Outfest Fusion Film Fest begins Friday in Hollywood!!!

Outfest Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival begins its three-day run on Friday night and I am so looking forward to it. I went last year for the first time and the opening night gala was a blast. This year's promises to be the same at the new location which is the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

Tomorrow night's opening program is a collection of short films, some which I have seen and others I have not. The one I have seen maybe five times already and look forward to seeing again is the very entertaining and perfectly cast "Kali Ma" from director Soman Chainani. The hilarious and touching film is about a suburban Indian mother delivers her own brand of vigilante justice when she finds out her son is being bullied.

Others in the Friday night rogram include "Make a Wish" about young Palestinian girl will do whatever it takes to buy a birthday cake, "El Prino" about a sheltered teenager visits his tough, older cousin in Laredo, Texas and learns a lesson about what it means to be a man and the acclaimed "Pariah" from director Dee Rees about a Bronx teen unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to please her friends and family.

I talked to Outfest Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer this week about the festival: “Fusion is only slightly different in that it focuses on people of color,” she says. “Outfest has tons of these films integrated into program in the summer, what Fusion does is it takes those films and shines the spotlight on them."

This is also a way to get people to see movies they would ordinarily skip during Outfest in the summer. For example, I missed "Pariah" because there were no men in it. Then it started winning all these awards and I was sorry I chose to see something else that night.

Says Kirsten: “Outfest tends segregate along gender lines. Because this is called Fusion, the festival is focused on blended audiences. The programs are designed to bring together diverse audiences. You
have people from 15-70, lesbians, gay men, trans folks all together from a bunch of different racial and ethnic backgrounds."

Among the more high-profile feature-length films to be featured is “Starbooty” which stars drag glamazon RuPaul as a supermodel/secret agent. RuPaul will be present for the Saturday night screening.

On Sunday, two of the newest episodes of “The DL Chronicles,” a series about gorgeous men living secret sexual lives, will be screened.

Also Sunday, the closing night film will be the “Water Flowing Together,” a documentary about Jock Soto, the successful and influential gay Navajo Indian and Puerto Rican modern ballet dancer. Soto will be at the screening which will be followed by a closing night party.

“He’s incredibly beautiful to watch and also has a very unique personality,” says Kirsten. “He talks about his sexual orientation and how that and his racial culture affected his life and career.”

For the first time, there is also a conference going on in connection with Fusion. Called “Ignite the Fuse: Queer People of Color in Film, TV and Video,” it brings together filmmakers, activists and others
for various sessions on future directions of media for and by queer people of color.

To see a full schedule of movies and other Fusion events, click HERE.