Toronto LGBTQ film festival, Inside Out, announces line up for 30th edition

Hey all you queer film buffs, we have some great news! The 30th annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival (Inside Out), championing innovative LGBTQ filmmakers from across the globe, has revealed its full film lineup debuting on the Inside Out streaming platform that will showcase 150 films and 9 episodic series. 

The announcement was made on September 9 by Inside Out’s Executive Director Andria Wilson and the festival’s Director of Programming Andrew Murphy. Inside Out, which launched the first ever annual LGBTQ Film Finance Forum and has established itself as an international home and incubator for LGBTQ emerging and established filmmakers, will take place online and with special drive-in events from October 1-11, 2020. 

Inside Out’s digital platform, which will be available for anyone in Ontario, will be accessible via insideout.ca, and through Inside Out’s new AppleTV and Roku apps, launching October 1st. Audiences will be able to customize their own watch lists and schedule from their comfort of their own homes, using their home entertainment systems.

Inside Out in partnership with Netflix will host an exclusive conversation with special guests and talent from the Netflix film The Boys in the Band, based on the hit Broadway play. The Boys in the Band will be available to stream ahead of the event on Netflix when it debuts on September 30th. 

Documentary highlights from the program include Ahead of the Curve, chronicling the life of the best selling lesbian culture magazine Curve, which will also screen as a special Drive-In event in the Ottawa region, as well as Icons program selections Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, which catalogs the career resurgence of trans musician Glenn Copeland who created a self-released electronic album over thirty years ago, No Ordinary Man, which explores the legacy of Billy Tipton, a 20th-century American jazz musician and trans icon, and Ashley O’Shay’s powerful documentary Unapologetic, that shines a light on organizations that fight racial injustices against Black women in the United States.

Other highlights from the festival lineup include a Special Presentation timed event screening of The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, the feature directing debut of Everybody Hates Chris co-creator Ali LeRoi, the modern-day western film Cowboys, starring Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell, Ann Dowd, and young trans actor Sasha Knight, Emma Seligman’s comedy of discomfort Shiva Baby, starring Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon and Dianna Agron, and the Irish sleeper-hit rom-com Dating Amber, starring Fionn O’Shea (Normal People) and newcomer Lola Petticrew.

The lineup will also include showcasing two films that came out of Inside Out’s LGBTQ Finance Forum – a Special preview Presentation of the film Jump, Darling, an offbeat family drama starring Oscar-winner Cloris Leachman and Thomas Duplessie, presented as a Drive-In screening, as well as Breaking Fast, a sweet romantic comedy about a gay practicing Muslim fitting into the myriad pleasures of West Hollywood life, starring Haaz Sleiman and Micahel Cassidy.

The opening night film for the festival, which will be announced at a later date, will showcase a special drive-in event for a film at Ontario Place presented by RBC Royal Bank. A mix of pre-recorded and live virtual Q&As are expected with cast and crew from films being shown at the festival.

“In 30 years of LGBTQ film exhibition, we’ve never seen an edition of Inside Out quite like this,” said Andria Wilson, Executive Director. “These past 6 months have necessitated innovation, imagination, and collaboration as our teams and festival colleagues around the globe have adjusted our models to this moment. What we’re sharing with you today is the result of that internal and external journey, which has been guided by our mission to elevate the works of LGBTQ2 filmmakers and connect them with our diverse communities.”

“The queer community is no stranger to extraordinary situations. Who could have predicted a global pandemic would become the entry point to mobilize around new ideas, new connections and collaborations, to ensure we could still deliver the best and safest possible 30th anniversary,” said Andrew Murphy, Director of Programming. “Film is really now the safest way to travel, and this year’s lineup provides a unique opportunity to escape into the many complicated queer worlds via the brilliant minds of our filmmakers, icons, and peers.”

Inside Out, in addition to being a resource for LGBTQ filmmakers and showcasing their work through the annual festival, is one the world’s leading LGBTQ film organizations, founded the world’s only LGBTQ Feature Finance Forum, and has launched two key film funds within the past few years – RE:Focus, which supports queer and trans women and non-binary filmmakers, and the OUTtv Outspoken Documentary Fund. There are four films that are beneficiaries of the RE:Focus Fund in the 2020 lineup.

The 2020 feature film program includes a total of 150 films, representing 30 countries. 

As in past years, films will be in competition for jury and audience awards. For the first time ever, award winners will be revealed on opening weekend, giving audiences the opportunity to view the winning films throughout the entire festival. Jurors confirmed for Inside Out this year include:

● International First Feature Jury: Jude Dry, Associate Editor at IndieWire, Jazz Tangcay, Artisans Editor at Variety, and producer Inuka Bacote-Capiga (Eastsiders, The Forty-Year-Old Version)

● Canadian Jury: Actress/writer Natasha Negovanlis, cinematographer/director Ashley Iris Gill, and musician/educator Scott Jones

The programming team, led by Director of Programming Andrew Murphy, is comprised of Jenna Dufton (Programming Manager), Jacob Crepeault (Programming Assistant), and programmers Ferdosa Abdi, Rasheed Bailey, Katherine Connell, Ferrin Evans, Scott Ferguson, Claire Jarvis, Zeinah Kalati, Allia McLeod and Nik Redman.

Individual tickets for digital screenings, as well as 5-ticket packages and the All Access Pass, are on sale today at 12:00pm ET at insideout.ca. Drive-ins and other special event tickets will be on sale in the coming weeks. In addition to the conversation event for The Boys in the Band, additional panelists and conversations will be announced in the coming weeks.

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