Outfest announced the centerpiece events and special awardees that will headline the 41st Outfest Los Angeles Summer Festival presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America, taking place July 13 – 23 in venues around Los Angeles.
FEST TO AWARD AMANDLA STENBERG WITH ITS PLATINUM MAVERICK AWARD ON OPENING NIGHT, AND MUSICIAN MADAME GANDHI THE PLATINUM ALCHEMY AWARD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Los Angeles, CA, June 15, 2023 — Today, Outfest — the Los Angeles-based nonprofit that uplifts marginalized creators in the entertainment industry by providing career support and curating the exhibition and preservation of queer, LGBTQ+, and underrepresented stories — announced the centerpiece events and special awardees that will headline the 41st Outfest Los Angeles Summer Festival presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America, taking place July 13 – 23 in venues around Los Angeles.
Outfest will honor actor, producer and musician Amandla Stenberg with its Platinum Maverick Award, to be presented at the festival’s opening night celebration on July 13th at the Orpheum Theatre. The award recognizes Stenberg’s artistry in film and music, and her unapologetic use of her platform for fierce advocacy and activism within the LGBTQ+ community. Stenberg will also appear alongside actor Bobbi Salvör Menuez and director Jacqueline Castel at the REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles at Outfest’s July 15th Platinum Centerpiece screening of My Animal, the trio’s queer horror romance that world premiered earlier this year at Sundance.
Following the My Animal screening on July 15th will be the Platinum Alchemy Party and Music Showcase at 10DTLA, headlined by electronic music icon and activist Madame Gandhi, who will be presented with the Platinum Alchemy Award for her unending devotion to creating music that carries feminist messages about positivity, gender liberation, and human thriving. The party will also feature musical acts Mega Bog, Praise Kink, and Maude Vós & Marie Nyx and a very special secret guest performance.nn
Additional highlighted events include a Special Centerpiece screening of Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, and directed by Ira Sachs, about an egomaniacal film director who thrusts his marriage into chaos when he enters into a surprising affair. The film, which has been acquired by MUBI for distribution, will be followed by a discussion with Sachs about his work and a post-film reception. Documentary Centerpiece Kokomo City will welcome director D. Smith to discuss her energetic, high-spirited chronicle of the lives of four Black trans sex workers. Smith’s instant queer cinema classic has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures for worldwide distribution, and has collected multiple awards on the festival circuit. Film subjects Daniella Carter, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver are also slated to attend, schedules permitting. The fest’s U.S. Centerpiece Fancy Dance stars Lily Gladstone (who recently entered the Oscar conversation at the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon in Cannes) as a queer Native woman who absconds with her teenage niece on a search for her missing sister. The film’s director Erica Tremblay is expected to attend along with Lily Gladstone, schedules permitting. And a Late Night Spotlight screening of SXSW favorite Down Low starring Zachary Quinto, Lukas Gage, Simon Rex, Judith Light, and Audra McDonald will see director Rightor Doyle appear in person to present the outrageous comedy about one wild night, a deeply repressed man, the twink who gives him a happy ending, and all the lives they ruin along the way.
Outfest will also hold a Family Day celebration on its final day of programming, Sunday July 23rd at the newly-opened Vidiots theater and video store in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles.
Queer youth and queer families are invited to enjoy a playful, safe and affirming environment to celebrate vibrant queer childhood with two film programs for both children and teens and activities including Drag Story Hour, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, arts and crafts, snack giveaways, and more!
In the run-up to the Outfest Los Angeles 2023 LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the org will host a special members-only kick-off event on June 26th presenting the Los Angeles premiere of the HBO Documentary Film Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed. The film, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival, is an intimate portrait of actor Rock Hudson, an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, whose diagnosis and eventual death from AIDS in 1985 shocked the world, subsequently shifting the way the public perceived the AIDS pandemic. The film explores the story of a man living a double life, one whose public persona was carefully manufactured by his handlers and orchestrated by the studio system, while fearing a potentially career-ending discovery that he was privately living as a gay man. This event will also take place at the newly opened Vidiots in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles and will be accompanied by a Q&A with director Stephen Kijak, moderated by Allison Anders. More information on Outfest memberships can be found at outfest.org/memberships
As previously announced 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.
The full Outfest Los Angeles 2023 LGBTQ+ Summer Festival lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
Tickets and passes to Outfest Los Angeles will be available beginning June 22nd. Visit OutfestLA.org for more information.
Genesis Motor America and Warner Bros. Discovery are the presenting sponsors of Outfest LA. Additional sponsors include IMDb, Friends at Work, West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board, Gilead Sciences, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hornitos, Sony Pictures, The Fight Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, ABC7 and On The Red Carpet, APLA Health, Bank of America, UTA, Second Home Hollywood, Amazon and Glamazon, and West One Music Group.
About Outfest
Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the world’s leading organization that promotes equality by creating, sharing and protecting Queer and Trans stories on the screen. For forty-one years, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers, and preserved more than 40,000 LGBTQ+ films and videos. Outfest programs include The Outfest Screenwriting Lab, which has mentored and helped launch the careers of nearly 150 screenwriters, and The Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, which, in partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, is the only film archive in the world exclusively dedicated to preserving LGBTQ+ images, among others.
About Genesis Motor America:
At Genesis, we put the customer at the center of every decision we make. Genesis is a global automotive brand that delivers the highest standards of performance, design, safety, and innovation while looking towards a more sustainable future. Genesis designs customer experiences that go beyond products, embodying audacious, forward-thinking, and distinctly Korean characteristics within its unique Athletic Elegance design identity. With a growing range of award-winning models — including G70, G80, and G90 sedans, along with GV60, GV70, and GV80 SUVs — Genesis aims to lead the age of electrification, starting with its Electrified G80, GV60, and Electrified GV70 models. Genesis has stated its commitment to becoming an all-electric vehicle brand by 2030 and to pursuing carbon neutrality by 2035. www.Genesis.com
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About Warner Bros. Discovery:
Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, Max, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com.
Down Low – Late Night Spotlight
Down Low is an outrageous comedy about one wild night, a deeply repressed man, the twink who gives him a happy ending, and all the lives they ruin along the way.
Director Rightor Doyle. Cast Zachary Quinto, Lukas Gage, Simon Rex, Sebastian Arroyo, Christopher Reed Brown, with Audra McDonald and Judith Light
Fancy Dance – U.S. Centerpiece
When her sister goes missing, a young Native woman takes her teenage niece with her on a search for answers. Director Erica Tremblay. Cast Lily Gladstone, Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Audrey Wasilewski, and Shea Whigham
Kokomo City – Documentary Centerpiece
Four Black trans sex workers — Koko, Daniella, Liyah, and Dominique — are unapologetically themselves as they detail their lives in D. Smith’s multi-award winning feature debut. Director D. Smith. Exec Producer Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, Stacy Barthe, William Melillo, Harris Doran
My Animal – Platinum Centerpiece
When Heather, an outcast teenage goalie, falls for the alluring but tormented figure skater Jonny, Heather’s growing desires clash with her darkest secret, forcing her to control the animal within. Director Jacqueline Castel. Cast Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Amandla Stenberg, Stephen McHattie, Heidi von Palleske, Charlie & Harrison Halpenny, Cory Lipman, Joe Apollonio, Dean McDermott, Scott Thompson
Passages – Special Centerpiece
In Ira Sachs’ latest, Franz Rogowski portrays an egomaniacal film director who thrusts his marriage to sensitive Martin (Ben Whishaw) into chaos when he enters into a surprising affair with a local Frenchwoman (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Director Ira Sachs. Cast Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Erwan Kepoa Falé.