Out On Film Presents Two Upcoming Free Screenings

Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, is presenting two upcoming virtual free screenings, one a new film from an Oscar and Emmy winner and the other a special Transgender Day of Remembrance event co-sponsored by Wussy Mag.

 

Nov. 20, noon – Nov.  21 at midnight

“Pier Kids” (as part of Transgender Day of Remembrance), co-sponsored by Wussy Mag

“”PPier Kids” interrogates the meaning of community, both within at-risk LGBTQ youth of color and in the larger gay community as well.

Casper, a trans-attracted young black man, is left vulnerable in his pursuit for true love, all the while navigating homelessness.
Desean is at a critical point in his life: he must navigate whether the best alternative to escaping homelessness is to commit a crime or become HIV+.
Krystal utilizes the ballroom scene as a way to survive, but when her gay family proves unable to help her, she is forced to go back to her blood family for support. When Krystal and her birth mother are face to face, they realize that the only thing they can agree on when it comes to Krystal’s identity is their mutual love of gospel.

“Pier Kids” puts the viewer in the skin of the pier kids it depicts, and shows what happens to gay youth when they are kicked out. The film follows these youth over the course of five years to understand what it means to be black and queer 50 years after Stonewall. It’s directed by Out On Film alum Elegance Bratton (“Walk for Me,” “Buck”).

Wussy Mag’s Spotify interview with Bratton will go live online Wednesday, Nov. 18. Following the weekend screening will be also a discussion with Bratton, producer Chester Algernal Gordon and one of the film’s subjects, Krystal LaBeiga Dixon.

The link for the screening is https://watch.eventive.org/2020ooff

 

 November 23, 8pm EST

“Uncle Frank”

In 1973, teenaged Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) leaves her rural Southern hometown to study at New York University where her beloved Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) is a revered literature professor. She soon discovers that Frank is gay, and living with his longtime partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi) — an arrangement that he has kept secret for years. After the sudden death of Frank’s father — Beth’s grandfather — Frank is forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral with Beth in tow, and to finally face a long-buried trauma that he has spent his entire adult life running away from.

The film is written and directed by Oscar and Emmy winner Alan Ball (“American Beauty,’ “Six Feet Under.,'”True Blood”), who hails from Marietta, GA. Writer-director Ball’s heartfelt and hilarious road movie travels from the bohemian scene of post-Stonewall New York City to rural South Carolina, following Frank’s painful journey from hitting rock bottom to acceptance and forgiveness and, finally, reintegration into his family and into life itself. Bettany reveals Frank’s fragile core by peeling away the layers of Frank’s sophisticated but guarded persona. Sophia Lillis plays Beth as a naive but observant young woman whose eyes are opened to a world she could never have imagined. Peter Macdissi also has a standout performance as Wally, a man whose capacity for compassion runs deeper than he even knows. Ball (also elicits strong turns from his superb supporting cast, including Stephen Root, Margo Martindale, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer and Lois Smith. “Uncle Frank” debuts Nov. 25 on Amazon.

RSVP link – http://amazonscreenings.com/UNCLEFRANKoutonfilm

 

Now in its 33rd year, Out On Film is an Oscar® qualifying film festival that screens more than 125 films each year during an 11-day film festival and throughout the year. This year’s festival was held Sept. 24 – Oct. 4.