Sara Michelle Fetters: How are things going with you? Are you getting excited? Opening night is just around the corner.

Billy Ray Brewton: Very excited. Very busy. [laughs] That comes with the territory.

SMF: How do you feel like you're fitting in? This being your first go-round in this position as Three Dollar Bill's managing director, what's it been like getting the festival ready, especially now that you're going to a hybrid model with in-theatre and streaming options?

BRB: I've run several film festivals before. Large festivals. Small festivals. I'm certainly no stranger to what goes into this. Frankly, SQFF is not the largest festival that I've run before. I feel like I've had pretty good training coming into this.

It is the first time that I've had to deal with a hybrid model. The exciting thing about that is that you're getting to offer the program to so many more people than you would otherwise, because, usually, we're pretty restricted and only able to offer our films to folks in Seattle. But now we've got Idaho and Alaska and Washington and Oregon. You're getting to expose a lot more people to what you're offering.

The downside: it's like putting on two entirely different festivals! You're really just doubling your workload to a large degree. [laughs]

SMF: How does that work when you're programming something like this? Do you know going in what can be a hybrid film, what can be streaming, and what has to be theatre-only? Or is that sort of something you figure out as you go along?

BRB: It sort of is one of those things you figure out as you go along. You figure out the films that you're most passionate about and the ones that you want. Then you have to fight to be able to show them in theatres and virtually.

Some distributors don't care. They're like, yes, screen virtually, screen whatever. Some really are committed to a theatrical-only experience. You really do have to sort of push and negotiate. And our festival director, Kathleen Mullen, has had not a difficult but definitely a challenging time making sure that we can offer all of our films virtually as well as in person.

Luckily — with the exception of one film, I believe — everything we have is available both virtually and in person.

SMF: And that one film is?

BRB: It's a film called We Need to Do Something. It's a horror film from IFC Midnight. IFC is very committed to the theatrical experience, especially when something is already on VOD. So they didn't want the film to be able to be streamed, since it's already available to be streamed, which makes total sense. I certainly don't begrudge them for that.

SMF: I love that you mention Kathleen. She's a beloved figure here in Seattle and has done a great job with this festival over the years, especially with how many challenges she's had the past few seasons. What was your working relationship like, and how did you two get along as you were going through programming this festival?

BRB: Kathleen and I get along famously. We have very similar sort of tastes in programming. We have very similar ideas of how festivals should be run.

...I think having her involved with the organization is a necessity, because she is so much of the lifeblood of the organization. With her help, I've certainly been able to try to get us on a more consistent basis in terms of the way we're approaching things. She's been invaluable.

If I'm being honest, Kathleen is the through line for the entire organization, for all of Three Dollar Bill Cinema. She's that bridge between the past and the present. I honestly couldn't have done my job without having Kathleen. She is such a vital source of information. She's done it all. I think she's had about every different role in this organization that you can have.

I don't think it's any secret out there on the street that Three Dollar Bill Cinema has had its fair share of challenges the last few years. There's been a lot of turnover, a lot of changes in leadership. We've finally gotten to a place where it feels like we're on a level of consistency, especially in the way we're focusing on the community and trying to get the films out there.

SMF: We can't chat about returning to in-theatre screenings without talking about COVID. This year's festival technically ends the day before Washington's statewide vaccine mandate for indoor venues goes into effect. Yet you are requiring proof of vaccination. While I personally applaud what you're doing, why make this decision?

BRB: For me, this was a no-brainer. I've been taking the pandemic as seriously as possible since day one, even when I was living in Los Angeles. I experienced the ups and downs of the pandemic firsthand.

Los Angeles was an interesting case study in what to do and what not to do in a pandemic. When I moved to Seattle, I was still in that mentality I had from living in LA. I was still treating it very seriously. I do think the pandemic is a very real thing. It's still very much here.

Luckily, [more and more] folks are getting vaccinated. But obviously we're going to require proof of vaccination. And also obviously, we're going to require people to be masked. We're going to be doing limited seating at the venue. We will not be seating at full capacity, and that includes all of our screenings and our parties. We'll have hand sanitizer.

We're doing absolutely as much as we can to make sure folks stay safe because that's our primary obligation, to make sure our audiences and our staff and our volunteers are as safe as possible. If you're not treating that with the seriousness it deserves, you're going to end up with a COVID super-spreader, and that is certainly not going to be happening on our watch.

SMF: That's very good to hear. One of your themes, if not the primary one, this year is drag and gender-bending. Why this year? Why now?

BRB: A lot of that is predicated on the films that are submitted to us. Every year you get a good sense early on about what... themes filmmakers are focusing on. It changes every year.

This year it was definitely drag, gender-bending, and... playing with gender identity. That was sort of just how things evolved naturally for us. We noticed that we had so many films that were focusing on drag queens and drag kings, but also... gender-bending in a narrative context.

When we were thinking about what we [wanted] the through line for the festival to be, that sort of seemed like the natural choice for this year.

Now next year, like I said, it will be totally different... You never know what you're going to get. Some years... you get really quality lesbian docs and features. And of course, we still have those as well. Those types of films just weren't as on the forefront as this year.

SMF: Then there is your opening night film, Potato Dreams of America. What was the thought behind having that be the opening night feature this year?

BRB: It was a couple of things. I think, first and foremost, [that] the filmmaker, Wes Hurley, is local. Wes has a relationship with the festival. I had the good fortune of seeing this at the SXSW Film Festival, and that was before I even took the job here in Seattle. It's terrific.

I think as soon as Kathleen saw the film, everything sort of clicked [into place]. You want your opening night film to be fun, and you want it to be something that an audience is going to enjoy. But you want it to also be a film that is going to draw in an audience. Wes's films are very popular in Seattle. He's a popular fixture in the film community, and it seemed like a great way to... give the audience and the community what they wanted, but also make sure that we've got a film that's going to do well for the festival and is going to put butts in seats. Potato Dreams [checked] all those boxes for us.

It also gave us the ability to bring in some talent from the film. We've got Lady Rizo, who is a Grammy Award—winning artist, an incredible performer. She's going to be here for opening night, performing with her quartet at the... party, so that's going to be a blast. We'll have a lot of other people from the film as well.

It's their first in-person screening in Seattle. It will be like an in-person premiere for them, and that's the way we're trying to treat it. We're trying to give the film as much of that pop as we can. We want the cast and crew to feel as fulfilled by screening it with us as we are by getting to screen it for the festival.

SMF: We've already talked about some of the limitations due to COVID. At the same time, how cool is it to have these in-theatre moments like opening night back? To have these limited-capacity parties? To have these live events that we've been so starved for for, what, almost two years?

BRB: It's fantastic from our standpoint. Live screenings really are the heart and soul of any festival. It's nice to see so many festivals adopting the virtual-only or the hybrid model, but I'm one of those people who... I just don't ever see a situation in which folks are not going to want that in-theatre experience.

For us, that's what's gotten everyone so supercharged and excited about this year: the ability to have those in-person screenings and share films outside of a virtual setting.

I think that was something that we all frankly took for granted for a long period of time: just how much it meant to be able to go into a theatre, to sit down with a group of strangers, and just sort of communally experience something together. Now that we're getting that back, I go to theatres in town all the time. Now that that's coming back, it adds a sense of normalcy.

Obviously, we're still in the thick of the pandemic. It's not back to normal, yet. Who knows when, or if it's ever going to be back to the way it was pre-pandemic. We just don't know. But at least this [is] a symbol of normalcy in a very abnormal time.

SMF: You mentioned your experience working on so many different festivals and coming up here from LA. Why come to Seattle? What was it about Three Dollar Bill Cinema that spoke to you?

BRB: Like a lot of people, about halfway through the pandemic, I decided that I was going to make my exodus from LA. A lot of people did that. I had narrowed it down to Austin, Seattle, or Denver. Those were three cities I'd been to before, that I loved. I was, like, it's basically going to be whichever one pops first, if it's a job that I think I'm appropriate for.

I've programmed a lot of different queer film festivals before. I founded a queer film festival. I've never actually been in a position to run one in the way that Three Dollar Bill Cinema needed someone to run an organization. That was exciting.

Three Dollar Bill had gone through some financial hardships to the point where [it] almost ended up closing down. They were able, thanks to the board of directors, to build back up into a position where it wasn't as scary, and they needed someone to get the organization back on track and start planning for two years, five years, ten years down the road.

This is certainly no offense to anyone who's ever run the organization before. I've met a lot of them, and they're amazing people. But I do feel like the organization, from the research I did before I took the job, ...had been very much a reactive organization and not a proactive one. I felt like that was something I could help them with, moving forward.

So the idea of getting to move to Seattle, which is a city I love, to take on this sort of challenge, that's what propelled me to take the job. So far, it's been exactly what I signed up for. I'm having a lot fun.

SMF: As managing director then, what is your vision for Three Dollar Bill Cinema after the festival? What excites you about the potential for other things that Three Dollar Bill can be doing in the community?

BRB: You use the word community, and I think that's paramount. It's weird that this organization's been around now for 26 years and there are still so many people who have never heard of Three Dollar Bill and have never heard of the Seattle Queer Film Festival. That is astonishing to me for an organization that has been around as long as SQFF and Three Dollar Bill have.

We change that, I think, by reaching deep into the community. It's finding those sorts of underrepresented groups and demographics that are not used to seeing themselves represented on screen. I think we have to do a better job of finding them and saying that this festival isn't just for gays and lesbians. We have to say that it is for everybody.

Everybody has a place here. I think that's really evident if you look at our programming for the last several years. SQFF is, frankly, one of the most diverse queer film festivals in the country. That includes places like Frameline and Outfest. Kathleen has done an amazing job of diversifying our program, of being several steps ahead of where the curve is.

That also extends to Translations, our transgender film festival. I think it is reaching into the community in ways that haven't been reached before.

But I want Three Dollar Bill to have a [year-round] presence. I want us to build up programming like Reel Queer Youth, which is a program that I'm really excited about. It is something we do in August with young filmmakers and film enthusiasts from all over the country. It's a weeklong workshop with different filmmakers, and that's something I am excited about building up.

I think what is missing right now is an educational component, one where we're not just focused on the films that are out right now but encouraging and uplifting the queer filmmakers that are trying to get started, the young [people] looking for advice and folks to help them as they get underway.

SMF: If someone can only go to four films or events at this year's festival, what would you send them to?

BRB: Well, obviously I'm going to send them to Potato Dreams of America, because I think that's a lovely film and a lovely opening night attraction.

I would definitely send them to Fanny: The Right to Rock, which is our closing night film, a documentary about the rock group Fanny. It's incredible. I can't say enough about it.

I would also send folks to Hetero, which is a local web series by some Seattle kids. We're screening it at MoPOP on the second Saturday [Oct. 23]. We're going to have some of the folks from the show there. It's really well done, and it's great to support our local talent.

I would also probably suggest that folks check out — this is kind of a cheat — our virtual events. We have a virtual drag show... We're also doing some awesome [live] film-related podcasts. I would encourage folks to check those out, because I know they are going to be a lot of fun.

SMF: I was going to ask, how the heck did you get the Colangelos, BJ, and Harmony to do an episode of "This Ends at Prom" for the festival? That's fantastic.

BRB: I've known Harmony for a while. Harmony and I were friends in, LA, and she's been a guest on my podcast and on an event that I run called Scripts Gone Wild. BJ I know as well. We're all sort of in the horror sphere together. As soon as I was planning the festival this year, I was like, well, I'm definitely going to get BJ and Harmony to do "This Ends at Prom."

They're actually going to be discussing Hetero, which fits into their podcast theme. It's going to be amazing.

SMF: Love it. That's great... SQFF is a celebration for the LGBTQ community, but it is also an event that brings in everyone in the Pacific Northwest. Do you feel any pressure to keep this festival growing, blossoming, and accepting of everyone who attends?

BRB: Very much so. I think that's our job. Not only should we reach out to all members of the LGBTQIA community, but we're also a festival where we have a lot of cis and hetero attendees as well. We don't program for them, but we're certainly grateful that they're coming to see films, and we encourage [that]. I'm open to anybody who wants to broaden their minds [and] come check out what have to offer.

I think what's exciting about this year [is] we have a reach we haven't had before in terms of how many people we're able to get across to. But we also still have that in-person component as well.

I would love to see virtual and in-person become something that happens going forward, that a hybrid festival [be] the model going forward. Yes, it's more work, but I think the rewards... from this model are deep and meaningful.

We can't offer [all of our programs] to folks in Idaho. It's just not possible. But SQFF and Translations are ones where we can. I would love to be able to offer our programming to everyone in the country. Unfortunately, the distributors disagree. We have to work with what we've got.

But there is pressure to make sure that we are reaching the maximum [number in] the community as we can, and doing it in a way that feels meaningful and doesn't feel like we're just checking boxes off of a list. That is something I always hate: when you're going to a festival and you feel like, oh, they're playing that because they have to meet their quota. I want this program — and I fully believe that we've achieved this — to feel like we are programming for everybody.

SMF: At the end of the day, what do you hope audiences, whether they're at in-person screenings or watching it at home, take away from this year's festival? What do you want them talking about?

BRB: I would love them talking about Three Dollar Bill Cinema and SQFF, about how they experienced something new. That could be on a very minute scale. It could be a single film that they saw that maybe changed their perspective on something. One that opened their mind to something they hadn't thought about before.

I would like them to see Three Dollar Bill Cinema as an organization for everybody. I feel like that has been this organization's failure in the past, that is had not adequately offered this to people and put audiences in a position to understand and realize that.

I'm hoping that this year folks can check out all the amazing films and events... both in person and virtually. That they can say, "This festival is for me." I would love everybody to walk away from the festival feeling this year's event has been for them.

If we've done that, I think regardless of how many people attend, then this year's Seattle Queer Film Festival will have been a rousing success.

I would also send folks to Hetero, which is a local web series by some Seattle kids. We're screening it at MoPOP on the second Saturday [Oct. 23]. We're going to have some of the folks from the show there. It's really well done, and it's great to support our local talent.

I would also probably suggest that folks check out — this is kind of a cheat — our virtual events. We have a virtual drag show... We're also doing some awesome [live] film-related podcasts. I would encourage folks to check those out, because I know they are going to be a lot of fun.

SMF: I was going to ask, how the heck did you get the Colangelos, BJ, and Harmony to do an episode of "This Ends at Prom" for the festival? That's fantastic.

BRB: I've known Harmony for a while. Harmony and I were friends in, LA, and she's been a guest on my podcast and on an event that I run called Scripts Gone Wild. BJ I know as well. We're all sort of in the horror sphere together. As soon as I was planning the festival this year, I was like, well, I'm definitely going to get BJ and Harmony to do "This Ends at Prom."

They're actually going to be discussing Hetero, which fits into their podcast theme. It's going to be amazing.

SMF: Love it. That's great... SQFF is a celebration for the LGBTQ community, but it is also an event that brings in everyone in the Pacific Northwest. Do you feel any pressure to keep this festival growing, blossoming, and accepting of everyone who attends?

BRB: Very much so. I think that's our job. Not only should we reach out to all members of the LGBTQIA community, but we're also a festival where we have a lot of cis and hetero attendees as well. We don't program for them, but we're certainly grateful that they're coming to see films, and we encourage [that]. I'm open to anybody who wants to broaden their minds [and] come check out what have to offer.

I think what's exciting about this year [is] we have a reach we haven't had before in terms of how many people we're able to get across to. But we also still have that in-person component as well.

I would love to see virtual and in-person become something that happens going forward, that a hybrid festival [be] the model going forward. Yes, it's more work, but I think the rewards... from this model are deep and meaningful.

We can't offer [all of our programs] to folks in Idaho. It's just not possible. But SQFF and Translations are ones where we can. I would love to be able to offer our programming to everyone in the country. Unfortunately, the distributors disagree. We have to work with what we've got.

But there is pressure to make sure that we are reaching the maximum [number in] the community as we can, and doing it in a way that feels meaningful and doesn't feel like we're just checking boxes off of a list. That is something I always hate: when you're going to a festival and you feel like, oh, they're playing that because they have to meet their quota. I want this program — and I fully believe that we've achieved this — to feel like we are programming for everybody.

SMF: At the end of the day, what do you hope audiences, whether they're at in-person screenings or watching it at home, take away from this year's festival? What do you want them talking about?

BRB: I would love them talking about Three Dollar Bill Cinema and SQFF, about how they experienced something new. That could be on a very minute scale. It could be a single film that they saw that maybe changed their perspective on something. One that opened their mind to something they hadn't thought about before.

I would like them to see Three Dollar Bill Cinema as an organization for everybody. I feel like that has been this organization's failure in the past, that is had not adequately offered this to people and put audiences in a position to understand and realize that.

I'm hoping that this year folks can check out all the amazing films and events... both in person and virtually. That they can say, "This festival is for me." I would love everybody to walk away from the festival feeling this year's event has been for them.

If we've done that, I think regardless of how many people attend, then this year's Seattle Queer Film Festival will have been a rousing success.