FILM

from RAGE MONTHLY LGBTQ MAGAZINE JULY 2022

STAGE SPOTLIGHT

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF OUTFEST LA

Forty years ago, during the summer of 1982, I was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Ronald Reagan was president, ugh, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial became the biggest movie of the year. I was slowly figuring out that I was gay, but sure as hell wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone! 1982 also produced three of the most LGBTQpositive movies up to that point: Making Love, Personal Best and Victor/Victoria. Before then, most big-screen depictions of homosexuality or queer love were downright condemnatory. The 40 years since 1982 have seen amazing progress for all of us in the LGBTQ community, and much of this has been achieved with the help of filmmakers representing us in a positive light.

Not coincidentally, the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ film festival this month is celebrating its 40th anniversary and “40 years of changing the narrative.” Since its founding in 1982, Outfest has screened thousands of U.S. and international films for audiences exceeding half-a-million people. Outfest remains the largest and longest-running film festival of any kind in Southern California, and is also the leading queer media arts organization in Los Angeles, and a global leader.

The fest is back in person in 2022 and also online. It will incorporate 11 days of LGBTQ films, television, special events, parties and more. In-person screenings will once again be held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood and at various venues across Los Angeles including festival-favorite outdoor venue, The Ford amphitheater. The full festival lineup was not available at press time so visit outfestla.org for tickets and information.

Presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and IMDb, Outfest will run from Thursday, July 14 through Sunday, July 24. Opening night at downtown L.A.’s historic Orpheum Theatre will feature Tony Award winner Billy Porter’s directorial debut, Anything’s Possible. The film follows a young trans student and her love interest as they navigate a romance during their senior year in high school. It stars Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, Simone Joy Jones, Kelly Lamor Wilson and Broadway star Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton). Porter will be joined opening night by his cast and producer Christine Vachon, who will present Porter with a special Achievement Award for his creative contributions over the years. The fest will also feature appearances by actors Kevin Bacon and Julianne Moore, filmmaker Todd Haynes, author Clive Barker and Big Freedia.

Outfest will conclude with a celebration at The Theater at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The closing night world premiere will mark playwright and screenwriter John Logan’s directorial debut of They/Them. Oscar- and Tony-nominated Logan has been highly acclaimed for his previous work on the James Bond epics Skyfall and Spectre. His new slasher pic, set at an LGBTQIA+ conversion camp, follows the young residents as they band together against their counselors when an unidentified killer begins claiming victims.

Several centerpiece screenings will also be presented. These include a 20th-anniversary screening of Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven with Haynes, Vachon and star Julianne Moore set for an in-person Q&A; Unidentified Objects, starring New Amsterdam’s Matthew Jeffers in a road buddy comedy about a self-described “college-educated, homosexual dwarf” and his alien-obsessed neighbor; documentary centerpiece Mama Bears, about a community of Christian mothers with an unwavering love for their LGBTQIA+ children; and platinum centerpiece HeBGB TV, described as a “high camp tribute to late-night horror television in the vein of Elvira in which a retro cable box begins programming queer killer content into the home of a brother and sister who’ve stayed up past bedtime.”

Outfest executive director Damien S. Navarro gets the last words: “We’re excited to host audiences and fans across the city to celebrate just how far queer cinema and entertainment have come. The body of work we have curated from nearly every continent increasingly represents adventurous styles and genres, from vibrant romantic comedies — where the trans lead gets the boy — to horror films that balance the scares and the sexy.”