Out On Screen (formally the Vancouver Out On Screen Film & Video Society) is an LGBTQ-oriented arts organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It began as a small, community-based film festival in 1988 and was registered as a BC society in 1989, in anticipation of the 1990 Gay Games.Peter Knegt, "30 years of resilience: Vancouver's queer film fest illuminates the full beauty of LGBTQ lives". CBC Arts, August 1, 2018. Since then, Out On Screen has evolved to become a professional arts organization with two key program initiatives: the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, the annual queer film festival in Vancouver, and Out In Schools, a province-wide educational program aimed primarily at high school students, but with program delivery across the education system, that employs film and video to address homophobia, transphobia, and bullying.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually during the month of August. The festival was first held publicly in 1988. It is Vancouver's second largest film festival and Western Canada's largest queer arts event.
Festival awards People's Choice Award for Best Feature YearFilmDirector 2006Event Calendar – Out on Screen and Vancity presents Vancouver Queer Film Festival Unveiled Angelina Maccarone 2007 Shelter Jonah Markowitz 2008 Were the World Mine Tom Gustafson 2009 I Can't Think Straight Shamim Sarif 2010 Undertow Javier Fuentes-Leon 2011 Gen Silent Stu Maddux 2012 Mia Javier Van de Couter 2013 Lace Bite Carmen Klotz and Sharron Bates 2014 Tru Love Kate Johnston and Shauna MacDonald 2015 A Girl at My Door (Dohee-Ya) July Jung 2016 It Runs in the Family Joella Cabalu 2017 Maybe Tomorrow (Baka Bukas) Samantha Lee 2018 Saturday Church Damon Cardasis 2019 The T Bea Cordelia and Daniel Kyri 2020 Breaking Fast Mike Mosallam
Gerry Brunet Memorial Award Established in 1997, this juried award is given in recognition of Gerry Brunet, a lifelong contributor to the arts and an early board member at Out On Screen. YearFilmDirector 2006Vancouver Queer Film & Video Festival :: :: Press What Don't You Understand About "I'm Leaving Again" Amey Kazymerchyk 2007Trans Neptune – News Trans Neptune Matthew Long 2008 Writing the Land Kevin Lee Burton 2008 Hirsute AJ Bond 2009 Naoko-San Rka Moorhouse 2010 Waiting 4 Goliath Cal Garingan 2011 Mood for Love Jason Karman 2012 Insert Credit David Nguyen 2013 Bill, Please Jessica Han 2014 Under the Rainbow Dave Shortt 2015 Dissonance Anna Ngo 2016 Meet Cute Patrick Currie 2017 Violet and June Linnea Ritland 2018 Colors Yuki Chen 2019 Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny Love Intersections 2020 B-Side Alayna Silverberg
People's Choice Awards for Best Short Originally named for OUTtv's Hot Pink Shorts TV show (The OUTtv Hot Pink Shorts Award), this award recognizes an exceptional short film. YearFilmDirector 2009 The Portside Aerlyn Weissman 2010 Butch Tits Jen Crothers 2011 (3-way tie) B.A.B.S/ Finding Judy/ Quirk-E: A Learning Collective Mette Bach/ Gary Riotta/ Callista HaggisTakeuchi, Craig. "Gen Silent, I'm in the Mood for Love win at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2011 awards". Georgia Straight. August 22, 2011. Web. Accessed November 3, 2011. https://www.straight.com/article-435196/vancouver/gen-silent-im-mood-love-win-vancouver-queer-film-festival-2011-awards 2012 Jackie Jose Ignacio Correa 2013 Bill, Please Jessica Han 2014 All Good Things Ian Tang 2015 Same Boat David C. Jones 2016 Handsome and Majestic Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot 2017 Do I Have Boobs Now? Joella Cabalu and Milena Salazar 2018 Beauty Christina Willings 2019 She's Not a Boy Yuhong Pang and Robert Tokanel 2020 HIV: Healing Inner Voices martin Morberg and Jada-Gabrielle Pape
Other programs Out in Schools
Launched in 2004, Out in Schools brings independent queer films into local high schools in British Columbia. In conjunction with gay–straight alliances, Out in Schools focuses on the serious issues that affect queer youth.Kids in the halls | Straight.com The purpose of Out in Schools is to reduce isolation and increase the safety of the learning environment for queer students in the community. Out in Schools aims to increase understanding through education to combat issues such as homophobia and bullying that threaten the safety of the classrooms for both queer and straight students.Caring for Communities : Vancouver Foundation In 2013, Out in Schools expanded its program reach by 25% into new school districts, delivering 100 classroom presentations focused on queer and anti-bullying education to more than 8,200 high school students across BC.
FirstOUT Video Scholarship Program FirstOUT Video Scholarship Program is an intensive digital filmmaking program for youth aged 16 to 24. This is part of the youth education initiatives which, together with Out In Schools, seeks to give media literacy and production opportunities to queer youth and their allies. It brings independent media artists together with queer youth to work with them on developing their own cultural voice and producing their first video. Since its inception, five films have been produced and exhibited.CuedUp November 2006
2007 Out On Screen had partnered with Pacific Cinematheque to present the first year of the "FirstOUT Video Scholarship Program". The application submission ended in November 2006. By mid-December, four participants were selected and were paired in a one-on-one mentorship with celebrated local independent media artists in Vancouver, British Columbia. The training and production period began in February and ended late June. All of the four short films were screened at the 19th Annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival on August 18, 2007, at Pacific Cinematheque as part of the Youth Series. A youth-friendly reception followed to celebrate the accomplishment of the four young filmmakers, as well as the success of the program. FilmDirectorMentor The Nuwest Steambath Julian DeMayo Kenneth Sherman Going In Jacks Cheng Terra Poirier Borderless Me Setareh Mohammadi Karen Duthie Checkpoint Alex Mah Winston Xin In addition to the four mentors above, Gabe Forsythe and Krista Stusiak were the youth mentors from Pacific Cinematheque's Education department who facilitated boot camp workshops on cinematography and technicality of filmmaking.
See also List of LGBT film festivals List of film festivals in Canada
References
External links Vancouver Queer Film Festival Vancouver Out On Screen Film & Video Society Out In Schools Queer History Project