If you had the pleasure of being in attendance for Out On Film, or missed out but want to know the best LGBT film offerings to keep an eye out for, you’re in luck. The organizers of Atlanta’s LGBT film festival have announced the audience and jury award winners for the 2015 outing, which took place earlier this month.
It appears the right film was picked to open the festival, as viewers chose director Andrew Nackman’s “Fourth Man Out” for the overall Audience Award. The film tells the story of a blue collar mechanic who comes out and has to navigate his relationships with his very straight, very bro-ish lifelong friends, along with a new dating scene. Festival director Jim Farmer says it was one of the highest-scoring films in Out On Film history.
The runner-up for Audience Award was the star-studded lesbian tearjerker “Freeheld,” starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page. Check out our interview with Academy-award nominated actor Michael Shannon, who co-starred in the movie, here.
Festival-goers split on the Best Drama award, with Gerald McCullouch’s directorial debut “Daddy” and Joey Kuhn’s “Those People” sharing the prize, while Pat Mills’ closing night feature “Guidance” won Best Comedy. The highly competitive Best Documentary Award went to “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw” survived a highly competitive field to take home the Best Documentary award—Holdsclaw discusses the film and her mental health battles here.
Meanwhile in the jury awards, Josh Kim’s “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time),” which was the highest-rated film in our Out On Film review roundup, came out on top to win Best Feature, and Kim tied Pat Mills from “Guidance” for Best Director. Best Actor went to Joseph Gordon from “Those People,” while Kalki Koechlin of “Margarita, With a Straw” nabbed Best Actress.
‘We are very happy for all of our award winners,” said Farmer in a statement. “We had more films this year than we’ve ever had and the voting in all categories was very extremely competitive.”
Check out the full list of winners below and watch out for the return of Out On Film next October!
Audience Awards
Overall Feature: “Fourth Man Out” (directed by Andrew Nackman)
Runner-up: “Freeheld” (directed by Peter Sollett)
Drama Feature: (tie) “Daddy” (directed by Gerald McCullouch) and “Those People” (directed by Joey Kuhn)
Women’s Feature: “Liz in September” (directed by Fina Torres)
Comedy Feature: “Guidance” (directed by Pat Mills)
Best Transgender Feature: “Two 4 One” (directed by Maureen Bradley)
Best Documentary: “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw” (directed by Rick Goldsmith)
Best Women’s Short: “11 Life Lessons from an Awesome Old Dyke” (directed by Allison Khoury)
Best Men’s Short: (tie) “Unconditional” (directed by Kent Igleheart), “Tremulo” (directed by Robert Fiesco) and “Pretty Boy” (directed by Cameron Thrower)
Best Animated Short: “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” (directed by Konstantin Bronzit)
Festival Faves (Top Ten Highest Rated Films) (in this case, 11)
In alphabetical order:
1) “Daddy”
2) “Fourth Man Out’
3) “Freeheld”
4) “Guidance”
5) “ Liz in September”
6) “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw”
7) “Queer Moxie” (directed by Heather Provoncha)
8) “Tab Hunter Confidential” (directed by Jeffrey Schwarz)
9) “Those People”
10) “Two 4 One”
11) “Upstairs Inferno” (directed by Robert Camina)
Juror Awards
Best Feature: “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)” (directed by Josh Kim)
Best Director: (tie) Josh Kim for “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) and Pat Mills for “Guidance”
Best Actor: Jonathan Gordon of “Those People”
Best Actress: Kalki Koechlin of “Margarita With a Straw”
Best Ensemble: “That’s Not Us” (directed by William Sullivan and starring David Rysdahl, Sarah Wharton, Mark Berger, Nicole Pursell, Elizabeth Gray, and Tommy Nelms)
Best First Feature: “Naz and Maalik” (directed by Jay Dockendorf)
Best Documentary: (tie) “The Guy With the Knife” (directed by Alison Armstrong) and “Game Face” (directed by Michiel Thomas)
Best Women’s Short: (tie) “V is the Warmest Color” (directed by Anna Margarita and Albelo) and “11 Life Lessons form an Awesome Old Dyke”(Allison Khoury)
Best Men’s Short: “Hole” (directed by Martin Edralin) and “Tom in America” (directed by Flavio Alves)
Best Documentary Short: “In the Hollow” (Austin Bunn)
Best Animated Short: “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” (directed by Konstantin Bronzit
Best Documentary – “Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank”
Runner-up – “Born to Fly”
Best Women’s Shorts – “Alone With People”
Best Men’s Shorts – “Nomansland”
Runner-up : “Jayson Bend: For Queen and Country”
Best Animated Short – “Happy & Gay”