Outfest Honors Emmerich

Roland Emmerich, the out filmmaker behind many of the highest-grossing movies in cinema history, will be honored by Outfest with its annual Legacy Award.

Emmerich, whose films include Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, will be honored along with Fox Entertainment Group at the Directors Guild of America on Thursday, October 21. Emmerich will receive the Visionary Award in recognition of his contribution to LGBT media visibility, through his support of Outfest, while Fox Entertainment Group will be honored with the Guardian Award for the company's commitment and contribution to the LGBT community and its legacy within the broader culture.

"We are extremely proud to honor two longtime supporters of Outfest and the LGBT community," Kirsten Schaffer, Outfest's executive director, says in a statement released to the press. "As an out director of billion-dollar Hollywood blockbusters, Roland Emmerich has been Outfest's largest single champion for the last five years. His generous donations have helped to establish the Legacy Project and his support of LGBT causes have been second to none."

Emmerich has been a supporter of women's rights in the developing world and other political causes, and he made the largest single gift to date to Outfest and the Legacy Project. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation, a collaboration between Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, which is the only program in the world devoted to saving and preserving LGBT moving images.

For more information on Outfest's Legacy Awards, click here.