Outside of a Netflix or LOGO subscription, there aren’t many ways in which to access LGBT media in the Greater Pittsburgh area. When blurry, low resolution YouTube snippets of “Queer as Folk,” your local library’s VHS version of “Bent” and your best friend’s impressions of RuPaul will no longer cut it for you, there’s a new place in town that is sure to satiate your LGBT entertainment desires.
The Queer Video Vault is a local group of organizers comprised of two dozen supporters who raised over $700 to purchase 337 LGBT-themed DVDs from Dreaming Ant, a video store that closed its doors last year after serving 10 years in the Bloomfield area.
In January, 2014, 280 of those titles became available at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh where patrons can now borrow them from the collection for free. The remaining 57 DVDs were donated to The Big Idea Bookstore where titles will be available for rental as a free perk of membership to the store. Genres range from hilarious and sometimes corny comedies like the “Eating Out” series and “Another Gay Movie,” to dramas like “Latter Days,” and “Ciao,” to foreign films such as “Plata Quemada” (Burnt Money), and “Cachorro” (Bear Cub), just to name a few.
In addition to renting the films, The Vault is holding monthly screenings to foster community around LGBT cinema. Whether they’ll increase visibility, act as a vehicle for fostering community and growth, or simply allow those who don’t normally have to access LGBT media an opportunity to feel more at home, the Queer Video Vault will surely become a valuable extension to Pittsburgh’s LGBT community.
For more info or to sponsor a monthly event, visit queervideovault.wordpress.com or email pghqueervideos@gmail.com. A screening of “Small Town Gay Bar” will be held on Friday, February, 15 at 7 PM at the Blue Moon in Lawrenceville.
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