This week, Fresno’s Tower District will host festivities for the 22nd-annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The festival, which lasts for five consecutive days, is filled with fun, film, and events.

Reel Pride is a film festival celebrating gay and lesbian cinema and culture in the San Joaquin Central Valley.

It began in a classroom at Fresno State in 1990. A group of fearless students, led by co-founders Ken Fries and Peter Robertson, launched the festival and showcased 15 free films over the course of five days.

Since that inaugural event over two decades ago, it has been an important part of Fresno State. Students take part and volunteer to help promote awareness and increase involvement.

Justin Kamimoto, a Fresno State freshman and a current volunteer with Reel Pride, is working hard to provide students and others in the community with valuable information.

“This year’s mission is to increase youth involvement,” Kamimoto stated.

Kamimoto is a previous Gay-Straight Alliance founder and president and has had plenty of experience working and establishing youth connections. In order to increase involvement for Reel Pride he works closely with college and community organizations.

Reel Pride is one of the largest gay and lesbian film festivals in the United States. It has grown to become one of Central California’s largest cultural events.

This year’s program coordinators partnered up with programmers in Seattle to bring both cities the same excitement through the same films. Collaborating with Seattle programmers has helped save time and money, Jon Carroll, board of directors, said of the newfound partnership.

“We worked with them for six months…co-programming festivals together,” Carroll said.

Carroll says there are many different processes committee members go through to choose the selection of films shown. This year it was a matter of collaborating with partners in Seattle and working with previous filmmakers to speed up the process.

The festivity of films will open on Wednesday, Sept. 14 with “Dirty Girl,” directed by Abe Sylvia. “Dirty Girl” is a film about wild child Danielle and the “closet-case” Clarke who are both paired up for a homework assignment and unexpectedly become good friends. The two set off in search of Danielle’s biological father when Clarke’s father, who decides he’s shipping his son off to military school, threatens their friendship.

On Sunday, Sept. 18 the festival will conclude with a 2011 Sundance Film Festival favorite, “Gun Hill Road,” directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green. “Gun Hill Road” is about a man, Enrique, who returns home after a prison sentence to his transformed family. His son Michael is now Vanessa, a transgender teen desperate to begin her physical transformation. As Vanessa saves up to buy back-alley hormone injections, Enrique struggles to reconnect with his family.

The films are shown in various venues in Fresno’s downtown area. The Starline Lounge is one venue that hosts film viewings in a more intimate setting as well as after-hour events.

Aside from all the fun and films, this event brings a great amount of awareness to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It is an event established to celebrate and share with one another whether attendees are apart of the community or not.

“This year’s films deal with a wide range of topics from transgendered issues, to the impact of AIDS for the past 30 years; for coming-out journeys, to accepting ourselves and others,” said board of directors’ volunteer Peter Robertson.

Reel Pride shows international features, documentaries and short films that cannot be found anywhere else.