While many may not remember what was going on in Chicago 27 years ago, an organization was busy putting together an event that is still a great part of a community today.

Reeling 27, Chicago’s Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, will celebrate its 27th Annual Festival from Nov. 6-16. Reeling is second in the world in size compared to San Francisco’s LGBT festival. In 11 days, 70 films will be shown throughout the city.

This year brings a new theme, “All American Queer,” and a new category called “Rock Reeling,” which is a music video category for indie queer musicians. The organization behind Reeling is Chicago Filmmakers, the same group that puts together other film events in the city like The Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival.

Opening Night Gala on Nov. 6 will kick off with a reception at Salon 1800, 157 W. North Ave. Jay McCarroll, winner of the first season of “Project Runway,” will be at the Closing Night Extravaganza at Salon 1800, as well.

Angelique Smith, marketing and PR director for the event, has been working with Chicago Filmmakers for a couple of months. She said Chicago is the best place for this festival because of the huge lesbian and gay community in the city.

“We cater to film-appreciating audiences, and a lot of the films don’t have gays as primary subjects,” she said. “Many are secondary, so the films are for everyone.”

As the executive director of Chicago Filmmakers, Brenda Webb has worked with the organization for 30 years. She was there when the it began and has seen how the festival has since evolved.

“In the beginning, it was mainly experimental documentaries and historical films,” Webb said.

She said that during the first couple of years of the festival, films were about coming out. Now they are about different issues affecting the community all over the world, since there is a general mainstream of gay culture.

All the films were selected through committee members and curators. The poster for the event shows a man wearing a military outfit, holding a camera and a tattoo on his arm that reads, “All American Queer.”

The theme was selected because although the festival has become international, many of this year’s films are American. And a new issue this year is gays in the military.

“We came upon a military image, but then we wanted to substitute weapons for cameras,” Webb said. “The All American Queer tattoo counteracts the straight image male macho with a queer identification.”

The three films showing at Columbia’s Film Row Cinema in the 1104 Center, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., are Ruby Blue and Ebony Chunky Love: Bitch Can’t Get a Date, both showing on Nov.11, as well as Steam. Actress Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club and Steam will attend the screening on Nov. 14.

K. Bradford, coordinator of the LGBTQ Office of Culture & Community, has attended the festival for the past three years and plans to attend this year to see the short films. Bradford said screening films at Columbia is a great opportunity for both the film students and GLBT community because it’s a great way to expose what’s out there.

“I think it’s very important to have this festival because film is one of the hottest artistic genres of our time. And there’s a strong relationship between the queer community and the arts,” Bradford said. “Chicago’s film festival is one of the most well-known film festivals as far as gay and lesbian film.”

For ticket information and a list of the films and venues, visit ReelingFilmFestival.org.