Outfest LGBTQ+ Film Festival takes place this month in Los Angeles. The 11-day festival will showcase a program of over 170 titles
The 41st Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Festival is taking place July 13 – 23 in venues around Los Angeles and is headquartered at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood.
The festival has announced that it will be honoring Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone with the James Schamus Ally Award during the festival’s closing night in recognition of allies’ efforts to foster Queer and Trans moving images and to promote our communities’ stories to a broader audience.
Additionally, McCarthy and Falcone are both executive producers on Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story, a short documentary directed by Zeb Newman and Michiel Thomas that will be featured at this year’s festival, about a West Hollywood candle shop owner who employs unhoused and newly sober individuals at his business.
The 11-day festival will showcase a program of over 170 titles from more than 25 countries that includes narratives, documentaries, shorts and an episodic showcase. Highlights among the films featured include the world premiere of Truth Be Told, a feature doc directed by Emmy Award-winner Nneka Onuorah (Lizzo’s Watch Out For the Big Grrrls) and produced by MACRO (Judas and the Black Messiah) which gives a probing, heartfelt, and often humorous exploration of the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and the Black church, featuring interviews with Billy Porter, Meagan Good, Cedric The Entertainer, David Mann, Tamela Mann and Kev on Stage.
The festival will open with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, and will close with Chasing Chasing Amy, directed by Sav Rodgers. The Opening Night Gala will screen at the Orpheum Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala screening at The Montalbán Theatre.
In addition, the festival will present as part of its centerpieces the films My Animal, Passages, Kokomo City, Fancy Dance, and Down Low.
Outfest will also honor actor, producer and musician Amandla Stenberg with its Platinum Maverick Award, and the Platinum Alchemy Award to musician Madame Gandhi.
Genesis Motor America and Warner Bros. Discovery are the presenting sponsors of Outfest LA. Additional sponsors include THE FIGHT Magazine, IMDb, Gilead Sciences, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hornitos, Sony Pictures, the Los Angeles Times, ABC7 and On The Red Carpet, APLA Health, Bank of America, UTA, Amazon and Glamazon, and West One Music Group. West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board is the Official Destination Partner of Outfest Los Angeles.
For more info and tickets visit OutfestLA.org.
