LGBT film fest a labor of faith for two seminary students

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lgbt-filmfest-20140224,0,5855550.story#axzz2uFZuHQaD

Level Ground is billed as the first film festival connecting lesbian, gay and transgender sexuality with faith and evangelical Christianity.

By Kurt Streeter
February 23, 2014, 5:55 p.m.

Chelsea McInturff and Samantha Curley were eager for a public conversation about film, gay sexuality and Christian life, but they weren't sure whether it was the right time — or the right place.

They stood nervously inside an auditorium at Pasadena's evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary last spring, worried the drama they were about to screen –— about a teen coming out as lesbian — would end up offending an audience of students and professors who didn't necessarily approve of its story line.

"Should we even do this?" they recently recalled wondering. "Maybe we should we just skip this one and move on."

But they held their breath and decided to show the film, after telling the audience what to expect and taking pains to explain that the soundtrack featured lyrics about female genitalia. When the credits rolled and the crowd began a passionate debate about identity and the harmful effects of marginalizing gays in the name of religion, McInturff and Curley knew their inaugural film festival had tapped into something important.

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