Outfest Well Versed in Diversity

When Outfest came into being almost two decades ago, its purpose was to offer a venue for gay and lesbian filmmakers who had few other places for people to see their work. Now that some of those filmmakers are working at major studios as well as independent companies and the festival is firmly established--not just as a “gay” event but as the most widely attended film forum in Southern California--Outfest continues to look for new ways to explore the rich diversity of the community that isn’t always expressed in the commercial arena.

Latina filmmaker Mary Guzman, just one example, recently attended a panel at Frameline, the San Francisco gay and lesbian film festival, at which one of the participants complained that gay stories have been co-opted by mainstream films and television. “I thought, wait a second, maybe your stories but certainly not mine,” says Guzman. “Ellen De Generes’ face may be on the cover of magazines, but she’s white and her experience is not my experience.”

Guzman’s comedy “Desi’s Looking for a New Girl” is among the films at this year’s Outfest that mirror the community’s ethnic and cultural diversity. The 18th Outfest opens tonight at the Orpheum Theater and runs through July 17 with screenings, primarily at the Directors Guild and Laemmle Sunset 5, as well as the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza.

The cast of Guzman’s “Desi” is made up largely of Latina lesbians, only some of whom are professional actresses. It is just one of several films by or about Latinos at Outfest. Another notable entry is “Nuyorican Dream,” which deals with a Latino’s struggle with his sexuality and his family’s efforts at cultural assimilation.

There are films in the festival this year featuring the stories of gay African Americans, Asian Americans and even Native Americans. Other movies are virtual melting pots. For instance, “What’s Cooking?” brings together clans of many ethnic stripes (Vietnamese, African American, Jewish and Latino--gay and straight). Beyond that there are films about or appealing to bisexuals, transgenders, teenagers and even that most invisible of gay minorities, senior citizens.

Four Films on Gay African American Life

A first at this year’s Outfest is the “Afro-Explosion” says Stephen Gutwillig, the festival’s executive director. “It’s very exciting to have four strong feature films about the gay African American experience [‘Punks,’ ‘Ritual,’ ‘Mute Love’ and ‘Trois’] in the same year,” he says. A confluence of factors has made this possible, Gutwillig says. “This year’s Outfest is at unique moment in time when a diverse group of people are getting access to funding that wasn’t available to them before and finding it easier to make their films because of new technologies. Behind it all is the ever-increasing openness of audiences and distributors, regardless of sexuality, for well-told stories.”

In addition, gay and lesbian films are evolving thematically. The mainstream-media visibility of gays and lesbians via movies such as “Boys Don’t Cry” and TV series such as “Will & Grace” has encouraged filmmakers to venture into heretofore underrepresented corners of the community. It has also freed filmmakers to explore more universal dramatic themes. Thematically, the films cover a much broader range. There are few movies that deal with traditional political issues like coming out or the AIDS crisis. And those that do “integrate those issues more seamlessly into the other issues of our lives,” according to Gutwillig.

Outfest still offers a wide selection of films by and about white middle-class gays and lesbians, many of which already have theatrical distribution deals. But even some of these offer something different. The drama “Big Eden” incorporates a central gay character who is Native American. (Another Native American tale is the lesbian-themed “Johnny Greyeyes.”) For “Big Eden” director Thomas Bezucha, including a Native American character is not a gimmick. “He reflects part of the Native American experience,” he says. Since homosexuality is not burdened with stigma among many Native American tribes, the character’s concerns are more cultural, says Bezucha, exploring the sentiment that “Native Americans are often made to feel like outsiders in the general population.”

A Broad Range of Sponsors

Another common thread among several of the films is an exploration of the different meanings of the word “family.” In the past, gay-themed films have often dealt with the protagonists’ difficulty in being accepted by their nuclear families and having to create alternative ones. In Guzman’s and Bezucha’s films, however, the central characters’ families and close friends embrace them without question. “It’s more about [the protagonist’s] problems with intimacy and self-acceptance, which are common experiences for everyone,” says Bezucha, who set his film in “Marlboro country” to get as far away as he could from dealing with urban “lifestyle” issues.

In part, the broader dramatic perspective explains the sharp rise in corporate sponsorship for Outfest--everyone from the major film and television companies to airlines to dot-coms. This year’s festival boasts more than 100 sponsors. For most, Outfest is not a ghettoized event but rather “a great way to target an upscale audience,” says Steve Flynn, head of marketing at USA Films. “Most festival attendees are frequent moviegoers and it’s an excellent way to reach them just as at other festivals like Sundance and Toronto.”

Matt Brodie, vice president of acquisitions at Miramax and an Outfest board member, concurs. He notes that interest from dot-com companies this year affords short-film creators a new avenue for selling their movies. In the past, short films have served mainly as a resume builder for a new filmmaker (it’s how Mary Guzman got started) and festivals used to be one of the only outlets for these non-feature-length movies.

But that’s changed dramatically, explains Gutwillig. “From the beginning of the Internet, gays and lesbians have been the single largest identifiable community of users.”

That is a good enough reason for dot-coms to sponsor Outfest, he says. But more importantly, “it’s an obvious place for them to find content for their sites, to look for great films to stream [to their home computers] in addition to raising their own visibility.”

The confluence of filmmakers from around the world, the Los Angeles audience and the entertainment business community at Outfest presents industry representatives with a unique opportunity to unearth new talent and product.

A perfect example is the British miniseries “Queer as Folk,” one of the big successes of last year’s film festival, the rights to which were picked up by Showtime, which is currently filming an American version for broadcast next year. (Two new British episodes are being shown at Outfest this year.)

Opportunity to Hear New Voices

“We’d sponsor Outfest even if we didn’t have ‘Queer as Folk,’ ” says Matt Ricklin, executive vice president of program enterprises for Showtime. “We’re voracious viewers at many film festivals where we get a chance to talk to low-budget filmmakers and meet new producers and explore new ideas.”

David Castro, director of corporate affairs at HBO, says that, beyond those business opportunities, “strictly as a consumer it’s much more interesting to hear voices you don’t normally hear and as someone who enjoys film festivals that’s why I’ll be there.”

The documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which HBO will show, is Outfest’s opening night presentation. And it’s a unique choice, again displaying diversity in the festival’s selection. No documentary has ever opened the festival. Nor is “Eyes of Tammy Faye” ostensibly gay themed. “ ‘Eyes of Tammy Faye’ represents the new kind of queer film,” says Gutwillig. “Besides being made by two local gay filmmakers [Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey], it has a great queer sensibility.”

Outfest’s outreach to all parts of the gay and lesbian community has resulted in increased ticket sales, which last year exceeded 35,000 admissions. ‘It looks like a record year for us,” says Gutwillig, who predicts admissions will rise to 40,000. “Our awards night film, ‘But I’m a Cheerleader,’ is the first film to sell out two weeks before the festival opened.”

A Look at the Films

* Kevin Thomas reviews some of the top films in the festival’s first week in Screening Room. Page 34.