Cinémaniaque Films: OUTFEST 2020

2020 OUTFEST LOS ANGELES LGBTQ VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL
Virtual and “Under the Stars” Drive-In Screenings
August 20-30, 2020

2020 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Virtual Film Festival’s outdoor program and streaming platform will bring 160+ films, including 35 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 4 U.S. premieres to Los Angeles - and to where you are - virtually at www.outfestla2020.com on August 20-30, 2020.

In addition to virtual screenings, this year Outfest’s outdoor cinephiles will be able to enjoy Outfest LA’s “Under the Stars,” a drive-in experience at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, where for two extended weekends the Festival will be hosting a series of drive-in screenings across six-nights on two lots, including both kick-off and closing events. Drive-in screenings will launch with a special, drive-in only Los Angeles premiere of Sundance 2020 title The Nowhere Inn, starring musicians Annie Clark and Carrie Brownstein in a reality-bending send-up of Clark’s musical persona, St. Vincent.

Outfest LA’s diverse 2020 slate will include Tribeca selections such as P.S. Burn This Letter Please, Cowboys, Freedia Got A Gun; and previous SXSW premiere titles including dark comedy The Carnivores and Outfest LA’s U.S. Centerpiece selection Shiva Baby, starring Rachel Sennott, Dianna Agron, and Fred Melamed, and Outfest LA’s International Centerpiece selection Monsoon directed by Hong Khaou.

Outfest’s Closing Film will be the world premiere of Outfest alum Travis Fine’s (Any Day Now) century-spanning triptych Two Eyes, in which queer and trans-identified people from three different time periods in the American West discover how their identities fall within a multitude of sexuality and gender expressions.

Outfest LA’s Platinum section will continue its tradition of highlighting the cutting-edge, avant-garde and experimental work coming from the queer community, with features including Toronto Film Festival selection The Twentieth Century, and a showcase of experimental short films guest curated by producer, performer, and actor Zackary Drucker.

Outfest’s Legacy Project will feature repertory films not currently available on streaming. The long-unavailable 1986 doc Lily Tomlin: The Film Behind the Show, which chronicles Lily Tomlin and her life partner Jane Wagner’s creation of their hit Broadway show “The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” will screen, with Tomlin, Wagner, and the film’s co-director Joan Churchill participating in a live virtual Q&A. An HBO Original Film, Cheryl Dunye’s Independent Spirit Award-nominated Stranger Inside (2001) will be available for free throughout the festival’s run, with Dunye and producer Effie Brown joining for a live virtual Q&A.

And in Special Events, bio-doc Three Chords and a Lie about gay country music artist Brandon Stansell’s return to his conservative hometown will screen, alongside a live, drive-in concert by Stansell. Outfest LA will also world premiere Emmy-nominated actor Scott Turner Schofield’s one-man show Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, in which viewers can interactively choose which of Schofield’s 127 segments they can experience as they watch.

A mix of pre-recorded and live virtual Q&As are expected with cast and crew across all programs.

OUTFEST 2020 LINEUP:

Opening Film: THE NOWHERE INN, dir. Bill Benz (Drive-In Exclusive)
U.S. Centerpiece: SHIVA BABY, dir. Emma Seligman
International Centerpiece: MONSOON, dir. Hong Khaou
Documentary Centerpiece: KEYBOARD FANTASIES: THE BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND STORY, dir. Posy Dixon
Breakthrough Centerpiece: THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON, dir. Ali LeRoi
Closing Film: TWO EYES, dir. Travis Fine