The OutCast Presented by Outfest Outfest

The category is POSE on the first episode of season two of The OutCast Presented By Outfest! Host David Kittredge welcomes creator Steven Canals and stars Mj Rodriguez and Billy Porter to chat about their work in making the groundbreaking series in advance of the series finale on FX. Steven recounts the 166 meetings it took before getting a green light, while Mj takes us back to her first audition for the role of Blanca and which Rihanna song she was listening to when she found out she got the part, and Billy shares his thoughts on dreaming the impossible and how he fused his own personal story into the character of Pray Tell. It’s 10s across the board as POSE comes to a close and the three talented artists share their future plans!

The team behind the Outfest Los Angeles award-winning Hulu documentary Changing the Game (Director Michael Barnett, Producer Alex Schmider, and champion wrestler Mack Beggs) joins host David Kittredge to discuss the film and how it tells the story of transgender youth athletes in the United States. Barnett talks about the high bar of cinematically framing the subjects as heroes within their own stories, Schmider discusses how visibility for the trans community differs vitally from those of LGB experience, and Beggs digs into his life since the film was made, including his recent move into trans activism and speaking to audiences about his experiences as an elite teenage athlete. It’s an enlightening no-holds-barred conversation about a fantastic documentary you’ll definitely want to see!

This week on The OutCast Presented by Outfest, we celebrate the incredible work of New Queer Cinema filmmaking giant Cheryl Dunye as she joins host David Kittredge to explore her entire career, from her early short films all the way to her recent episodic work on series like Lovecraft Country. With her groundbreaking hit The Watermelon Woman, Dunye became the first out Black lesbian to direct a feature film, and created a classic of independent American cinema - but fans of the movie might be surprised to discover her own personal history around working in a Philadelphia video store. From her approach to melding narrative and documentary form to her focus upon centering the stories of Black lesbians in a medium that has rarely made room for them, this is a conversation no film lover should miss!
Now, for the 20th Anniversary of her brilliant film Stranger Inside, Outfest is proud to salute the milestone with a free screening and Q&A on Outfest Now from June 21-27.

What happens to your career after the low budget feature you directed, wrote, produced, edited and starred in is picked up by Ava DuVernay's distribution company, lands a Netflix deal and gets an Independent Spirit Award nomination? This week, award-winning filmmaker Isabel Sandoval talks with host David Kittredge about her breakout indie hit Lingua Franca as well as her acclaimed films Señorita and Apparition, her short form work for the brand Miu Miu, her fascination with power dynamics in cinema (and having Jane Fonda in Klute as an inspiration), and her own personal journey as an artist. Sandoval went from earning her MBA from NYU to becoming the first transgender woman with a film in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and she breaks down how she makes personal and political stories with rich visuals, both in her native Philippines as well as the United States. Aspiring filmmakers, take note!

In honor of Gossip Girl's return on HBO Max, creator/showrunner Joshua Safran chats from the New York set with host David Kittredge about his eclectic and accomplished career - and, of course, upper-class high school elites, depicting bathhouse culture onscreen, and the young and queer cast populating this exciting new sequel series. Tracing his time in the industry through development deals and Hollywood script doctoring to executive producing Smash and creating shows like Quantico on ABC and Soundtrack on Netflix, Safran’s insight into the creative business of television makes this a must-listen for entertainment aficionados.

Filmmaking and friendship set the tone this week as Independent Spirit Award-nominated writer/director Yen Tan (1985, Pit Stop) joins host and real-life pal David Kittredge to discuss his life, career, and filmmaking influences. From first seeing Thelma and Louise at age 16 in his native Malaysia to premiering a feature at the Sundance Film Festival twenty years later, Tan's life in film owes as much to his own tender artistry and graphic design background as it does his reverence for the stories of gay men and the worlds around them. With two modern LGBTQ+ classics already created - one fostered with the help of the Outfest Screenwriting Lab - we can't wait to see where Yen Tan goes next.