to come in from the cold and have fun.
The musical is mostly an excuse for talented singer/performers to belt their faces off to well-known rock-and-roll songs from the ’80s and ’90s. It’s got some good jokes and a barely-palatable “story” to hang the songs on. You don’t go for deep and thoughtful story content, you go to sing along with the performers. They know all the words, you just chime in when you remember a few! (I don’t mean you actually are supposed to sing along, but it’s kind of inevitable if you already know the song.)
A robust cast of local talents bring the fun to life, with an assist from “she who we claim as ours,” Diana Huey, as the lead young-girl-from-a-small-town-whowants-to-be-a-star-and-runs-away-withher-parents’-disapproval-to-a-big-bad-LosAngeles, Sherrie, and a “real” rock legend, Mickey Thomas from (Jefferson) Starship as club owner Dennis. A bashful-looking Galen Disston, lead singer of the local rock band, Pickwick, takes on a new challenge as Drew, the-boy-who-wants-to-be-a-rockand-roll-star-and-starts-as-a-bar-back.
Chris D’Arienzo must have been drinking when he decided to make a jukebox musical with rock songs. But with the help of arranger Ethan Popp and perhaps not much ambition, Rock of Ages was born in Los Angeles. It somehow made its way to OffBroadway in 2008 and gained enough buzz to move to Broadway and then got made into a movie. The stereotypical story they hung it all on is the young love story. Then there has to be a misunderstanding and a breakup, and finally they find each other again.
Dennis’ club is threatened by German developers who want to get rid of Sunset Strip and maybe make a strip mall. Nick DeSantis plays the German-daddy-badguy-developer (with some over-the-top
There’s also some great tech support from the inventive Tristan Roberson, who we are becoming “used to” as a daring lighting designer, minimalist, yet effective scenic design from Catherine Cornell, and eerie and absolutely essential sound design from Kyle Thompson, which specifically underscores some moments beautifully.
The five ensemble members who turn into family, doctors, band members, girlfriends, drug buyers and sellers, and club-goers, have many moments themselves of compelling characterizations. They are Jesica
Hazel Rose Gibson, Tim Gouran, Brian Gunter and Marco Adiak Voli. They are well-directed by Jane Jones, who adds touches of the actors sitting around observing Hansen’s difficulties. Jones inserts smart moments like a complete silence after shooting up that extends – motionless – almost too long (in a good way).
It’s a 100-minute evening with no intermission, which is probably a good idea so as not to let audience members decide in the middle that they’ve had enough. But my bet is that you’ll be glad, finally, that
you made it to the more uplifting ending. Maybe your empathy and sympathies will have been exercised, as well. For more information, go to www.bookit.org or call 206-216-0833.
Discuss your opinions with SGNCritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.
song slinging) who orders his slavish son, Franz (Nik Hagen), around. A city planner, Sara Porkalob as Regina (RehjEYEnah), hates the plan and quits the city planning job to hang out in the street and lead protests.
Dennis calls in a favor from previouslyunknown-rocker-now-famous Stacee Jaxx (Brandon O’Neill) so the club can seem more lucrative in a bid to stop it from being torn down. Of course, Jaxx uses and disposes of all the young women hangers on, and becomes the reason that Sherrie and Drew have that misunderstanding, and Sherrie learns the big city lesson about terrible “rock stars.” Then she wanders down the street to the only place she can (apparently) get another job – the strip joint. There, Mother (Felicia Loud, finally making her 5th Avenue debut – and here’s hop -
ing to see her a LOT MORE there and other places – hint, hint!) takes her in and shows her the ropes.
The show is cheekily narrated by a very funny Dane Stokinger, digging in to the silliness of the whole enterprise and setting the tone just right. The rest of the ensemble seems to be having a great time, too. Hagen’s “break out” moment is definitely the funniest of the night.
Disston has a good voice for this genre, so hat’s off to his debut. Why is Huey so undermiked, is the big question. In their duets, Disston is booming and her harmonies are struggling to overcome. We know she’s a belter – so it’s clearly not her fault.
The choreography is somewhat uneven, sometimes given time to get going and sometimes distracting. The small band gives great rock sound. The set by Matt Smucker
is lively, the costumes by Cathy Meacham Hunt are colorful and eye-catching. The song titles include “We Built This City,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “The Final Countdown,” “Keep On Lovin’ You,” and leading to a big finale of “Don’t Stop Believin’” when our story-leads find each other again. It’s all a big ball of cheese, but it’s the kind that’s like Cheetos – you can’t stop eating it, no matter how much you might wish to stop. For more information, go to www.5thavenue.org or call (206) 625-1900. Discuss your opinions with SGNCritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.
Avellone,
Ian Bond as Tom Hansen and Tim Gouran as Kurt Cobain in American Junkie at Book-It Repertory Theatre
– Photo by Studio 19 Photography
The cast of Rock of Ages at The 5th Avenue Theatre – Photo by Mark Kitaoka
E Pine St off South Plaza of Seattle Central College) in Capitol Hill.
Per SAAFF tradition, the festival will present screenings of underrepresented stories at the intersection of different identities. Three feature films – Leitis in Waiting (Friday, 2/22 @ 6pm, BPH), For Izzy (Saturday, 2/23 @ 4pm, NWFF) and Call Her Ganda (Sunday, 2/24 @ 11am – center around transgender and queer women.
Three exceptional LGBTQ shorts (Salamagan, Sunset, Sunrise, and Kohl (Open)) are in the “Call Your Mom” shorts program (Saturday, 2/23 @ 1:30pm, BPH) and the “Queer AF” shorts program (Sunday, 2/24 @4pm, BPH) is a collection of six narrative shorts, which showcase the depth and diversity of queer stories.
“SAAFF has always made a point of centering Asian Pacific Islander LGBTQ experiences,” said co-director Vanessa Au, who helped revive this iteration of the festival in 2012. “The intersection of race, gender, and sexuality is one that is fraught with misunderstanding and unique challenges. Film serves as important medium for providing people with a means of sharing the diverse experiences of LGBTQ Asian Americans.”
Multiple SAAFF staff from the LGBTQ community, both past and present, have carried the torch of representation. “It is important to me to champion these films not only as as queer non-binary filmmaker myself,” said Ellison Hsieh, programming manager, “but as someone who has the ability to elevate and give more visibility to these voices, perspectives, and histories.”
Here is a preview of the three feature films – Leitis in Waiting (Friday, 2/22 @ 6pm, BPH), For Izzy (Saturday, 2/23 @ 4pm, NWFF) and Call Her Ganda (Sunday, 2/24 @ 11am. Both Leitis in Waiting and Call Her Ganda are documentaries.
Leitis in Waiting
Meet Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism in their South Pacific Kingdom. A devout Catholic of noble descent, Joey organizes an exuberant beauty pageant presided over by a Tongan princess, provides shelter and training for a young contestant rejected by her family, and spars with American-financed evangelicals threatening to resurrect colonial-era laws that would criminalize the leitis’ lives. With unexpected humor and extraordinary access to the Kingdom’s royal and religious leaders, her emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking culture and tradition.
For Izzy
Dede, a photojournalist and recovering addict, moves in next door to Laura, a young woman with autism. As the pair form an unlikely friendship, Dede assembles a documentary, using animation and found footage to tell a story of getting sober, of family and friendship, and of love and forgiveness.
Call Her Ganda
When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case – an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude) – galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism.
Here is a preview of the three exceptional LGBTQ shorts in the “Call Your Mom” shorts program, showing Saturday @ 1:30pm at Broadway Performance Hall.
Salamagan Ana’s biggest fear is coming out to her Filipino Catholic mother. But when they need help cleaning a hoarder’s house, Ana enlists her secret girlfriend for the job.
Sunset, Sunrise Lily, a traditional Chinese woman, will do anything to change her son, Bao, from being gay. But her drastic measures may cost her more than just her relationship with her son.
Kohl (Open)
When his father passes away, Vijay is forced to return home after a ten-year-long estrangement and open up to his mother about his sexuality.
Here is a preview of shorts in the “Queer AF” program, showing Sunday @ 4pm at Broadway Performance Hall.
Maybe Maybe’s opening sequence in a beachside park in Honolulu, set to ukelele music, introduces the quandary of a young Filipino girl, Lauren (Kalliyan Davis), who questions her sexuality amidst her family’s heteronormative and religious expectations. Through short glimpses and scenes that take place over a half-“day in the life,” we observe Lauren’s inner conflict as she experiences the first blush of queer attraction, cringes when Grandpa announces her church baptism is “for the remission of your sins,” and allows her single mother (Myhraliza Aala) to glam her up while getting ready for a date. When Mom leaves, Lauren sheds the false eyelashes to adorn her illustration of a topless hula girl and changes into something more comfortable. It’s a strong performance of subtle glances and reactions after an unexpected encounter introduces a new challenge to her relationship with the family. A beetle appears at the end, the spirit animal of change and regeneration, as a symbol of transition –maybe. Written and directed by Kat Cole, who helped produce From Baghdad to the Bay (Best Film at OUTShine Festival), Maybe played at TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival 2018 and will screen March 17 at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival in Eugene.
Zero One
Jimmy Park (Nick Neon, who also wrote, directed, cut and colored this gem) is home in New York City for the holidays, but it’s the last place he wants to be – except for a budding romance with Riley (Taylor Bloom) and reunion with his BFF Sally (JJ Matisse). Jimmy just spent four years in Seoul unsuccessfully pursuing a self-described “pipe dream” of a futuristic robotics venture. He’s struggling in a world
where Wikipedia defines normal as “a desk job and a girlfriend.” Meanwhile, his wealthy, homophobic sister Claire (Mallory Ann Wu) is newly engaged and hosting Christmas dinner. The metaphor and dialogue in this film are fantastic – as well as the music (listen for “Electric Mars”). Claire prepares a rump roast and asks him to say grace, when she knows well he is a vegetarian and not religious. Jimmy’s dinner becomes rice and hard liquor, with a side of cranberry sauce from the can. A bottled-up fight ensues. Claire blames Jimmy for the death of their parents’ marriage, dropping out of school, moving to Korea, liking men. Jimmy drops two zingers: “You have it all, so why can’t you just let me be miserable?” and “Telling me that you love me but cannot accept me – it’s just pathetic.” On New Year’s Day, he finds peace in a conversation with Dad (David Shih), who comforts his son with wisdom and acceptance.
The Mute
The Mute peeks into the context of a culture where lesbian love on “The Bachelor: Vietnam” made international news last year. “Homosexual marriage is not a new term, but it has not been seen seriously and clearly in many countries around the world, especially in Vietnam, where feudalism persists. “Parents set where you sit,” said Pham Thieu An in a director’s statement. The Mute is a story of a mute woman (Pham Le Kim Ngoc) who sets out to find answers from an old flame on a night of unusually heavy rain. Set in Saigon, the film’s longheld frames in scenes are either artistic or hard to endure, depending on your patience. It’s a reflection of the silent but tumultuous inner world of The Mute on the night’s pursuit of closure, before she conforms to heteronormativity and cultural expectations. Religion plays a role in the storyline; from the get-go, visuals of a Catholic altar are seen inside the protagonist’s family home, and the film ends with biblical passages read in a traditional Vietnamese wedding ceremony. After her former lover (found in a Saigon nightclub and played by Nguyen Lam Quynh Han) tells her that she is seeing someone new, she walks home in the rain, with a motorcycle taxi trailing her the whole way. With a long life of self-denial ahead, she maintains a solemn face during the wedding’s meticulous reading of Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
SHARE
You may need tissues to get through this documentary short. Co-directed by Ellie Wen, SHARE was originally meant to be a biographical profile of young content creator Tim Chau, who ran a popular meme page online. As Wen inquired into the reasons behind Instagram posts advocat-
ing for mental health awareness, the story takes a turn. Tim shares that he’d attempted suicide, fearing rejection from his Chinese American family for being gay. When he finally confides in his closest cousin, he says, “We can’t be like this in our family, right? Fucking immigrants and shit.” The family’s jokes and comments (especially from his father, saying he’d jump off the Golden Gate Bridge if his kids were gay) drove Tim to despair and self-hatred, driven by the immigrant narrative and a son’s wish to please. SHARE documents Tim’s online searches on gay conversion therapy and ponderings such as “What to do if you’re gay and your family hates gay people?” Confiding in a fellow meme page owner online, and eventually his cousin, Tim finds catharsis and self-acceptance through unexpected relief.
Everything’s Great!
Something’s clogging the toilet, so Charlie (Jessica McLeod) can’t flush down her pubic hair. Whatever could it be? The blockage is a metaphor in this coming-of-age comedy-meets-family drama about messy relationships. The music adds to the whimsy. The nearly all-white cast of Everything’s Great! may make you go “Huh?” at an Asian American film festival. That’s because SAAFF supports the work of Asian American filmmakers, not just themes and characters. Writer/director Linnea Ritland, who lives in Vancouver, BC, specializes in queer, comedy and youth films, including the short film Violet and June that’s done quite well on the festival circuit. But Natalie Backerman, the actress who plays love interest Alexis, is part Filipina too. Storylines involving parental alcoholism, divorce, and a “not-relationship relationship” merge one day in the life of Charlie (Jessica McLeod), an idealistic but socially awkward 20-something who just wants stability. Once everything outside of her control comes to a head, however, she realizes she must find security within herself.
Taiwan! Let’s Get Married!
According to this short documentary about marriage equality in Taiwan, the island is the most LGBTQ-friendly country in Asia (a big surprise to me, whose family is from Thailand). In 2017, Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, setting a two-year deadline for the legislature to introduce a bill, which would be this year. (The legislature has yet to do so.) Taiwan! Let’s Get Married! traces the efforts of the tongzhi, as LGBT+ folks are known, in the fight for human rights and marriage equality. Chi Chia-wei, Taiwan’s first gay activist, filed a request 30 years ago for a marriage license that was denied; in 2014, he tried again. The short documentary interviews a Taiwanese legislator, lesbian couple, and gay man on the sentiments for and against marriage equality, common misperceptions in Taiwanese society, and family-building considerations. The legislator comments that Asia shares the same family ethics but each country has their own way and journey toward marriage equality. It’s interesting to hear from the Taiwanese leading the way.
These six short films are part of a dozen LGBTQ offerings in this year’s SAAFF program. If you have a hankering this weekend for films showcasing the diversity of the API LGBTQ experience, the shorts programs are about the length of a feature movie, and worth checking out.
“While we didn’t have more LGBTQ films last year to highlight in a shorts block, we make up for that this year in our strong lineup,” said Hsieh.
For the complete line-up of films and to buy individual tickets ($13 general; $11 students/seniors with ID) or a full-festival pass ($90) to the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, visit www.seattleaaff.org. Tickets will also be available at the box offices at Northwest Film Forum and Broadway Performance Hall.
Everything’s Great! – Photo courtesy of SAAFF
Confidently desolate Arctic an emotionally grim saga of survival
by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer
ARCTIC
Now playing
Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) has been alone and isolated in a remote stretch of the Arctic for some time now. The sole survivor of a plane crash, he’s been using all his wits, skills and intellect to remain alive. He’s set up a way to collect fresh water, a mechanism to fish and has left a variety of signals pointing towards his location for any search and rescue parties that might be looking for him. Overgård is doing just about the best he can, and with no idea where he is or how far anything approaching civilization is from him it makes sense to stay put and hope help soon arrives.
During a massive windstorm a lone helicopter flies over the crash site. Initially Overgård thinks he is saved, and even if they are unable to rescue him now due to the storm they’ll certainly report his location and return later to pick him up. But the copter crashes. Salvation is not at hand. Rushing to the downed machine Overgård finds one of the passengers, a young woman (Maria Thelma Smáradóttir), still clinging to life. Pulling her from the rubble he brings her back to his shelter, deciding in that moment he’ll do whatever he has to in order to facilitate her survival alongside his own.
This is how director Joe Penna’s survival thriller Arctic begins. Within the first ten minutes we are dropped into the middle of Overgård’s plight. We are not told what happened. We do not know what led to his plane crash. Not long after that comes the unexpectedly disastrous arrival of the helicopter. We do not know why the copter was in the air. We do not know who the female survivor or her deceased male counterpart are. All we know is that now she is also stranded in the middle of the Arctic nowhere, and without Overgård’s assistance she is likely to share the same tragic fate as her helicopter co-pilot.
It’s visceral, gut-wrenching stuff, especially when you consider that dialogue is kept to a minimum. Overgård is a man of few words, and whether this is due to his isolation or an actual character trait he possessed before his plane crash this is just another question Penna and his co-screenwriter Ryan Morrison choose to leave unanswered. Pair that with the fact the woman he pulls from the helicopter debris doesn’t appear to speak either English or Danish makes communication between the two of them difficult. Granted, it’s not like she’s capable of saying much as it is, her injuries from the crash so severe she has precious little strength, floating in and out of consciousness as Overgård tries as best he can to nurse her back to health.
I love all of this. Penna gives the audience credit for being able to put pieces of a story together on their own without a lot of pointless exposition from either he or Morrison to clutter the central dynamic right at the heart of the narrative. Those questions, while intriguing, aren’t important. What matters is that the viewer gets to know who Overgård is right now, in this moment, and that by understanding what makes him tick in the midst of this impossible situation they will sit at the edge of their seat eager to learn whether or not he and the woman will find a way to survive. It’s an effective way to enter a story and Penna pulls no punches as far as depicting with crystalline clarity just how perilous the situation is, this unvarnished, matter-of-fact approach adding a layer of tension that’s remarkable. At a certain point Overgård realizes the two of them cannot remain inside his ramshackle shelter. (He’s ingeniously utilized
the shell of his aircraft’s wreckage to craft a reasonably decent sanctuary for himself.) The woman’s wounds are far too serious for him to be able to treat them with success. As such, he’s going to have to venture out into the frozen unknown and trudge on foot to civilization. Overgård plots a route that should get him to a nearby whaling station utilizing a map he finds in the ruins of the helicopter crash. After packing what he thinks is plenty of food and water he then wraps the woman up in a makeshift sled and heads out on what will hopefully be no more than a five-day hike to salvation. There are unforeseen dangers that complicate matters for Overgård. The script does a fine job of making each twist and turn feel authentic and not just some plot contrivance inserted to thwart the protagonist from achieving his goal. This ends up being a battle of wills more than it does anything else. Overgård wages war against his own physical limitations while also fighting tooth and nail against the natural elements the Arctic wilderness can throw his way. Unexpected rock formations, impassable cliffs, massive snow drifts, dwindling fresh water supplies, a hungry polar bear, all of that and more comes into play, and through it all Penna showcases these hazards with zero melodramatic embellishment, knowing it isn’t necessary.
Mikkelsen throws himself into things with determined relish, delivering a materially intense performance that overflows in emotional malleability. The veteran character actor, known for being able to shift from large-scale Hollywood productions like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Casino Royale, to small independent features like Valhalla Rising and The Salvation, to reinventing Hannibal Lecter for television, to appearing in lush European productions like A Royal Affair and Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, is his typically impressive self. In fact, it’s quite possible this performance rivals his tremendous turns in both The Hunt and After the Wedding, Mikkelsen’s work in those two films as glorious as anything I’ve been lucky enough to watch this young century. The actor brings a level of intense physicality that is coupled with a level of emotive sensitivity that’s superb, all of which allows the decisions Overgård makes during his trek ring with a forceful veracity that’s outstanding.
I’m not entirely sure Penna earns his story’s final seconds, but even if he didn’t I still love the fact that as a filmmaker he refused to make things easy for the audience right up to the end. There is also a level of dramatic certainty to this production that is moderately troublesome, and for all the surprises the film attempted to throw my way I honestly can’t say I was ever all that shocked by anything that eventually happened.
Not that it matters. Tómas Örn Tómasson’s camerawork is suitably sparse in its visual elegance, the cinematographer utilizing all of the isolated, treacherously bleak locations (the film was shot in Iceland) magnificently. I also couldn’t help but feel that composer Joseph Trapanese’s (The Greatest Showman) lushly minimalist score
suited things nicely, Penna utilizing it with a sparse intensity that’s masterful. Arctic is a fine thriller that stuck with me long after it had come to an end, its existential exploration of humanity’s will to survive under the harshest of conditions a hypnotic cinematic sojourn I’d willingly go on again at a moment’s notice.
Arctic isolation
Actor Mads Mikkelsen explores the differences between survival and being alive
by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer
ARCTIC
Now playing
Even if one doesn’t know the name, it’s almost guaranteed most viewers will recognize Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. He portrayed Dr. Hannibal Lecter for three seasons on the cult favorite “Hannibal.” He was Jyn Erso’s estranged father and the man who designed the original Death Star, Galen Erso, in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He tangled with Dr. Stephen Strange as the duplicitous Kaecilius in Marvel’s comic book adventure
Doctor Strange. He challenged James Bond to a lethal hand of poker as the villainous banker Le Chiffre in Casino Royale
But Mikkelsen isn’t all about the Hollywood blockbuster. He’s turned in a number of notable performances in imports and independent productions as varied as Pusher, Valhalla Rising, Adam’s Apples, After the Wedding, Flame & Citron, The Salvation
and A Royal Affair. Most notably he delivered on the past decade’s most celebrated turns in Thomas Vinterberg’s 2012 drama The Hunt playing a small town teacher whose entire life is thrown into disarray thanks to a lie, winning the Cannes Film Festival prize for Best Actor for his efforts. Topping it off, Mikkelsen is also a former gymnast and ballet star, his athletic abilities one of the things that first caught the eye of Danish television producers and helped launch him on the path to international stardom.
The actor’s latest film Arctic is one of the most challenging of his vaunted and varied carrier. Mikkelsen stars as Overgård, the lone survivor of a horrific plane crash somewhere in the middle of the Arctic nowhere. Having been stranded for quite some time, he’s managed to make a makeshift shelter out of the carcass of the airplane wreckage while also setting up mechanisms to collect fresh drinking water and stations for ice fishing so he can have a steady supply of food.
When a helicopter passes over his crash
Arctic – Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street
Mads Mikkelsen in Arctic – Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street
site Overgård believes he is about to be rescued only to have his excitement cut short when bad weather leads to a fresh tragedy. The copter slams into the ground, killing one of the pilots while leaving the other, a young woman (Maria Thelma Smáradóttir), badly injured. After tending to her wounds it soon becomes clear she will die unless she gets to a medical facility. Using a map he finds amongst the helicopter wreckage, Overgård makes the decision to make an arduous, potentially lethal trek towards civilization, a five-day hike through the snowy tundra under the best of situations which this decidedly is not.
Arctic is a harrowing, undeniably thrilling survival story written and directed by newcomer Joe Penna. Shot almost entirely on location in Iceland, the film features an extraordinary performance from Mikkelsen, one that puts his virile physicality and unique ability to convey complex emotional nuances with precious few words to good use. I had the pleasure to spend ten minutes chatting with the actor over the phone about the movie. Here are some of the highlights from our far too brief conversation:
Sara Michelle Fetters: What was it about this particular script that got you interested to jump in with Joe Penn and make this movie?
Mads Mikkelsen: I had a small pile of stuff I had to read, and then Martha De Laurentiis called me and said, “Let’s have look at [Arctic], don’t put it in the bottom of the pile. Have a look at it.” I started reading it and I thought it was just so pure and simple. I was afraid every time I turned the page that I would fall into the trap of flashbacks. Going down memory lanes. But it never did. The story just kept being very honest to what it was all about.
I just loved the script. I had a chat with Joe and at the end of that we said, “Let’s do it.” Two months later we were up there in Iceland shooting the movie.
Sara Michelle Fetters: Two months later? That’s such a short period of time to go from saying yes to actually making a movie.
Mads Mikkelsen: That is unheard of. That’s completely insane. I mean, that was only doable because it’s a small-budget film. And the location is the location. We needed a plane that was crashed, and we needed a chopper, and from there on, we just had to go and find the locations. So we did.
It was a rock and roll feel. Everything about this film was rock and roll. I think that’s the only way a film like this can survive.
Sara Michelle Fetters: How hard is it to create such a full, complex character like Overgård when we are literally put into his story long after it had begun? It’s like as a viewer we’re dropped into this story nearer the middle than we are the beginning. At least, that’s how it felt to me.
Mads Mikkelsen: I come up with a background story myself, and I don’t need to put it on the screen. For us, it was important that [Overgård] was a person that we could all identify with, whether it’s you or me stranded up there. We didn’t want a background story. We didn’t want it to be specific about him having a quarrel with his father and then the rest of the film was about him coming to terms with his father. We wanted it to be simply, how would it be to be all alone at the Arctic surviving? And then later on, how would it be becoming alive again? There’s a big difference between surviving and being alive.
Sara Michelle Fetters: Did your past as an athlete and as a dancer help you with the physicality of this performance?
Mads Mikkelsen: I guess it did. I mean, I think any actor who was thrown into this would have to find his own way to do it, or her way. Obviously, you have a certain stubbornness or tenaciousness as a dancer. You have a certain discipline. I might have given up a few times during this shoot if I didn’t have that background.
Sara Michelle Fetters: You seem to be drawn to a lot of characters who don’t talk a lot and have to convey their emotions through their physicality, through their facial expressions, just through the way that they move and emote up there on the screen. What is it about these types of characters that excites you?
Mads Mikkelsen: I don’t know. Yeah, they tend to come my way, or I tend to pick those ones often. I am a big fan of the old silent movies. I think they had a specific charm and a quality. I certainly believe that it’s called a film, a moving picture, for a reason. It’s visual. I love words as well, but sometimes we can get away with saying much more without words.
Sara Michelle Fetters: What keeps exciting you as an actor? What makes you want to keep moving forward and challenging yourself like this?
Mads Mikkelsen: I guess a film like this. I tend to fall in love with projects like this one. It’s not something I do consciously, but if I read, let’s say, ten things, and then I come across this, I find it so radical and interesting, and before I know it I’m diving into it. And before we know it, we’re standing on the Arctic and I curse myself for going ahead with this again. [laughs] But it tends to be things I find rather radical in the storytelling that I fall in love with.
Sara Michelle Fetters: How do you move between these really small, personal, lower-budget offerings, and yet still manage to appear in these bigger studio productions? Or starring as Hannibal Lecter in a popular television show like “Hannibal.” What is that juxtaposition like for you?
Mads Mikkelsen: I love the situation. But it’s out of my hands. It’s not something I’m seeking. It’s people who are asking me to be part of these bigger films or these smaller, more intimate projects, so I guess I’m just really the lucky guy that I’m able to go back and forth and do a little of everything. I know most actors would like to be in that situation. I’m very fortunate.
Sara Michelle Fetters: I have to ask, only because Adam’s Apples is one of my absolute favorite films of the last 15, 20 years. Why don’t you do more comedy?
Mads Mikkelsen: [laughs] Well, we did do another one. I’ve done four films with this guy [writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen], and the last one was called Men & Chicken, which is also completely insane.
Sara Michelle Fetters: It is indeed. I love that one, too. More people need to check it out.
Mads Mikkelsen: I guess that is my sense of humor, that is the kind of film, when it’s comedy, that I want to make. There’s not a lot of people doing exactly that. I would say that we have a Netflix film coming out called Polar, which is not a comedy, but the comedy element in that one is down that similar line. It’s a little dry and it’s a little dark, and that’s what I fall in love with. So if something like that comes my way from an American director one day, I would gladly take up the glove.
Sara Michelle Fetters: Back to Arctic, talk to me about Joe Penna. What did he bring to this production and what was it like working for him? Where would you put him as one of the directors that you’ve worked with?
Mads Mikkelsen: Well, if I didn’t know, I would never have guessed that was his first film. He was so on the money. I mean, not only with the script that he and Ryan Morrison had been writing, but when we came up there [to Iceland] he was so precise in what he wanted. We spent a lot of time going over every scene so we were on the same page. But still, he was so precise in what he wanted and he had fantastic eyes. When I say good eyes, it means that one thing is that it feels right for me and for everybody else, but it has to feel right for the audience as well, and he was the audience.
Sara Michelle Fetters: Even so, were you at all surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reaction that Arctic had when it premiered at Cannes last year?
Mads Mikkelsen: I think we’re always surprised when people like what we’re doing, to be honest, because we can fall so much in love with something ourselves. It becomes maybe this little echo chamber, or bubble, right? When people start having the same feelings towards a project? People outside the project? We are always surprised. But I find it fair, because I think it’s quite a beautiful film, and as we realized shooting the film more and more that it was basically about the enormous difference of surviving and being alive. Which, as I said earlier, are two very, very different things.
How to Train Your Dragon trilogy comes to a climax with The Hidden World
by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD Now playing
Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and his beloved Night Fury Toothless have watched their friendship evolve into something special. Together the pair have shown how humans and dragons can peacefully coexist. They have survived untold dangers, suffered catastrophic loss and grown to become leaders and heroes worthy of respect and admiration. For Hiccup, he has fully followed in his late father Stoic’s (Gerard Butler) massive footsteps and become the Viking chief of the township of Berk. For Toothless, he has proven his worth against the mightiest of adversaries, emerging as the King of Dragons all of his kind, no matter what their species, are compelled to follow.
While things appear to be going well, it is equally clear that Hiccup’s mission to free dragons from captivity and to bring them back to Berk for sanctuary is on the verge of becoming untenable. Overcrowding is a problem, and no matter how much love Viking and dragon show one another community resources are stretching thin. But Hiccup has a dream. He has visions of moving the citizens of Berk and all of the dragons to a fabled land his father used to tell him about as a child known only as, “The Hidden World,” a place where they will be safe from harm and can continue to coexist in peace.
It is safe to say that writer/director Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, based on the classic books by author Cressida Cowell, is one of the great animated trilogies of all-time, taking its place alongside Pixar’s Toy Story films with ease. In this supposed final installment, the filmmaker has delivered in ways that are affectionately wondrous, events in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World building to an emotional knockout punch that had me holding back tears while at the same time wanting to rise to my feet and cheer. It is a sublime culmination of themes and ideas the filmmaker deftly introduced in the 2010 original and then adroitly followed up on in its action-packed 2014 sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2, and while this last chapter isn’t always as creative and imaginative as its predecessors that does not make it any less buoyantly entertaining.
All of the characters from the past two stories return (even Stoic in a pair of effectively empathetic flashbacks). But while each of them gets the opportunity to make their individuals presences known, most notably the brother-sister tandem of Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (Justin Rupple), Hiccups’ loving warrior of a mother Valka (Cate Blanchett), acerbic one-armed blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson) and baby dragon protector Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), DeBlois never losses focus as to who things should be centered upon and why. Hiccups’ relationship with the fiercely
intelligent and self-reliant Astrid (America Ferrera) continues to grow in naturalistic complexity, their friendship progressing into the type of affectionate, life-changing bond that could theoretically make them both better people, and even better leaders, if they trust their feelings and let things continue to progress to their natural conclusion. Their moments together add a layer of romantic camaraderie that never feels trite, isn’t forced and builds in ways that tug at the heartstrings with a subtle grace I adored. I loved how things have developed for the two of them, their conversations adding layers of insightful nuance to the proceedings that’s fairly close to perfect.
But even they aren’t the component that makes this climactic entry in the trilogy essential. As it should be, Hiccup and Toothless, the way their friendship has changed over the years, the unbreakable bond they have manufactured, their relationship is the one that rightfully takes center stage and fills up the spotlight. Even though the dragon gets his own potential love interest, a female member of his species known as a Light Fury, there is no denying where it is DeBlois has focused his screenplay. Hiccup and Toothless have saved each other and they’ve saved their respective worlds. Now they must both learn they can continue to do that even if the other isn’t always standing (or flying) right there with them. It is the last lesson the pair need to learn and it will be the most difficult one for them to accomplish, whether or not they will be able to do so the key component that will signify victory or doom for both human and dragon communities alike.
As great as all of that is, I can’t say I was continually amazed in the same way I was for both of the first two How to Train Your Dragon adventures. This story’s primary villain, a demented dragon killer named Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) who has made it his life’s ambition to eradicate every Night Fury from the face of the Earth, isn’t nearly as scary or as imposing as he’s clearly supposed to be. Additionally, his initial plan to trick Toothless into falling in love with the Light Fury so he’ll abandon Hiccup and the rest of the Berk Vikings, leaving them and their dragons relatively unprotected, doesn’t always make a lot of sense, and for someone who is supposed to be the best dragon hunter the known world has ever seen, some of his actions still ended up annoying me something fierce from time to time. But Abraham is excellent, his vocal performance absolutely beyond reproach, while the climactic battle where all of the heroes reunite and Hiccup and Toothless unexpectedly make the most of their bond is moderately glorious. It all helps make many of the more familiar elements or the few noticeable missteps not matter anywhere near to the extent they otherwise might have, and all things considered the fact I was grinning like a wideeyed six-year-old for most of the sequel’s 104-minutes isn’t a thing I take lightly. Ultimately, however, it is the film’s final ten minutes that make it something truly special. DeBlois ends things in a way this is, in a word, magnificent, Hiccup and Toothless’ friendship coming full circle in a manner that held me euphorically spellbound. Even the story’s unexpected epilogue is splendid, this soaring testament to the enduring power of friendship, trust, love and family just the kind of hope-filled denouement we all need to listen to and learn from no matter our age, race, gender or background. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a fiery marvel I didn’t want to see end, the fact this trilogy exists for generation after generation of viewers to discover makes my heart sing in ways it so rarely gets the opportunity to do. I can’t wait to watch this one again.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Photo courtesy of Universal
OSCARS
of undercutting what is supposed to be Hollywood’s primary showcase for what the industry itself feels are the best films and performances of the entire year.
Broaching the idea of an ill-defined “Popular Film” category? A nonstarter that was almost immediately quashed. Not having the past year’s acting winners give out awards to this year’s nominees? That idea was dead on arrival. Not performing the Best Original Song nominees save for the two massive hits sung by international superstars with millions of fans all over the world? Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar reportedly didn’t like that, refusing to perform unless their fellow nominees received the opportunity as well. Awarding Oscars for Cinematography, Editing, Makeup/Hair Design and Documentary Short during a commercial break and broadcasting an edited version of each winner’s acceptance speech later in the broadcast? The uproar over that one was deafening, the AMPAS backtracking on that idea only days after announcing it publicly.
It’s been day after day of the people putting on this year’s Academy Awards shooting themselves in the foot and then pretending nothing happened even as they are limping across the room. Hire Kevin Hart as host
only to have old homophobic and sexist jokes, comments and tweets re-enter the picture? He was gone within a couple of news cycles, his streak of promotional appearances ostensibly to promote his January hit The Upside turning into a long non-apology apology tour that was more embarrassing than it was anything else. This was literally only the tip of the iceberg, however, almost all of those aforementioned other bad ideas that were quickly reverse happening after the Hart hiring took place. It’s as if every move the producers have made has been the wrong one, leading many longtime viewers of the telecast wonder if they should even tune in this year.
And that’s all happened before we take a moment to talk about the awards themselves! In a landmark year where the first superhero film managed a Best Picture nomination (Black Panther), Spike Lee finally found himself nominated for Best Director for BlacKkKlansman and Netflix entry Roma from writer/director Alfonso Cuarón vies to become the first foreign language title to take the top prize, Academy members paired those titles against a ‘60s set racism comedydrama (Green Book) that’s being attacked for both its historical accuracy and for its look at racism through the eyes of a bigoted white man as well as the critically reviled yet box office smash Bohemian Rhapsody, an audience-friendly musical biopic about Freddie Mercury whose director, Bryan Singer, was fired during production who no one involved
wanted to mention even in passing once the film itself became a potential award winner. We hardly mention the fact that what on paper looked like an Oscar juggernaut, actor/director Bradley Cooper’s massively successful A Star Is Born remake with Lady Gaga, has practically vanished from the conversation. We barely process the fact that the female-driven, sex-positive historical masterwork The Favourite from director Yorgos Lanthimos has quietly become a Best Picture frontrunner. We barely talk about Adam McKay’s Vice at all save to laud Christian Bale’s performance as Dick Cheney and to wonder aloud how such a polarizing satirical drama managed to score so many Academy Award nominations outside of its one for Best Actor.
All-in-all it is a strange year. More than likely the Oscar telecast will be something of a magnificent train wreck thanks to all that the show’s producers have done, not done and then backtracked immediately from doing. This supposedly host-less extravaganza (although some are now wondering if former Best Supporting Actress winner and four-time host Whoopi Goldberg’s unexplained absence from “The View” means she’s going to surprise everyone and unexpectedly emcee the event) is almost sure to overflow in shocking and surprising moments, many of which might not have anything to do with the actual nominees or eventual winners themselves.
As for those winners, even those are almost impossible to predict this year. There are no frontrunners. None. Even the perceived ones (Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor in Green Book, Glenn Close for Best Actress in The Wife, “Shallow” from A Star Is Born for Best Original Song, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for Best Animated Feature) aren’t set in stone, and it’s very likely there will be multiple upsets in a number of categories that will catch everyone by surprise.
Personally, I’d love to see either BlacKkKlansman, Roma or The Favourite win Best Picture, and if Bohemian Rhapsody pulls off the upset (which is VERY possible) I’ll likely scream in rage for a good solid week. I’d also love to see Lee take Best Director even if it might be viewed in some corners as a career achievement award more than anything else, the filmmaker a cinematic titan who unquestionably deserves the honor. Other than that, I’m all-in to be shocked by what ends up happening throughout the evening, as anyone who tells you they know exactly how things are going to turn out are lying to you more brazenly than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW does multiple times each and every day.
Anyhow, here are my predictions as to which films and filmmakers will walk away with Oscars after the 91st annual Academy Awards. Can’t say I trust a single solitary one of them; not sure you should, either.
BEST PICTURE
The Nominees: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma, A Star Is Born, Vice My Prediction: Roma
BEST DIRECTOR
The Nominees: Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Adam McKay (Vice) My Prediction: Spike Lee
BEST ACTOR
The Nominees: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Christian Bale (Vice) My Prediction: Rami Malek
BEST ACTRESS
The Nominees: Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), Glenn Close (The Wife) My Prediction: Olivia Colman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
The Nominees: Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born), Sam Rockwell (Vice)
My Prediction: Richard E. Grant
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The Nominees: Emma Stone (The Favourite), Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk), Marina de Tavira (Roma), Amy Adams (Vice) My Prediction: Regina King
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Nominees: Free Solo, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Minding the Gap, Of Fathers and Sons, RBG My Prediction: RBG
BEST EDITING
The Nominees: BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Vice My Prediction: Vice
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Nominees: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Mary Poppins Returns
My Prediction: If Beale Street Could Talk
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Nominees: Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Mirai, Ralph Breaks the Interne t, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
My Prediction: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Nominees: Black Panther, The Favourite, First Man, Mary Poppins Returns, Roma My Prediction: Black Panther
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Nominees: Capernaum, Cold War, Never Look Away, Roma, Shoplifters My Prediction: Roma
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Nominees: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Black Panther, The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns, Mary Queen of Scots My Prediction: Black Panther
The Nominees: “All the Stars” (Black Panther), “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), “The Place Where Lost Things Go” (Mary Poppins Returns), “I’ll Fight” (RBG ), “Shallow” (A Star Is Born) My Prediction: “Shallow” BEST SOUND MIXING
The Nominees: Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, Roma, A Star Is Born My Predictions: Bohemian Rhapsody
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Nominees: Cold War, The Favourite, Never Look Away, Roma, A Star Is Born My Prediction: Cold War
BEST MAKEUP & HAIR STYLING
The Nominees: Border, Mary Queen of Scots, Vice My Prediction: Vice
BEST SOUND EDITING
The Nominees: Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, A Quiet Place,
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SATURDAY - February 23
Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. 9am-8pm. Washington State Convention Center, 705 Pike St. Features Gardens of the World exhibit, interior design treasures, free seminars, 300+ vendors, food and wine. Tickets at https://gardenshow.com. (Continues Feb. 24.)
Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 9am. Greenlake (outside Evans Pool). Every Saturday. GLBT running & walking club sponsors weekly runs, monthly potlucks, track & field activity, annual Run With Pride. (206) 4488518. www.seattlefrontrunners.org.
Positively Living Coffee Social. 10am-12 noon. Cupcake Royale, 1111 E Pike St. Every Saturday. Casual social get-together for the HIV community. (206) 9571600. Sponsored by LIfelong.
New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100, Room 3. Meets daily. Sex and Love
Addicts Anonymous is a 12-step/12-tradition-oriented fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope to overcome sex and love patterns of addiction. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org.
Fantastic.Z: “B-Sides.” 4pm. 18th & Union Arts Space, 1406 18th Ave. Staged readings of five LGBTQ short plays, part of Fantastic.Z’s 7th Annual New Works Festival. Tickets $10 (suggested), available at www. brownpapertickets.com/event/3917280.
Rally Against Far-Right Violence. 4:30pm. University of Washington. Gather at the northeast corner of the Quad. Rally to counter Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer and “their message of misogyny and racism.” The rally is sponsored by a coalition of students and alumni, ANSWER Coalition, Freedom Socialist Party, International Socialist Organization, Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Radical Women.
“Aleksa Manila and Friends” - A Benefit for Official Pride ASIA. 6pm. Neighbours Nightclub, 1509 Broadway. 17th annual event benefits Official Pride ASIA. Tickets ($10 advance, $15 at door) at friends2019.bpt. me or (800) 838-3006.
Mature Friends Monthly Potluck. 6pm. Wallingford Community Senior Center, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Suite 140. Monthly potluck meets last Saturday most months. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org
Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 6pm-12 midnight. Call for location & details. Every Saturday. (253) 671-2838. www.oasisyouthcenter.org.
(Also Thursdays & Fridays 4-10pm.)
Fighting Racism on the Job. 7pm (dinner 6pm). New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave S. Black History Month forum with labor activists Markisha Dixon, John Frazier, Tamasha Emedi, and Christina Lopez. Sliding-scale donation $2-$5, soul food buffet $8-$10. Info: (206) 7222453 or email FSPseattle@mindspring.com.
“It’s Only Kickball, Stupid.” 7:30pm. 18th & Union Art Space, 1406 18th Ave. Closing night for this bittersweet comedy about that first middle-school crush, written by Caroline Prugh, directed by Darren Johnson, and starring Jordi Montes and Jessica Severance. Part of Fantastic.Z’s 7th Annual New Works Festival. Tickets ($25 generous, $20 general, $15 student/senior) at www. brownpapertickets.com/event/3917280.
SUNDAY - February 24
Center for Spiritual Living. 8:25, 9:45, 11:30am. Mountainieers, 7701 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! (206) 527-8801 ext 203, www.cslseattle.org
Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. 9am-6pm. Washington State Convention Center, 705 Pike St. Features Gardens of the World exhibit, interior design treasures, free seminars, 300+ vendors, food and wine. Tickets at https://gardenshow.com.
Gay Men’s Bowling in Everett 9:30am. Glacier Lanes, 9630 Evergreen Way, Everett. Every Sunday. Spectators welcome. Join us for lunch afterwards! Sponsored by the Snohomish County Gay Men’s Task Force. For info email John at johndmarsh@mac.com; www.gaysnohomish.org University Lutheran Church. 9:30am Worship, 10:30am Coffee Fellowship, 11am Adult Forum & Education Hour. 1604 NE 50th St. All are welcome. We choose love. (206) 525-7074. universitylutheranseattle.org East Shore Unitarian Church. 10am Sunday Service. 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue. An open & affirming congregation. (425) 747-3780.
community calendar
Gethsemane Lutheran Church. 10am Worship. 911 Stewart St. A downtown faith community centered in justice. An open & affirming congregation. (206) 682-3620.
Plymouth Church United Church of Christ. 10am Worship. 1217 6th Ave. Love your (LGBTQ) neighbor as yourself. (206) 622-4865, plymouthchurchseattle.org
University Congregational United Church of Christ. 9am all ages education; 10am Worship. 4515 16th Ave NE. UCUCC is an open & affirming congregation. (206) 524-2322; www.universityucc.org.
Wallingford United Methodist Church. 10am Worship. 2115 N 42nd St. A progressive congregation. In 1984
Wallingford UMC became the 9th reconciling Methodist church in the U.S. (206) 547-6945 (office); (206) 2855077 (George).
All Pilgrims Christian Church. 10:30am Worship. 500 Broadway E. Come as you are. All are welcome. A congregation of the Disciples of Christ & the United Church of Christ. (206) 322-0487, www.allpilgrims.org Northminster Presbyterian Church. 10:30am Worship. 7706 25th Ave NW. A village church in the city open to all. (206) 783-3402. www.northminsterpres.org (Conveniently located a block from the Metro #40 bus route.)
St. Clement’s Episcopal Church. 10:30am Worship. 1501 32nd Ave S. Great music. Dynamic preaching. Holy communion. Encountering the transformative and unconditional love of God in Christ. Join us! www. stclementseattle.org
Seattle Sunday Bowling. 10:30am. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW (at SW Oregon St). Open bowl every Sunday for the GLBT community & friends. You don’t have to worry about how you bowl! $6.50 + $3 shoe rental. (425) 785-4729.
Welcome Table Christian Church. 9:45am Meditation; 10:30am Worship; Labyrinth 2nd Sundays 1-4pm. 1322 S Bayview St. Where people of all genders and sexualities, and families of all shapes & sizes are welcome and celebrated. A welcoming and affirming community since 1987. welcometablecc.org
Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church Seattle. 11am Worship. Chapel at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St. MCC is a progressive Christ-centered faith community committed to providing a nurturing environment for individual & community growth thru Jesus Christ while celebrating unity in diversity. MCC is Seattle’s oldest Gay-friendly church. (206) 325-2421, www.mccseattle.org.
Meditation for GBT Men. 11am-1pm. Cal Anderson House, 400 Broadway. Suitable for beginning & experienced meditators. Sponsored by Dharma Buddies. Contact Forrest Rode, (206) 920-6117, or Doug Allison, doug.l.allison@gmail.com. Find us under “Dharma Buddies” on Meetup.com or at DharmaBuddies.org. (Women are invited to contact our sister meditation group at www. LotusSisters.org.)
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. 11:15am (also 7:30am, 9am, 5pm). 15 W Roy St. We are an accepting, progressive, Anglo-Catholic parish, renewing its people for their Christian lives in today’s world through worship, spiritual formation, engagement in the arts, and acts of compassion. www.stpaulseattle.com
Just for Today (NA). 12-1:15pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100. Every Sunday. Drop-in 12-step Narcotics Anonymous group open to anyone in recovery. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
Paths to Recovery Al-Anon Family Group. 12-1:30pm. Seattle University Student Center, 901 12th Ave, Room 122. Every Sunday. LGBTQ supported. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number (206) 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon.org
Orca Swim Team Workout. Sun: Afternoon; Mon/ Weds/Fri: Evenings; Tues/Thurs: Mornings. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. Pre-registration required. Orca Swim Team workouts are for both competitive & recreational swimmers. www. orcaswimteam.org
No Safeword Writers Group. 1pm. See website for location. Meets 2nd & 4th Sunday each month. NSWG exists to provide mutual support for members’ efforts. Support is in the form of critique & commentary on each other’s work, information about publishing opportunities, & discussion of issues facing writers. NSWG’s primary focus is erotic writing - but they welcome anyone who writes. The only requirements are to write, to attend, & to be respectful. For info & location, www.nosafewordwritersgroup.org
Seattle Prime Timers Rap Group. 1:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Room 100. Meets 4th Sunday each month in the Ian MacKintosh Room. This month’s topic: “Understanding Evil.” Coffee and tea will be served. Info: www.seattleprimetimers.org.
Rain City Soccer Club - Kickabout. Sunday afternoon usually at 3pm. Location varies. Join us for Seattle’s mostly-weekly mostly-LGBTQ pickup soccer game. We play an organized, 2-hour scrimmage on nice fieldturf surface. Sometimes there is a brief training/practice session before we play. Usually there is a “one-beer” after the scrimmage. To sign up visit www.raincitysoccer.org
Gay City & Three Dollar Bill Cinema Academy Awards Party. 4pm. Gay City, 517 E Pike St. Hosted by Gaysha Starr. A benefit for Gay City and Three Dollar Bill Cinema. $15 in advance and at the door. www. gaycity.org.
Shame to Grace (SAA). 6-7:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100. Every Sunday. Sex Addicts Anonymous is a fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength & hope with each other so they may overcome their sexual addiction & help others recover from sexual addiction or dependency. Seattle SAA helpline (206) 237-8828, SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191. (206) 322-2437. www. peerseattle.org
Pride League Bowling. 6:30pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Sunday. Regular league bowling. Jeff, (206) 932-3731; leagues@wsbowl.com. Integrity/Puget Sound. 7pm Worship & Fellowship. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Thomson Chapel, 1245 10th Ave E. Integrity is an international ministry of Gay & Lesbian Episcopalians, their friends & families, dedicated to education, support & service within the Church & the GLBT community. (425) 226-2746.
Noche Latina - Latino Night. 10pm. Capitol Lounge, 916 E Pike St. Every Sunday. Go-go dancers at 10:30pm; drag show at midnight. 21+ ID required. $10 cover. Co-sponsored by Entre Hermanos.
MONDAY - February 25
New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
SOBER On Meds. 1-2pm. Peer Seattle 1520 Bellevue Ave #100. Every Monday. 12-step group open to anyone in recovery & living on a medicine regimen. (206) 3222437; www.peerseattle.org
Strength Over Speed (SOS). 2-3:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437, www. peerseattle.org
Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)
Speed Rack All-Female Bartending Competition. 6-10pm. Block 41, 115 Bell St. Speed Rack Season 8 is coming to Seattle! Attendees will have the chance to try different cocktails from some of the best bartenders and brands in the NW. Proceeds benefit breast cancer charities. Tickets available at http://events.speed-rack. com/us/season-8/northwest.
Freely Speaking Toastmasters. 7pm. Gay City, 517 E Pike St, downstairs space. Every Monday (except holidays & the last Mondays in August & December). Seattle’s only LGBT speaking club. www.FreelySpeaking.org
Lotus Sisters South Seattle/Columbia City Meditation & Dharma Discussion. Gather at 6:45pm; sit at 7pm. Meets 4th Monday each month. Short presentation with discussion to follow. Oriented to LBTQ sisters. Email us or call (206) 550-5587 for details and location; www. LotusSisters.org. (Wheelchair accessible.)
PFLAG/South King County Monthly Meeting. 7pm. Unitarian Universalist Church, 25701 14th Pl S, Kent Meets 4th Monday each month. Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays is a national support organization for parents, spouses & families of GLBT persons, as well as those sexual minorities. PFLAG/Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724.
Trans Youth Group. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. A chance for youth to talk with others about their experiences & concerns related to identifying as Transgender. www.lamberthouse.org
Destiny/Unity AA Meeting in Tacoma 7:30-8:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Monday. LGBTQ-friendly AA meeting. (253) 474-8897. (Also meets Fridays.)
Lambert House Art Night. 7:30-9:30pm. 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. Bring your ideas & let’s have some fun. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org
Washington Gender Alliance Support Group Meeting in Shoreline 7:30pm. Center for Human Services, 17018 15th Ave NE, Shoreline. Every Monday. www. washingtongenderalliance.com
TUESDAY - February 26
Orca Swim Team Workout. Morning. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)
New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave #100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
LGBTQ+ Group. 1:15-2:15pm. Orion Center, 1828 Yale Ave. Every Tuesday. A group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 & their allies. Sponsored by YouthCare. (206) 622-5555. LGBTQ Questioning & Allied Youth Drop-in Group in Renton 6-8pm. Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS), 1025 S 3rd St, Renton. Every Tuesday. Confidential.
Snacks provided. Bring friends or come alone - anyone 12-18 is welcome. Questions? Call Sarah Hardin, (425) 271-5600 ext 155, or email sarahh@rays.org
Strength Over Speed (SOS). 6-7:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437; www. peerseattle.org
ALISS - Aging Lesbians in South Seattle Evening Gathering. 6:30-8pm. Southeast Seattle Senior Center, 4655 S Holly St, Rainier Ave S & S Holly St., Social Hall. Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. This is a group primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Facilitator: Fai Coffin; Cost: FREE. Metro route 7. Wheelchair accessible. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org.
Diverse Harmony. 6:30-9pm. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. Every Tuesday. Diverse Harmony is the nation’s first Gay/Straight Alliance Youth Chorus. Youth ages 13-22 are welcome regardless of sexual orientation. www.diverseharmony.org
LGBTQ MS Connection/National MS Society. 6:308pm. Swedish Conference Center, Cherry Hill Campus, James Tower, 550 17th Avenue, Room E, 1st Floor. Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. MS Connection is a support group with the goal of providing a safe environment for the LGBT community to express their experiences and the impact of MS on their lives and the lives of their loved ones, as well as provide support for one another. Contact Shelly at (206) 250-5002 or LGBTMSConnection@gmail.com.
No Man’s Land - For Female-Identified Youth, Ages 22 & Under. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Tuesday. Topics range from family issues to school happenings to like/lust/love relationships. All Queer females welcome. Come discuss how smart. strong Queer women live their lives. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org
PFLAG/North Seattle Monthly Meeting. 7-9pm. Haller Lake United Methodist Church, 13055 1st Ave NE. Meets 4th Tuesday each month. (206) 325-7724 or northseattle@pflagseattle.org. PFLAG, a national organization founded in 1972, provides support, education and advocacy for families and friends of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer persons and is committed to moving LGBTQ equality forward.
Tuesday Night Sex Addicts Anonymous (GLBTQI). 7-8:30pm. All Pilgrims Christian Church, 500 Broadway E (enter at 509 10th Ave E; buzz in, Colonial room). Every Tuesday. SAA is a fellowship of men & women whose primary purpose is to stop addictive sexual behavior & help others recover from sexual addiction. Seattle SAA helpline (206) 237-8828. SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191. Different Drummers. 7:15-8:30pm. Every Tuesday. Hand drumming classes for Gay men. It’s easy, it’s fun & anyone can do it! Learn traditional African & AfroCaribbean rhythms & basic hand drumming techniques. Experience connection, community & spirituality. Drums are provided. For info & location call Dennis at (206) 363-4500 or www.outdrum.com
Men’s Discussion Group. 7:30-9pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Every Tuesday. Peer group for Gay & Bi men. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
Here & Now Gay & Lesbian AA Meeting in Tacoma. 7:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Tuesday. Spiritual Empowerment. 7:30-9pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. A vibrant drop-in workshop for those of any spiritual belief. (206) 322-2437; www. peerseattle.org
Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. GLBT & GLBT-friendly co-ed water polo team is open to all who want to play. Beginners & experienced players welcome. Check our website for up to the minute details, or call the Otter Hotline (206) 414-8797. www.otterpolo.com.
Seattle Poetry Slam. Doors 8pm, Show 8:30pm. Rebar, 1114 Howell St. Every Tuesday. A spoken word poetry event that features a weekly open mic, feature poet, and slam (poetry competition). Come out and express yourself. LGBTQ- & QTPOC-friendly; all genders welcome. $5. 21+. seattlepoetryslam.org
WEDNESDAY - February 27
Mature Friends Walk Around Greenlake. 11am. Meet up at 10:50am with a group of older men gathered at the north end of the parking lot that is next to the boathouse along the southwest side of Greenlake. Every Wednesday. Walk around Greenlake followed by lunch at a local restaurant. www.maturefriends.org
Mature Friends Dining Out Luncheon. 12 noon. Roosters Restaurant, 611 Broadway E. Meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday each month. Just drop in - no RSVP required. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www.maturefriends.org New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
True Colors: Connecting LGBTQ Teens in Shoreline 4-5pm. Every Wednesday. Discussing your important issues, building a supportive community. For information, location & to REGISTER call Lindsay Bagley (206) 362-7282 x 8018 or email lbagley@chs-nw.org
Living Positively. 5-7pm. Lifelong, 1016 E Pike St., 3rd Fl. Every Wednesday. Social and support group for the HIV community with various topics for discussion and conversation. (206) 957-1600 or www.lifelong.org. Sponsored by Lifelong. Graying of HIV/AIDS. 5:30-7pm. GenPride Center, 401 Broadway E, Suite 223 (upstairs in Broadway Market near Urban Outfitters). Join Dr. Jeffrey Schouten of the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center’s Office of HIV/
community calendar
AIDS Network Coordination for a wide-ranging conversation about HIV and aging, including healthy lifestyle choices for minimizing the impact of long-term HIV infection. Info: www.gapseattle.org or (206) 319-2756. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): A Support Group for GLBTQ+Youth (14-20) serving Snohomish County & surrounding communities. 6-8pm. Phone or email for location. Every Wednesday. Sponsored by PFLAG Everett. Brenda, (425) 263-2908. globeleaders@hotmail.com
Queer Seattle Book Club. 6pm. University Book Store Cafe, 4326 University Way NE. Every Wednesday. This month’s title: “Forbidden Colors” by Yukio Mishima. https://faculty.washington.edu/swittet/SGLBookClub/ Lotus Sisters Meditation & Dharma DiscussionNorth. 6:15-8pm. Ravenna Bryant neighborhood. Every Wednesday. Call (206) 525-7295 for location. www. LotusSisters.org.
Center for Spiritual Living. 6:30pm-Meditation, 7pmService. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! Info (206) 527-8801 ext 203, www.cslseattle.org
Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 6:30pm. Volunteer Park, 14th Ave E & E Prospect St. Every Wednesday. Meet at Black Sun sculpture across for museum. (See Saturday at 9am.)
Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)
Ingersoll All-Trans Drop-In Support Group. 7-9pm. Seattle Counseling Services, 1216 Pine St, Suite 300. Every Wednesday. All Transgender, Gender Variant, Gender Queer, Gender Questioning, allies, family & friends are welcome. This is a drop in group to get & give support, social interaction & information for the whole Gender community. No fee, donations welcome. www. ingersollcenter.org
Mature Friends Weekly Bridge Group. 7pm. Wallingford Community Senior Center, lower level of Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnywide Ave N. Every Wednesday. All levels welcome. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org
SEAMEC Monthly Meeting. 7pm. 1605 12th Ave, Suite 21. Meets 4th Wednesday each month. SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www. voteseamec.org
Arnaldo! Drag Chanteuse. 7:30pm. Triple Door, 216 Union St. Opening night of March Is Cabaret Month series, also featuring The Love Markets, Sirens of Swing, and the Sweet Spot Combo. Tickets $25 (front row $35) in advance at https://tickets.thetripledoor.net/ or at door. Series continues every Fri. and Sat. in March at Egan’s Ballard Jam House, 1707 NW Market St. See full schedule at www.marchcabaret.com.
Washington Gender Alliance Open Support Meeting in Everett 7:30-9pm. Everett United Church of Christ, 2624 Rockefeller Ave, Everett. Every Wednesday. Trained peer facilitators lead a structured support meeting helping people deal with issues of gender identity & expression. All adults are welcomed, including those who are questioning, allies, or identify as FTM, MTF, Transgender, Queer, or Intersex, among others. (360) 445-2411; www.washingtongenderalliance.com.
THURSDAY - February 28
Orca Swim Team Workout. Morning. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)
Sex Workers’ Wellness Day and Community Brunch. 11am-3pm. Free community event for current and former sex workers. Catered brunch, roundtable discussion, community resource information, onsite health tests, bodywork, prizes. Presented as part of the Seattle Annual Sexwork Symposium (SASS), a festival celebrating the voices and human rights of people with sexy professions. RSVP required: marymagdalene@swop-seattle. org. (SASS continues through March 3; info at swopseattle.org/sass.)
Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.) Monthly Lunch Get-Together. 12 noon. Ballard NW Senior Center, 5429 32nd Ave NW. Meets 4th Thursday each month. Look for the A.B.L.E. sign on the table. We are Lesbians, 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of this group is to connect, socialize, and support each other. We have been meeting since 2015. The group hosts evening potlucks, outings and get-togethers. Co-sponsored by Puget Sound Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.. BABES Women’s Support Group/Lunch Meeting. 12-2pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. The BABES Network is a peer led agency; a sisterhood of women facing HIV together. (206) 720-5566 or 888-292-1912; www.babesnetwork.org.
New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
Safe and Sober (AA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Thursday. (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org
Everett-Snohomish County Friendship Dinner for persons living with HIV/AIDS, their friends, and for those who want to support them. 6pm. Trinity Lutheran Church, 2324 Lombard Ave, Everett. Meets last Thursday each month. For further information, please call (360) 202-3978. Sponsored by AIDS Project Snohomish County (APSC) and Gay Men’s Task Force.
B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group). 6:30-8pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. Sponsored by Youth Eastside Services, which offers many programs for GLBT youth. (425) 747-4937.
Heart Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Workshop. 6:307:30pm. GenPride Center, 401 Broadway E, Suite 223. Free wellness workshop with Dawn of Jae Dietetics. Learn eating patterns and lifestyle habits that support heart health. Info: www.gapseattle.org or (206) 393-3400.
Boys Group - For Male-Identified Youth, Ages 1422. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Thursday. Youth take the opportunity to talk about issues that relate to their everyday lives, with the facilitation of a male volunteer. (206) 322-2515 ext 16. www. lamberthouse.org
21st Century Bowling. 7pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Thursday. Regular league bowling. Jeff, (206) 932-3731; leagues@wsbowl.com. Buddhism & Recovery. 7:30-9pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100 Every Thursday. A meditation/ recovery group. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
Gay Fathers Association of Seattle. 7:30-9pm. Group Health, 201 16th Ave E, Central Bldg, Lower Atrium. Every Thursday. Support meetings for Gay fathers & Gay men who are currently or previously married. Safe, anonymous, non-judgmental environment of caring fathers & friends. You are not alone. For information, community events & “questioning” visit www.gfas.org or our message board at http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/ gayfathersseattle
Gay Male Sexuality & Relationships. 7:30-9pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Every Thursday. Ongoing support group open to Gay and Bisexual men. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org [NOTE: Please contact the facilitator prior to attending.]
Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. (See Tuesday listing at 8pm.)
Tush - Beacon Hill Drag Takeover! 8:30pm. ClockOut Lounge, 4864 Beacon Ave S. Hosted by Betty Wetter with Miss Texas 1988, Angel Baby Kill Kill Kill!, and Beau Degas with special guests DJ Arson Nicki, Butylene O’Kipple, and Ruby Mimosa. 21+ only. Tickets ($10 advance, $12 day of show) at venue or www. clockoutlounge.com.
FRIDAY - March 1
Ageless in Recovery (AA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Every Friday. A drop-in AA group for 55+. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100, Room 3. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)
Road to Recovery (SLAA). 12-1:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Every Friday. Ongoing 12-step group for sex and love addicts. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Friday. (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org (Also Thursdays 4-10pm & Saturdays 6pm-12 midnight.)
LGBTQ & Allies 18+ Free Friday Night Drop-In Volleyball. 6-7:45pm. Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave E. Every Friday. (206) 684-4753. Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)
Strength Over Speed (SOS). 6-7:30pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437. Game Night. 7pm-11pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100 Every Friday. Card games, board games and fellowship. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
Lambert House Queer Movie Night. 7-9:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Friday. Lambert House is a nationally-recognized activities & resource center for GLBT & questioning youth, ages 14-22. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org
Rain Country Dance Night. 7-11pm, lessons at 7:15pm. The Cuff, 1533 13th Ave. An evening of country-western dancing for the LGBTQ community. FREE. www.raincountrydance.org.
Destiny/Unity AA Meeting in Tacoma 7:30-8:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Friday. LGBTQ-friendly AA meeting. (253) 474-8897. (Also meets Mondays.)
LGBT Friday Night Al-Anon Family Group. 8-9pm. Peer Seattle, 1520 Bellevue Ave, Suite 100, Room 3. Every Friday. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number (206) 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon. org; (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
SATURDAY - March 2
(See previous Saturday for ongoing activities.) Seattle Prime Timers Coffee and Conversation Group. 10:30am. Urban Bakery, 7850 East Green Lake Dr N. Meet up for friendly chat over baked goods, soups, sandwiches, espresso. Contact Frank at franka15@outlook.com or (206) 693-3119. On Metro routes 26 and 45.
SUNDAY - March 3
(See previous Sunday for ongoing activities.) Midday Matinee: “Moonlight.” 2pm. GenPride Center, 401 Broadway E, Suite 223. Free showing of “Moonlight” (2016), an Oscar-winning look at three defining chapters in the life of a young Black Gay man growing up in Miami. Snacks and popcorn provided; an intimate discussion will follow the screening. Co-sponsored by Scarecrow Video. Info: www.gapseattle.org or (206) 495-8312. Knights of Mantra Monthly Meeting. 3pm. The Cuff, 1533 13th Ave. Meets 1st Sunday each month. K of M/ Jet Chapter is a fun-loving leather/Levi social & charitable organization that raises money for various causes & organizations. (206) 329-0886. www.facebook.com/ kofmjetchapter/ PFLAG/Whatcom County (Bellingham) Monthly Meeting. 5pm. Community Food Co-op Bakery, 405 E Holly St, Bellingham. Meets 1st Sunday each month. Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays is a national support organization for parents, spouses, & families of GLBT persons, as well as those minorities. www.whatcompflag.org; PFLAG/Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724. Seattle Jazz Vespers. 6-8pm. Seattle First Baptist Church, Seneca St & Harvard Ave. Meets 1st Sunday each month (October-June). The historic Gothic sanctuary of Seattle First Baptist Church is offered to the best jazz groups in the city to perform 100 minutes of their own popular music. FREE. For info (206) 325-6051, www.seattlefirstbaptist.org/sjv.
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQAllyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, (206) 279-8169.
American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us Another Gay Social Club! - www.meetup.com/AnotherGay-Social-Club/ Bellingham/Whatcom County - www.theslowlane. com/guide.html
BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.
Bremerton/Kitsap County - www.outwestsound.org
Cascade Rainbow Community Center (Mount Vernon) - (360) 840-8499 and on Facebook. COLAGE unites people with LGBTQ parents and caregivers into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders in our collective communities - www.colage.org
Central Washington University GALA Hotline: (509) 963-1994.
DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). (206) 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest. org DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, (206) 461-3222 (24 hour line); King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) - 24-hour crisis line for information, support, & medical & legal assistance: 1-888-99-VOICE; Northwest Networksupport & advocacy for Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse & Dating Violence, (206) 568-7777 (voice), 517-9670 (tty), www.nwnetwork.org; Pierce County Domestic Violence Helpline: Teresa, (253) 798-4166; Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities - offers on-going support groups for men: 323-1768; Seattle Police Dept Domestic Violence Unit, (206) 684-0330; State Wide Domestic Violence Hot Line, 1-800-562-6025. In an emergency call 911 Report domestic violence and sexual assault. Equal Rights Washington - (206) 324-2570; www. equalrightswashington.org Everett/Snohomish Cty - www.gaysnohomish.org Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freelyspeaking.org
Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities by providing health services, connecting people to resources, fostering arts, and building community. Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, (206) 860-6969. www.gaycity.org
Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH): 1-888-THEGLNH (1-888-843-4564). Non-profit, peer-counseling, information & local resources telephone hotline for GLBT people across the country.
Generations Aging With Pride empowers elder LGBTQ adults to live with pride and dignity by promoting, connecting, and developing innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of our community - (206) 393-3400; info@gapseattle.org; gapseattle.org
Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - (206) 363-9188; www.thegsba.org
HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. (206) 205-7837. For a comprehensive list of HIV/AIDS service organizations see the GSBA Guide or visit www.thegsba.org or call Lifelong AIDS Alliance, (206) 328-8979.
Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com
Lambert House - (206) 322-2515; www.lamberthouse.
org
LGBT Library - 517 E Pike St. Open Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction for the LGBT community and allies can be borrowed free of charge.
LGBT MS Connection - (206) 250-5002; LGBTMSConnection@gmail.com. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers. Sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Lifelong AIDS Alliance - (206) 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org
Lion’s Main Art Collective - www.lionsmain.org
MEN: Gay City: (206) 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: (206) 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Northwest Bears: www. nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians. net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.com; Q-Squared: www.qsquared.org; Rain City Jacks: www.raincityjacks. org; Seattle Gay Couples: www. seattlegaycouples.org; Seattle Men in Leather: www.seattlemeninleather. org; Seattle Prime Timers: Gay & Bi men 40 & over, www. seattle primetimers.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)
MUSIC: Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; Rainbow City Band: 1-866-841-9139 ext 2126; rainbowcityband@onebox.com; www.rainbowcity band. com; Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus: (206) 388-1408, (206) 323-0750. www.seattlechoruses.org.
Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com
Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org
Olympia/Thurston County - www.RainbowCenterOly. org
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates/Seattle Regional Affiliate supports the work of LGBT employees and the growing number of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) making a difference within local companies, including Alaska Airlines, Amazon.com, Amgen, AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, Macy’s, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Safeco Insurance, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox. www.outandequal.org/affiliates/seattle Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition - http://outandproudgh.org
PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption & provides a network of safe placement agencies, training, support & resources: (206) 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: (206) 694-6727, www.familyworksseattle. org; Gay Fathers’ Association of Seattle offers support groups & social activities: www.gfas. org; Proud & Loud Families - Northwest, www.meetup.com/proudand-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: (206) 568-7777, qpnd@nwnetwork.org, www.nwnetwork.org; Rainbow Families of Puget Sound: www.rainbowfamiliesps.org PFLAG is the national organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality with chapters in Seattle, Bellevue/Eastside, the Puget Sound region and across Washington state. PFLAG Seattle: (206) 325-7724, info@pflagseattle.org, and www.pflagseattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: (425) 483-6642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community. pflag.org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington State: www. pflagwsc.org.
Peer Seattle (formerly Seattle Area Support Groups) is a non-profit organization that builds community and cultivates powerful, healthy lives by providing emotional support and personal development services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, the Queer communities, and those who love them. Our work is done in a spirit of safety, trust, inclusiveness, and celebration of individual differences. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org
PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), (206) 850-2070, www.aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, (206) 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, (206) 461-6910, www.multiculturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, (206) 322-7700, www.entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, (206) 781-3565, iya@ilelailai.org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), (206) 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo.com, www.macctsea.org; Northwest Two Spirit Society, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/nw2spiritsociety/, Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, (206) 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; QBASS - Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, (253) 256-1846, weareqbass@gmail. com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, (206) 322-7061, (206) 255-8951; Somos Seattle, somosseattle.org; Trikone-Northwest, GLBT South Asians, (425) 985-4376, www.trikonenw.org; Two-Spirit Honor Project, 1-866-685-0164; U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle, www.utopiaseattlewa.org; VietQ Greater Seattle, vietqorganization@gmail.com
Pierce County AIDS Foundation - (253) 383-2565; www.piercecountyaids.org Pride Foundation - (206) 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org Pride Lives - www.facebook.com/PrideLives/ Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service providing FREE information & services to Gay & Bi men to reduce health risks associated with metham-
Public Health-Seattle & King County Online Comprehensive Health Information for Sexual Minorities: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/ glbt.aspx
Q Law: The GLBT Bar Association of WA - (206) 682-6711; www.q-law.org
Rainbow Center - Resource Center for Tacoma/Pierce County LGBTIQA community. Through education, advocacy and celebration, the Rainbow Center expands resources, and safe space for the LGBTQIA community. Sponsors Tacoma Pride Festival. (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org
SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www.voteseamec.org
Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) i- SEE LISTING for Peer Seattle.
Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network - BiSeattle.wixsite. com/SBWN and on Facebook.
Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities is a community mental health service for GLBT persons & their families providing comprehensive mental health services on a sliding scale. (206) 323-1768. Seattle LGBTQ Commission - (206) 684-4503. www/ seattle.gov/lgbtq Seattle Out & Proud - (206) 322-9561; www.seattlepride.org
Seattle Police Department Sexual Minorities Community Advisory Council: kim.bogucki@seattle.gov Seattle PrideFest - www.seattlepridefest.org Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - (202) 328-3244; www.sldn.org
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - (206) 860-3666; www.theabbey.org
Snohomish Health District HIV/AIDS Program provides free confidential/anonymous HIV counseling & testing 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, until 7pm Tuesdays. (425) 339-5298.
South Sound Q Calendar - LGBTQ events in Tacoma, Olympia & Sound Puget Sound area; www.SouthSoundQCal.com Spokane/Inland Northwest - www.outspokane.com; www.stonewallnews.net
SPORTS & RECREATION: Bent Car Guys: www. bentcarguys.org; Border Riders Motorcycle Club:
www.borderriders.com; Bottom Dwellers Scuba Club: www.bottomdwellers.org; Capitol Hill Cyclers: join their Facebook group or email capitolhillcycling@ groups.facebook.com or jordan.l.simonson@gmail.com; Cascade Flag Football: www.cascadeflagfootball.org; Cascade Flyers: www.cascadeflyers.org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby.com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emeraldcitysoftball. org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Festival of the Babes: www.festivalofthebabes.com; Olympic Yacht Club: www.oycnw.org; OutVentures: outdoor education & recreation activities, www.outventures.org; Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association: www.pacificnwgra.org; Puddletown Squares: www.puddletownsquares.org; Rain City Soccer: www.raincitysoccer.org; Rain Country Dance Association: a country-western dance organization catering to the LGBTQ community but open to all, www.raincountrydance.org; Sea Dawgs: LGBT ice hockey - SkateSeaDawgs@gmail.com and on Facebook; Seattle Frontrunners: www.seattlefrontrunners.org; Seattle Gay Basketball Association: www. seattlegaybasketballassociation.com; Seattle Orca Swim Team: www.orcaswimteam.org; Seattle Otters Water Polo: www.otterpolo.com; Seattle Quake Rugby: www.quakerugby.com; Seattle Tennis Alliance: www. seattletennisalliance.org; Seattle Unified Bowling Association (SUBA): magee98106@aol.com, www. teamseattle.org/bowling.htm, www.theprideleague. com, Century 21 League; Seattle Volleyball Club: www.seattlevolleyballclub.com; Ski Buddies: www. skibuddies.org; Team Seattle Gay Sports Network is an umbrella organization for a wide range of local GLBT sports activities, (206) 367-4064, www.teamseattle.org (see website for comprehensive list of sports clubs); Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender Creek: recreational camping for GLBT folks. Must be 21; ID required. trc@ camptrc.org, www.camptrc.org, 1122 E Pike St #1069, Seattle 98122-3934. Strength Over Speed - www.strengthoverspeed.org Tacoma/Pierce County - Rainbow Center, 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, a resource center for the LGBTIQA community of Pierce County, (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org
Three Dollar Bill Cinema - TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival; Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Outdoor Cinema at Cal Anderson Park. www. threedollarbillcinema.org
TRANSGENDER: Emerald City Social Club: (425) 827-9494; Gender Alliance of the South Sound: www.SouthSoundGender.com; Gender Diversity:
www.genderdiversity.org; Gender Justice League: www.genderjusticeleague.org; Gender Odyssey: www.genderodyssey.com; Hermanos Trans Latino & Foreign-Born Support Group: (206) 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: (206) 329-6651, www. ingersollcenter.org; Lion’s Main Art Collective: www. lionsmain.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/Olympia-Trans-DiscussionGroup/262449878114; [trans] ACTION: Trans* & Gender Non-Conforming Sex Workers’ Support Group - a safe, peer-led space. mail@utopiaseattle.org; TRANSform Washington: transformwashington.com; Trans Resource & Referral Guide: kctransguide.org; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www. washington genderalliance.com
WOMEN: Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.): We are Lesbians 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of the group is to connect, socialize and support each other. ruthemilyvogel@gmail.com; Aging Lesbians in South Seattle (ALISS) - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. (206) 720-5566, 1-888-292-1912; Coming Out Women Support Group of Tacoma: www. comingoutwomen.org; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Puget Sound Old Lesbian Organizing for Change: http:// psoloc.org, (253) 777-3357; Older Lesbians Organizing for Change/WA State Chapter: gloria@oloc.org, mary@oloc.org, www.oloc.org; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives: www.pnwlesbianarchives.org; RainshadowWomen: RainshadowWomen@aol. com; Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network: BiSeattle. wixsite.com/SBWN; Seattle Girls of Leather: www. sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org; Women of West Seattle (WOWS): a fun, member-driven social group for Lesbians, http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/womenofwestseattle; YWCA Women’s Health Outreach: providing low or no-cost mammograms for income eligible 40+ LBTQ individuals. Follow us at http://lbtqhealth-ywca.blogspot.com, twitter.com/ingridWHO or email lbthealth@ywcaworks. org, (206) 461-4493. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.) YOUTH: B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group): Youth Eastside Services offers many programs for GLBT youth, including B-GLAD, (425) 747-4937; Coyote Central: www.coyotecentral.org; Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; GLSEN/Washington State (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) & Washington State GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Network: GLSEN works to create safe schools for LGBT students. WA GSA Network supports youth-led GSA’s to fight harassment & homophobia in Washington state schools. (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa. org; www.wagsa.org. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): a support group & HIV/STD prevention program for GLBTQ youth, 14-20, in Everett, (425) 263-2908, www. globeyouth.org; It Gets Better Project: www.itgetsbetter.org; Lambert House: an activities & resource center for LGBT youth, 14-22, in Seattle, 1818 15th Ave @ E Denny Way; (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: (206) 957-1665; www. llaa.org/HEYO; www.MatthewsPlace.com ; The Mockingbird Society: (206) 323-KIDS (5437), www. mockingbirdsociety.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org; OKAY! LGBTQ+ Outreach for Kent Area Youth: (253) 859-0699 ext 3034. OKAY! is an open support group for youth ages 13-19 who identify as LGBTQ+. A program of Kent Youth & Family Services; OUT There Adventures: www.outthereadventures.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724, www. seattle-pflag.org; Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS) Drop-In Center & Young Adult Shelter: 1609 19th Ave @ E Pine St., (206) 726-8500; www.psks.org; Pizza Klatch: weekly lunchtime support groups for LGBTQ youth in Thurston County, www. pizzaklatch.org; Prism: for LGBTQ youth, 14-21, in Puyallup - Cherise.Alexander@ multicare.org; www. facebook.com/PuyallupPrism; Proud Out Wonderful (POW!): for LGBTQ youth, 13-21, in South King County, (206) 326-9112, www.facebook.com/proudoutwonderful; Q Youth Resources: in Kitsap County - (360) 698-3335; www.kchaf.org; Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS): LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth drop-in group, ages 12-18 - Sarah Hardin, (425) 271-5600, ext 155; sarahh@rays.org; Roots Young Adult Shelter: 1415 NE 43rd St., (206) 632-1635; www.rootsinfo.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org; (206) 451-SAFE, (206) 451-7233 (non-emergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): (206) 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): (206) 524-7301 ext 111; www. streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: (206) 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, (206) 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; Vista Youth Center: for LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth, ages 14-21, in Kennewick, (509) 396-5198, www.vistayouthcenter.org; YouthCare/ Isis Program (Transitional Living Home for LGBTQ Young Adults, 18-22): (206) 522-8412; YouthCare/ Orion Center Young Adult Shelter: 1828 Yale Ave @ Stewart St. (206) 622-5555; Youth in Focus: (206) 723-1479; www.youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): (206) 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273-TALK, www.yspp.org
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