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HRC SELECTIONS
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 11, 1:00PM to 3:00PM

Experience a vibrant display of what The Human Rights Campaign is all about - ending GLBT disrimination, electing fair-minded officials, and celebrating diversity. You'll walk away encouraged with a sense of progress stemming from the hard work of organizations like HRC.

OUT RUNNING: STORIES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
USA, 22 MINUTES • DIRECTORS: BORGA DORTER, DAVE O'BRIEN, SAMANTHA REYNOLDS
In 2006, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute provided five teams of student filmmakers $5,000 each to make documentaries about openly LGBT elected officials. Out Running: Stories From The Campaign Trail shows the profiles of three elected openly LGBT officials changing the face and voice of America’s politics. The stories of Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth, Oregon Supreme Court Justice Virginia Linder, and Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy exemplify the rising presence of openly LGBT people in public office.

BLUEPRINT
USA, 75 MINUTES • DIRECTOR: KIRK SHANNON-BUTTS
Keith is a reserved, straitlaced transplant to New York City from Los Angeles; Nathan is a street-smart, potsmoking Brooklynite who lives on the edge -or so he’d like Keith to believe. At first glance, nothing about these two young African American college students suggests romantic compatibility. But a casual courtship gradually develops amidst minor bickering and disagreements -those familiar interstices inside which nascent love restlessly takes shape.

After a chance meeting in a Harlem coffee shop -in which Keith dismisses hip hop as mere pop music while Nathan defends it as the reflection of a society -the two embark on a first date to the countryside on Nathan’s motorcycle. Pot is inhaled, skinny-dipping ensues and love continues to grow despite more fights and setbacks. But Blueprint is more concerned with the quiet, contemplative moments of this blossoming romance than with stealth sex and simmering anger.

There is messiness in Keith and Nathan’s union, but it is more defined by their quiet admiration for one another than their quarreling. In his feature debut, Kirk Shannon-Butts serves up an achingly observant slow burn that, as its title suggests, serves as a plan of action that can be used as a guide to the future. Equal parts urban valentine -its scenes of Harlem street life are both ravishing and real,
Blueprint is a winsome tribute to self-discovery and young love.

Director Kirk Shannon-Butts observes: "My goal is to balance cinema through provocative stories and images of those members of the American landscape not fully addressed in Hollywood films."