A new reel, a new real

Filmmaker Stewart Wade has been attending Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festivalhe was a kid growing up in Woodland Hills and Agoura Hills. Seeing movies that “spoke to my life so clearly,” like the seminal 1986 AIDS drama “Parting Glances” with Steve Buscemi, inspired him to make movies himself.

Outfest, now in its 26th year, has clearly been supportive of his longtime allegiance. His comedic short “Coffee Date” -- about a straight man who makes a date on the Internet to meet for coffee only to discover that his “date” is a guy -- was such a huge success when it played the festival in 2001, Wade decided to make a feature-length version, which, in turn, received theatrical distribution after a rousing screening at Outfest two years ago.

And now he’s returning yet again to the annual festival, which kicks off Wednesday evening. His latest comedy, “Tru Loved,” will be shown closing night, July 21, at the Orpheum Theatre. The teen comedy revolves around a new girl at high school who has two moms and two dads. It also happens that the football team’s star quarterback she’s dating is in the closet.

The film illustrates how gay, lesbian and bisexual cinema is evolving. “Initially gay cinema was almost exclusively coming-out stories because that is what we as a culture were struggling with,” says Wade. “It’s still an issue for many, many people, but there is so much more going on in the culture. The whole gay marriage issue now is huge, which is something we are dealing with in our movie, and California is dealing with the ballot in November.”

“I think what’s unique and inspiring about Outfest is there just a real strong sense of community,” says Wade’s life and producing partner, Antonio Brown. “The whole gathering of people around these unique and interesting films: It just inspires more beyond the filmmaking. It makes me want to do more in the community and become part of more in everyday life. It inspires me to be acting in the community as well.”

Kirsten Schaffer, interim executive director of Outfest, says that while the festival’s main audience is gay men, it does attract straight moviegoers as well, and organizers are working to expand Outfest’s appeal. “We are trying hard to generate more of a female audience and bring in a younger audience and bring in more people-of-color audience,” she says.

Writer-director Chris Mason Johnson, whose first film, “The New Twenty,” ispart of the Four in Focus showcase that shines the spotlight on new talent, says the programming at Outfest is “moving with the times. I think as gays are getting more and more assimilated in the culture, it’s just interesting to see what the next wave is.”

“The New Twenty,” which has its world premiere Saturday evening at the Directors Guild of America building, revolves around a group of friends -- gay and straight -- seven years after they graduated from college.

“Our group of buddies [in college] were really a mixture of straight and gay,” says Johnson. “We were male and we were buddies, but it wasn’t about unrequited love or suicide.”

“I think that one of the things that we are seeing,” says Schaffer, “is that gay story lines are more integrated . . . so if you have a film with three or four main characters, one of them is queer.” This being an election year, political movies, says Schaffer, are playing such an important part in the festival that they were given their own series: “Outing Politics.”

Schaffer is particularly enthusiastic about the comedy “Karl Rove, I Love You,” screening Saturday evening at the DGA. Written by and starring Dan Butler, the film is about an actor who becomes obsessed with Karl Rove. “It’s really well done, refreshing,” says Schaffer.

The opening-night gala Wednesday at the Orpheum features the screening of the comedy-drama “Breakfast With Scot” and the presentation of the 12th Annual Outfest Career Achievement Award to filmmaker Donna Deitch, who wrote and directed the 1986 romantic drama “Desert Hearts.”

The filmmaker says one of the most “extraordinary” things about Outfest is the Legacy Project, a collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, which aims to have a complete archive of all gay- and lesbian-themed films ever made.

“That collection doesn’t exist anywhere in the world,” says Deitch. “And Outfest is in the process of putting those films together and also restoring ones that go so far back that they need restoration to survive.

“I was one of the first people to donate,” she added, when she gave a print of “Desert Hearts” to the Legacy Project.

This year’s Legacy Project Gala, Monday evening at the DGA, features the restoration premiere of the 1978 documentary “Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives.”

“This movie is 30 years old,” says Schaffer, “and it still has so much resonance and documents a period in time when the gay rights movement was really gaining momentum. It shows the connection and lineage . . . to where we are right now.”

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susan.king@latimes.com