A still from Children of God.

This fall, UW-Eau Claire will host its inaugural Eau Queer Film Festival. The festival is the culmination of an LGBTQA travel seminar through the Women’s Studies program. Eleven students traveled to San Francisco during Frameline34 (the world’s most established LGBT film festival) with Ellen Mahaffy, assistant professor of communication and journalism, and Pam Forman, associate professor. While there, the students vetted films from all over the world, interacting with different audiences, filmmakers, actors, and Frameline staff. The students also loaded up with video, camera, and audio equipment to create their own mini-documentaries, DIY style. Split into three groups, they gathered interviews and footage during the week leading up to the 40th anniversary of San Francisco Pride. Their experiences were distilled into three shorts, focusing on bisexuality, social networking media, and Prop 8. “The film and video editing was a new and unique experience,” said Dylan Jambrek, student body president and one of the students involved with the project. “There was a high learning curve.” Returning to Wisconsin, the group formed a film committee to create Eau Queer. “The festival being here is a good showing of the diversity in Eau Claire that might not otherwise be apparent,” said Jambrek. The films, many of which will be showing at UW-Eau Claire before their theatrical releases in major cities, will be followed by discussions about the film themes and student experiences gained from the trip.

    Eau Queer Film Festival • Oct. 7-10 • Davies Theatre, UWEC • times vary • FREE • TinyURL.com/EauQueer