Friday 8th April sees the kickoff of 2022 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival (from April 8th to April 13th in-person and then move online from April 13th to April 17th,) with screenings and events that showcase the work of today’s leading storytellers. The Festival was born in 2004 out of a grassroots movement by Outfest alumni filmmakers to promote social change through the power of film. Since then, Fusion has continued to bring the city’s multicultural communities together to center LGBTQIA+ people of color and provide a platform to amplify our voices. The mission of Outfest Fusion is not only to amplify these voices but also to provide access and resources specific to the needs of the QTBIPOC community. The programming at Outfest Fusion exists to directly close and challenge the systemic access gap for LGBTQIA+ people of color.
It’s a hybrid Festival this year so much of the program is available online but in-person attendees can also participate in nearly a dozen free community workshops, industry masterclasses, a One Minute Movie Contest, pitch competitions, and live performances.
There is also a special event when Qutfest honors Sandra Oh and Stephanie Beatriz with the 2022 Fusion Achievement Award at this year’s Outfest Fusion Gala. The Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to LGBTQIA+ stories, arts, and media visibility and will honor Beatriz for her body of work and dedication to bisexual visibility.
The film schedule includes a few movies we have seen and know are totally unmissable. They are :
Keep The Cameras Rolling is the moving story of HIV/AIDS educator and activist Pedro Zamora’s life and death. Pedro shot to the world’s attention in 1994 as the first person on weekly TV to be completely open about his HIV/AIDS status. Starring in season 3 of the then hugely popular MTV’s ground-breaking reality TV series, The Real World – the world’s first reality TV series – the very handsome, articulate Pedro did more to educate the world on living with HIV than anyone had done in the preceding decade of AIDS.
Queer Parivaar: A mysterious woman arrives on the eve of queer couple Madhav and Sufi’s wedding, revealing a secret family history. Madhav and Sufi are forced to reflect on what makes a family. This is a wonderful feel-good queer musical romance. Slick production, good casting, sparkling costumes and a joyful atmosphere all go together to create a very sweet movie. Queer Parivaar directed by Shiva Raichandani explores many themes – non-binary gender identities, British South Asian queer weddings, inter-faith romance, chosen families and intergenerational differences. The cast includes Asifa Lahore, the UK’s first Muslim drag queen, musicians, and activists, all of whom gel together well.
Another great film is Warsha which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Short Film Jury Award for International Fiction. We follow Mohammed, a Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in a very grim, hyper-masculine, crowded environment in Beirut, Lebanon. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. In this most unlikely of situations, he finds a moment for personal liberation. Starring Khansa, a Beirut-based multi-faceted artist who is also a male belly dancer, Director-Screenwriter Dania Bdeir’s film challenges traditional Middle-Eastern values regarding masculinity, echoing the work that Khansa has been doing for many years. Beautiful cinematography and a haunting soundtrack complement a fine performance. @khansakhansakhansa
FINLANDIA .Delirio is the leader of a community of three muxes living in Juchitán de Zaragoza, a town in the state of Oaxac They fight for the recognition of their gender as one more in society while fighting their own passions, traumas, and hidden feelings. Then after an earthquake a black avalanche of suffering clouds their way to freedom.
https://www.outfestfusion.com/schedule
