Outfest has announced the winners of its 2021 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival.
The country’s main LGBTQ festival took place August 13-22, holding its closing night at the iconic Orpheum Theater, with Vivian Kleiman’s No straight lines: the rise of queer comics winner of the Grand Jury Prize for documentary feature films, and that of Brielle Brilliant Primacy winner of the Jury Grand Prize for American Narrative Feature.
For the very first time, Outfest collaborated with IMDb to choose the audience award winners, selecting them based on IMDb ratings. Among other awards and recognitions, eligible Outfest Los Angeles winners received a one-year IMDbPro membership.
The winners of the Jury’s Grand Prix for Best American Short Narrative, Best Documentary Short and Best International Narrative Short all received a cash prize of $ 2,000 awarded in partnership with Entertainment Partners.
Related story
Toronto Film Festival announces vaccination and Covid testing requirements for attendees
It’s also worth noting that the US and International Grand Jury winners for short narrative films are now Oscar eligible.
The jurors at Outfest Los Angeles represented a diverse cross section of filmmakers, artists, journalists and industry executives. They included Cowboys filmmaker Anna Kerrigan, Trans in Trumplandit’s Tony Zosherafatain, Los Fuertes‘Omar Zuñiga Hidalgo, Acurve headis Jen Rainin, Change the gameit’s Alex Schmider, Death and Nintendoby Valeria Castillo Martinez, Little Chef‘s Erica Tremblay, and In France, Michelle is a man’s name‘s Em Weinstein, with journalist Manuel Betancourt, journalist and critic Alonso Duralde, Caleb Ward (vice president of acquisitions, Highland Film Group), Liliana Rodriguez (artistic director, Palm Springs International Film Society), Robert Chang (coordinating producer , America Cropped at American Documentary, Inc.), Jason Ishikawa (senior executive, Cinetic Media) and Malin Kan (programmer, AFI Festivals).
Outfest Executive Director Damien Navarro said: “The incredible response from this year’s festival has been more than heartwarming and gratifying for our Board of Directors, staff and volunteers. the world. As we come together one last time to celebrate our 2021 winners, I want the world to know that the Outfest organization is committed to continuing our fight to improve accessibility, to continue to expand our visibility and to identify new opportunities for us. Like I said at our opening gala – To my trans, intersex, non-binary siblings, we see you. To my black lesbians, trans and gay men – we hear you, to my Latinx primos – we are by your side – to my queer Asian family – we will do better – to my disabled storytellers and dreamers – we will not leave you behind – for my native artists and visionaries – we will never forget – my colleagues in the Middle East – we will climb with you – and all those generations before us who toppled those first blocks – we can never pay you back.
For the full list of Outfest 2021 winners, read on.
Public Prize
Short documentary award
RIGHT TO TRY, directed by Zeberiah Newman
Audience Award for Feature Documentary
THIS IS JESSICA, directed by Andrea Meyerson
Short narrative audience award
ET THEN, directed by Jenn Ravenna Tran
Audience Award for Narrative Feature Film
DEATH AND BOWLING, directed by Lyle Kash
Experimental public court award
JUPITER & EUROPA, Directed by Milo Ferguson
Grand Jury Prizes
Grand Jury Prize Documentary Feature
NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS, directed by Vivian Kleiman
Special mentions Feature documentary
SEDIMENTS, Directed by Adrián Silvestre & NORTH BY CURRENT, Directed by Angelo Madsen Minax
Grand Jury Prize for American Narrative Feature Film
FIRSTNESS, directed by Brielle Brilliant
Grand Jury Prize for American Narrative Feature Film for Best Performance
Pooya Mohseni in RENDEZ-VOUS THEN
Grand Jury Prize for American Narrative Feature Film for Best Screenplay
Wes Hurley for POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA
Special Mention for American Narrative Feature
THE SIXTH REEL for Ensemble Performance, directed by Charles Busch & Carl Andress
Grand Jury Prize for International Narrative Feature
A DISTANT PLACE, directed by PARK Kun-young
Special Mention for International Narrative Feature
Cloris Leachman in JUMP, DARLING for Performance
Grand Jury Prize for International Narrative Feature Film for Best Screenplay
LOVE, SPELLS AND ALL THAT, screenplay by Ümit Ünal
Grand Jury Prize for International Narrative Feature Film for Best Performance
Nell Barlow for SWEETHEART
Grand Jury Prize for Best International Narrative Short
SQUISH, directed by Xavier Seron
Special Mention Short International Narrative
PRIVATE PHOTOS, Directed by Marcelo Grabowsky
Grand Jury Prize for best documentary short
NARCISSISTER BREAST WORK, Directed by Narcissister
Special Mention Short Documentary
F1-100, directed by Emory Chao Johnson
Grand Jury Prize for Best American Narrative Short
GIRLS AND THE PARTY, directed by Paloma Lopez
Special Mention for American Narrative Short
THE RECORDER, directed by Justine Lupe
Special programming prices
Emerging talents
The 2021 Programming Award for Emerging Talent goes to Joseph Sackett for HOMEBODY
Freedom
The 2021 Programming Award for Freedom goes to Whitney Skauge and Terence Smith for their collaboration on the documentary short THE BEAUTY PRESIDENT
Artistic achievement
2021 Programming Award for artistic achievement goes to Bo McGuire for SOCKS ON FIRE
