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Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC 2021
A pandemic won't stop the films of Outfest Fusion.
The 2021 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, has unveiled its list of productions showcasing the lives of trans, Black, Indigenous, and queer people of color.
Running from April 16 to 20, the festival offers 10 feature films, 41 short films, a one-minute movie contest sponsored by Hyundai, two drive-in experiences at Los Angeles's Exposition Park, and a dozen workshops and panels for filmmakers and the general public.
These films, which are more vital than ever in the visibility they bring to marginalized people, can be streamed on demand for $10 each or enjoyed in full with a festival pass, which includes a one-year subscription to Outfest Now, the nonprofit's digital platform.
"Outfest Fusion facilitates an environment where QTBIPOC people are able to learn, teach, showcase their talent, and feel validated, bridging the gap between the industry's gatekeepers and so many marginalized people who are typically left out of the conversation. This is why we must continue to grow Outfest Fusion!" said Damien S. Navarro, Outfest's executive director.
Visit OutfestFusion.com to purchase tickets and learn more about the films on display. See a preview of the feature films below.
Film stills and descriptions courtesy of Outfest.
See You Then
A decade after abruptly breaking up with Naomi, Kris invites her to dinner to catch up on their complicated lives, relationships, and Kris's transition. Over the course of a one-night encounter, they engage in a series of increasingly intimate and vulnerable conversations, before a shocking revelation is unveiled. Mari Walker's feature debut focuses on the universal truth that no matter how much you change, a part of you will always stay the same.
Unapologetic
After two police killings, Black millennial organizers challenge a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. This deep look into the movement for Black lives is told through the lens of Janae and Bella, two fierce, queer-identified abolitionist leaders, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Summertime
Carlos Lopez Estrada's Summertime is a film co-written by its sprawling cast of young Los Angeles spoken-word poets, including queer BIPOC voices.
Over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 young Angelenos intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver -- they all weave in and out of each other's stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers.
Ma Belle, My Beauty
In Marion Hill's Sundance Film Festival hit, passions and jealousies are reignited when Bertie and Lane, two women who were formerly polyamorous lovers, reunite at a secluded farmhouse in the south of France. To help Bertie with a creative roadblock, her husband, Fred, secretly invites Lane to stay with them -- a not-so-pleasant surprise for Bertie. Old resentments, simmering tension, and sexual chemistry all combine into an explosive reunion that fascinatingly examines the issues that arise in a nontraditional relationship.
Forgotten Roads (La Nave del Olvido)
Claudina is a repressed woman from the countryside. Following the death of her husband, she meets Elsa, who opens Claudina's eyes to the possibility of real love. Under the judgmental watch of a little conservative town in the south of Chile (that happens to be in the thralls of frequent UFO sightings!), Claudina begins a journey toward queer self-acceptance, in which she learns that true happiness may require leaving everything she knows behind her.
Kapana
In the first gay love story out of Namibia, George, a middle-class insurance broker, lives openly and with acceptance from his family, while his new boyfriend -- working-class food vendor Simeon -- remains in the closet, gnawed at by traditional notions of masculinity and the desire for acceptance from his peers. In a country where same-sex relationships are still criminalized, these two men begin a romance that challenges both of them to shed societal expectations and stigma to truly flourish.
Crystal Diaries
Five members of the Los Angeles LGBTQ+ House & Ball Community share intimate stories of their experiences with methamphetamine addiction in response to the death of ballroom community member Gemmel Moore, who died in the home of Democratic political fundraiser Ed Buck. What results is a stirring portrait of a community banding together to heal and support, to create awareness, and to protest the justice system's response to Moore's death.
Caught (Caer)
In this innovative blend of documentary and fiction, Rosa and Paloma, two trans Latina sex workers in Queens, N.Y., fight transphobic violence, persecution from the police, and defend their cases of trafficking in an increasingly anti-migration political environment in the U.S. Written, produced, and edited in collaboration with the TRANSgrediendo Intercultural Collective (whose members also star), a grassroots nonprofit organization defending the rights of transgender Latina migrant women.
CAER (CAUGHT) - Trailer from Nicola Mai on Vimeo.
All Boys Aren't Blue
Actors Bernard David Jones, Dyllon Burnside, Thomas Hobson, and Jenifer Lewis bring to life the words of Black nonbinary author George Matthew Johnson's transparent and sparkling memoir, aided by director Nathan Hale Williams's visual poetry. Tackling issues of Black masculinity and Black queerness in relationship to Blackness, each character represents Johnson at different stages of their life, chronicling their story of growing up and challenging gender identity norms as well as learning to adapt to HIV and AIDS.
Nowhere (La Cuarta)
Adrian and Sebastian, a Colombian couple living together in New York City, are on the fast track to professional and romantic success. But when Sebastian is faced with immigration complications, his status in the U.S. may rely on help from Adrian's family back in Colombia -- who do not know Adrian is gay. Fearing rejection from his family but at risk of losing Sebastian forever, Adrian must choose which path to take.
