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Deets: Outfest – the world-renowned arts, media and entertainment nonprofit organization whose global impact spans promoting queer narratives and empathy amongst the public, careers in entertainment and the exhibition and preservation of LGBTQIA+ stories and voices – today announced a star-studded lineup of galas and centerpiece events that will headline its 40th anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, taking place from July 14 - 24 in venues around Los Angeles.
The 11-day festival, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and IMDb, will kick off Thursday, July 14 at downtown LA’s Orpheum Theatre with the world premiere of Grammy-, Emmy-, and Tony Award-winning artist Billy Porter’s directorial debut, Prime Video Original’s Anything’s Possible, an uplifting teenage romance about an unflappable trans girl and a charming cis boy navigating a senior year relationship. Porter will be present at the event to receive the prestigious 2022 Outfest Annual Achievement Award, joined by the film’s producer Christine Vachon and cast, including newcomer lead actress Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, Simone Joy Jones, Kelly Lamor Wilson, and Broadway legend Renée Elise Goldsberry. The festival will close out at The Theater at the Ace Hotel in DTLA on July 24 with the world premiere of Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan’s directorial debut from Blumhouse, Peacock Original film They/Them, pronounced (‘They-slash-them’). The closing night celebration will feature appearances from Logan and cast members Kevin Bacon, Theo Germaine, Quei Tann, Carrie Preston, Anna Chlumsky, Austin Crute, and more.
Centerpiece films will include a 20th Anniversary screening of Todd Haynes’ 2002 masterpiece Far From Heaven, with Haynes, producer Christine Vachon, and star Julianne Moore all appearing in-person for a Q&A about their decades-long partnership and impact on queer cinema; U.S. Centerpiece Unidentified Objects stars New Amsterdam’s Matthew Jeffers in a road buddy comedy about a self-described “college-educated, homosexual dwarf” and his alien-obsessed neighbor seeking answers on a journey to Canada, with Jeffers, director Juan Felipe Zuleta, and co-star Sarah Hay appearing in person; Documentary Centerpiece Mama Bears follows a community of Christian mothers with unwavering love for their LGBTQIA+ children, and the screening will welcome director Daresha Kyi, the film team, and the leadership of the Mama Bears organization as well as special celebrity guests who will help rally parents of color to protect their LGBTQIA+ children and jumpstart vitally important conversations within communities of color about the importance of love, acceptance and inclusion; and world premiere Platinum Centerpiece HeBGB TV - the cornerstone of Outfest’s section dedicated to boundary-pushing, experimental, and avant garde queer work - is a hi-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. The screening will feature a spooky, live-action immersive experience.
The Platinum section that spotlights bold innovators, renegades, and cutting edge creators of experimental LGBTQIA+ media and performance that have redefined queer culture, and will present two inaugural awards; The Platinum Maverick Award will be presented to Clive Barker while bounce artist and filmmaker Big Freedia will be presented with the Platinum Alchemy Maverick Award; acknowledging both of their groundbreaking artistry and social justice work through their filmmaking.
The full Outfest Los Angeles 2022 LGBTQ+ Film Festival lineup will be released in the coming weeks.
Outfest Los Angeles 2022 is presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and IMDb; premiere and day sponsors include AARP, Amazon Studios, Ammo Creative, CAA, Comcast NBCUniversal, Gilead, and The Fight Magazine; and media sponsors include ABC7 Los Angeles, Clear Channel Outdoor, Edge Media, KCET/PBS SoCal, Pride Media, Queerty, Rainbow Media, The Los Angeles Blade, Autostraddle, and Variety.
OPENING NIGHT GALA: ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE (dir. Billy Porter) World Premiere. An uplifting and delightfully modern Gen Z coming-of-age story that follows Kelsa, a confident high school girl who is trans, as she navigates her senior year. When her classmate, nerdy-but-cute Khal, gets a crush on her, he musters up the courage to ask her out, despite the drama he knows it could cause. What transpires is a high school romance that showcases the joy, tenderness, and pain of young love. Cast: Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, Simone Joy Jones, Kelly Lamor Wilson, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
CLOSING NIGHT GALA: THEY/THEM (dir. John Logan) World Premiere. Kevin Bacon plays Owen Whistler in this slasher horror film set at an LGBTQIA+ conversion camp. Several queer campers, led by iron-willed Jordan (Theo Germaine) and Alexandria (Quei Tann), join Whistler for a week of programming intended to “help them find a new sense of freedom”. As the camp’s methods become increasingly more psychologically unsettling, the campers must work together to protect themselves. When an unidentified killer starts claiming victims, things get even more dangerous. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Anna Chlumsky, Carrie Preston, Theo Germaine, Quei Tann, Austin Crute, Monique Kim, Anna Lore, Cooper Koch, Darwin del Fabro
Hint for the Average Socialite: Events are both in person and virtual. Purchase tickets below.
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