The 2019 Outfest film festival casts a spotlight on L.A.'s queer scene past and present

Circus of Books

“‘Circus of Books’ is a perfectly timed story,” said Christopher Racster, executive director of Outfest. “It really takes us back to a point in time where we really needed safe spaces. And while the current social dialogue seems to be moving backwards around LGBTQ issues, it becomes even more poignant to look at that.”

Additionally, advances in digital media have allowed queer visibility to expand on streaming platforms and television even if the movies haven’t quite caught up yet. Films are selected based on the underlying requirement that they represent and reflect the broad range of microcommunities across the queer community as much as possible. More than two-thirds of this year’s content was directed by women, people of color and trans filmmakers.

“I kind of created a centerpiece section for ‘Straight Up’ called B reakthroughs, because ‘breakthrough’ just seemed like the right word,” said Dougherty. “It feels like a true discovery. The film is incredibly smart, incredibly well-written and incredibly funny. And the bonus icing on the cake is that it is Los Angeles-based and very in tune with the Los Angeles of today.”

Several standouts from this year’s Sundance Film Festival will receive screenings at Outfest, including the New York City-set family dramedy “Before You Know It,” featuring Judith Light, Alec Baldwin and Mandy Patinkin, which closes this year’s festival; the young adult romance “Adam” directed by “Transparent” alum Rhys Ernst; and the 1980s-set Mexican drama “This Is Not Berlin” starring “Roma” Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira .

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