The 26th Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival continues through Sun., Oct. 23.
Steve Williford's drama The Green (4:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 22) depicts the fractures that occur in a longtime gay relationship, when one of the men -- a school teacher -- is accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student. The film, takes mostly expected melodramatic turns (trouble always breaks out during big storms!), but it doesn't offer any pat solutions to the collateral damage the accusation causes.
Coming-out stories take many paths, but few folks have traveled the road that country-music star Chely Wright took. Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf's documentary Wish Me Away (7 p.m. Sat., Oct. 22) follows the 39-year-old Wright's 2010 coming-out -- to her Bible Belt family, the Nashville music industry and everybody, via a media blitz. The portrait is intimate -- Wright tapes herself crying alone -- and while it hits bittersweet notes (Nashville stopped calling), Wright's journey is inspirational, proving you're never too old or too famous to live as you truly are.
A pair of affairs get complicated in Three (9 p.m. Sat., Oct. 22), a German dramedy from Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). A longtime straight couple in their early 40s each embark on an erotically charged dalliance -- unbeknownst to the other -- with the same man. Tywker's film takes a while to get to the bed-hopping -- there is some sidewinding into issues of life, death and stem-cell research, plus a Herman Hesse poem or two -- but the film's second half should satisfy those looking for non-judgmental presentations of unconventional relationships.
A runway gay teen hopes to find a new family with the House of Eminence, a group of drag queens, dancers and voguers. Leave It on the Floor (7:30 p.m. Sun., Oct. 23) is a rousing musical -- about half the film is singing and dancing -- that celebrates the scene. The story is soapy and the acting amateurish, but grrrrl, the walks are fierce. (A party follows the screening.)
Also screening this week: Tomboy (7 p.m. Fri., Oct. 21), a French film about a 10-year-old girl who is mistaken for a boy -- and likes it; the comedy eCupid (9 p.m. Fri., Oct. 21), about the perils of Internet dating; and the Australian comedy Hannah and the Hasbian (2:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 22), about a lesbian who switches to men. At noon Sat., Oct.22, there is a free screening of Youth Shorts, a program of six short films, selected for their appeal to teens and young adults.
All films screen at the SouthSide Works. Single tickets are $8.50 (closing night $15); passes and student discounts are also available. See www.plgfs.org for more information.
