Couples portrayed in Inlaws & Outlaws

On March 27, the award-winning documentary Inlaws & Outlaws, a collection of true stories about love and marriage, will be shown at the Kelso Theater Pub, 214 S Pacific, Kelso.

With Washington’s legislature just passing a bill to expand marriage equality to all couples, straight or gay, and a ballot measure proposed to overturn the legislation, sponsors thought this would be a good opportunity for the community to meet some couples, gay and straight, and see what their relationships meant to them.

The film’s director and producer, Drew Emery, launched the Hearts + Minds Campaign as a way of making his film available to communities everywhere. “The film succeeds so well in a variety of community settings — largely because it was made on the community level, features true stories from ordinary people and, rather than preaching a particular point of view, speaks to the heart through very direct storytelling."

Emery has said that he made Inlaws & Outlaws as a way of bridging what he calls the “false divide” between gay and straight people around the contentious topic of love and marriage. “We’ve shown this film with great success in red states and blue states, urban centers and rural communities,” says Emery. “It’s played in churches in Oklahoma, small college towns and to sell-out houses from Cleveland to Seattle — and everywhere we go, we find audiences embrace the idea that love is absolutely the thing that connects us as human beings — and not at all the thing that divides us.”

After Inlaws & Outlaws premiered to sold-out houses at the Seattle International Film Festival, Emery was chosen as a runner-up for Best Director. The film has since gone on to win the Grand Jury Award at the deadCENTER Film Festival, Best Local Film at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, and Best of Fest at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Inlaws & Outlaws has enjoyed limited theatrical runs in both Los Angeles and Seattle during 2007.

Sponsoring the showing are the Longview United Methodist Church, the Longview Presbyterian Church, St. Stephen Episcopal Church and the Lower Columbia Chapter of Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays.

Tickets are $5 and are available at the door and will include a free slice of pizza.