Outfest, Los Angeles' LGBT film
festival, has announced the award winners of its 2021 festival.
Outfest, which ran from August 13th
to August 22nd, screened more than 170 LGBT films.
No Straight Lines: The Rise of
Queer Comics won the Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize, while
Firstness won the U.S. Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize.
Firstness is writer-director
Brielle Brilliant's first feature. The film centers on a wayward
father and his non-binary child living in a New Mexico desert town.
“A gorgeous tribute to the struggles
and triumphs of parents stumbling towards understanding of their
queer children and a testament to the magic baked into queer
community, Firstness straddles the harshest realities of this
world while imagining another that which is more vibrant, charming,
and fantastic,” Outfest programmers wrote.
Director Vivian Kleinman's No
Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics follows five of the most
influential artists in the queer comic space, including Alison
Bechdel (Fun Home), Rupert Kinnard (Cathartic Comics), Howard Cruse
(Stuck Rubber Baby), Jen Camper (Juicy Mother), and Mary Wings (Come
Out Comix). The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film
Festival.
Click
here for a complete list of winners.