Out Web Fest Is This Weekend, and Here Are 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Miss It
As Out Web Fest (OWF) celebrates its third year, it has quickly become the queer festival to watch. OWF is the world’s only queer digital festival dedicated to celebrating web series, short films, music videos and more. Inspired by the digital era of storytelling and the legacy of many LGBTQ film festivals before it, Out Web Fest says it “strives to provide the opportunity for all queer content creators to connect with the global community and celebrate the progressive evolution of queer entertainment for the next generation.” Sounds great to us!
OWF breaks the mold of other festivals by giving prominence and voice to the honest and unfiltered digital short-form format. The Out Web Fest is presented by the premiere queer global streaming network, Revry. With exciting world premieres, awards, special guests and incredible programming over the festival’s three days, we’ve provided a comprehensive breakdown of the highlights you won’t want to miss.
1. The Premieres
This year OWF will kick off at YouTube Space LA on Friday, May 18 with the West Coast Premiere of Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds’ HBO documentary Believer, following the struggles of queer youth within the Mormon Church and their journey to reconcile pride and faith in the wake of youth suicide.
OWF will also be host to a number of world premieres, including the debut of drag superstar BeBe Zahara’s new music video “Jungle Kitty” with BeBe in attendance, and the world premieres of new Revry Original docu-reality series, Room to Grow and Putting On. And you’ll want to catch up on Queens of Kings, since season 3’s premiere will also screen.
2. The Awards
OWF is at the forefront in celebrating positive, queer representation with the Revry Visibility Awards. Previous years honorees including Tyler Oakley and rising star Ari Fitz. This year’s honorees include YouTube icon Ingrid Nilsen for her profound impact in LGBTQ advocacy, Miles Jai for authentic, positive, queer and fabulously energetic LGBTQ representation, Miles McKenna for his fearless comedy and Dan Reynolds’ non-profit organization LOVELOUD for bringing unconditional love and support to out LGBTQ+ friends and families. The presenters are just as cool — they include Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara and past winner Gigi Gorgeous.
And of course, there will be a number of awesome awards for creators. This year’s Audience Award winner will win a trip to Rio de Janeiro to see their work open at RIO Web Fest 2019.
3. The Laughs
Comedic entertainers and creators from all around the world come together for this year’s Out Web Fest. The roster includes the lesbian musical Happy Playland from New Zealand, about a family fun center. You’ll also want to check out sketch comedian John Loos’ Too Big for This World, and the gender-breaking comedic journey Femme.
4. The Tears
From ground-breaking digital series to eye-opening documentaries, you won’t want to miss this year’s drama selections. From France, there’s the politically conscious series Woke. We also recommend The Y Theory, a story of gender fluidity and awakening, the Brazilian series Septo and the Nepali trans political documentary Pinky Gurung, which follows a young trans representative’s run for local office.
5. The Opportunities
In addition to OWF’s screenings, you’ll also want to come prepared with your best ideas for the Powerhouse Industry Pitchfest. That’s where you get to pitch one-on-one the decision making execs and representatives from groundbreaking digital production companies including IFC, Seed & Spark and Entertainment One, among others. The winner of the Pitch Fest will have the chance of winning time at Revry’s studio lot to bring their ideas to fruition.
