Outfest celebrates 41st anniversary with annual Los Angeles LGBTQ+ film festival
The festival will honor and showcase a variety of queer films and filmmakers.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Outfest will celebrate its 41st Anniversary with its annual Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival from July 13 to July 23.
The festival, which works to celebrate LGBTQIA+ cinema and stories, will feature over 200 queer films and the 7th Annual Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex Summit.
It has also been announced that Outfest 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.
"The depth of the talent and the boundless creativity we saw in the work we reviewed this year speaks to how wonderfully gifted LGBTQ+ artists are," said Outfest's Director of Programming Mike Dougherty.
WATCH: Outfest executive director describes film festival's rich history
The event will showcase titles from more than 25 countries, including the world premiere of Truth Be Told, a feature doc directed by Emmy Award-winner Nneka Onuorah and produced by MACRO. This film explores the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and the Black Church. There will be interviews with Billy Porter, Meagan Good, Cedric The Entertainer, David Mann, Tamela Mann and Kev on Stage.
Other stand-out films from the lineup are Sundance's U.S. Grand Jury for Documentary winner "Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project", Tribeca's Jury Special Mention "Break the Game" and a new restoration of the 1996 New Queer Cinema classic "Chocolate Babies".
Outfest will hold its seventh annual Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex Summit on Saturday, July 22nd which will welcome a keynote speech and drag performance from rising star Vico Ortiz who currently portrays non-binary pirate Jime on the wildly popular Max Original Series Our Flag Means Death.
This year Outfest is also partnering with FUTURE WITHOUT FEAR, an art and culture experience that explores the hopes and dreams of underrepresented communities as they navigate this moment in history.
"One festival could not hope to contain all the fantastic films available from our community this year, but rest assured Outfest Los Angeles will be bursting with captivating cinema, and we hope to continue the celebration year-round." Dougherty added.
To get tickets, see the full line-up, or find more information about how to attend the event, visit outfestla.org.
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