Outfest 2021 Unveils Dates and (In-Person!) Film Lineup

Outfest is back -- live and with in-person events.

After largely virtual proceedings last year due to the pandemic, the Outfest Los Angeles Film Festival will once again screen nearly 200 films in venues across the City of Angels. It will run from August 13 to 22.

The festival will kick off August 13 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with a Cinespia screening of Everybody's Talking About Jamie, the Amazon Prime Video film adaptation of the West End musical, which centers on a teen becoming a drag queen. Stars Max Harwood and Lauren Patel, director Jonathan Butterell, and Bianca Del Rio will make appearances.

Fanny: The Right to Rock -- a documentary on one of the first female rock bands to achieve mainstream success -- will close Outfest on August 22 at the Orpheum Theatre. And Fanny will even be there to rock the house down with a live performance.

As in previous years, many of the Outfest selections will screen at the Director's Guild of America, as well as DTLA's REDCAT. This year's centerpiece films include The Novice, a Tribeca prize-winning drama directed by Lauren Hadaway about a college rower vying against cutthroat competition; Being BeBe, a documentary on BeBe Zahara Benet, the season 1 winner of RuPaul's Drag Race; the world premiere of The Sixth Reel, a production directed by Charles Busch and Carl Andress about a collector who discovers a once-lost legendary film; and Socks on Fire, a Southern drama directed by Bo McGuire.

Other standout films include Homebody; Jeffrey Schwarz's Boulevard! A Hollywood Story; an investigative documentary centered on Ed Buck, Gemmel and Tim; Lyle Kash's Death and Bowling, a commentary on trans representation; La Queencianera, about the groundbreaking transgender activist Bamby Salcedo; No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics; and Bridesman, Grindr's new comedy series. Additionally, represented in the lineup are over 50 international films and 15 languages.

The events are star-studded, including talent like Drag Race's BenDeLaCreme and Work in Progress's Abby McEnany. The fifth annual Trans and Nonbinary Summit boasts Zackary Drucker and Our Lady J in conversations, as well as a reading from Razor Tongue's Rain Valdez.

"We're thrilled to be coming back in-person carefully and with intention to celebrate this amazing community, its stories, and its resiliency and spirit with so many incredible films and special events," says Damien S. Navarro, Outfest's executive director, in a statement. He hopes in-person Outfest "brings all the 'feels' everyone is ready for. We can't wait for everyone to see the festival we have curated -- I believe the slate of programming not only meets the moment but distinctly presents the work of some of the most talent[ed] contemporaries in queer cinema."

The full lineup can be seen at OutfestLA2021.com. Tickets can be purchased there as well beginning July 26 for members and July 28 for the general public.