Elliot Page to Receive the Outfest Annual Achievement Award

It will be a starry night at Outfest's closing night gala.

There, Elliot Page will receive the Outfest Annual Achievement Award. The prestigious honor will be presented by Kieran Medina, lead programmer of Outfest's Trans and Nonbinary Summit, on August 22 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

"When determining the recipient of our highest honor we look for those that have been a powerful representative for our community, that have soared to the highest levels of recognition for their talent and who have stepped into the shoes themselves as an independent filmmaker and creator. There is no one more poised to receive this year's Outfest Annual Achievement Award than Elliot," said Damien S. Navarro, Outfest's executive director.

"His courage, advocacy, and personal journey have made him one of the most admired and respected public figures of his generation and his talent and voice are leading a new generation within the LGBTQIA+ and entertainment community."

Page came out as transgender in December 2020 through a statement posted to Instagram and Twitter. "I can't begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self," he wrote at the time.

In the past few months, the Oscar-nominated Juno and Umbrella Academy star has shone a light on issues impacting the transgender community through a Time cover story -- he was the first trans masculine person to be featured on the cover -- as well as an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Throughout, he has been outspoken about the slate of anti-trans bills being pushed by red states across the U.S. Prior to coming out as transgender, Page used his visibility to raise awareness of global LGBTQ+ issues through the Emmy-nominated docuseries, Gaycation.

"It gives me great honor to be the recipient of this year's Outfest Annual Achievement Award and represent the LGBTQ+ community," Page said. "Now more than ever, it is so important for our voices to be amplified and represented in film and media, and for people to hear our stories."

Prior recipients of the award include Todd Haynes, Bill Condon, John Waters, Kimberly Pierce, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, Angela Robinson, and Nisha Ganatra.

The Outfest Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off August 13 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with a Cinespia screening of Everybody's Talking About Jamie. The closing night gala also features a showing of Fanny: The Right to Rock, a documentary on one of the first female rock bands to achieve mainstream success. Fanny will perform at the event.

Outfest will screen nearly 200 films in venues across the City of Angels as well as virtually. Get tickets and learn more at outfest.org!

RELATED | Elliot Page Explains Why He Came Out as Trans in New Oprah Interview