Week of Nov 3
Outfest returns to programming with the new OutfestNEXT series this week, bringing four days of great Queer films to LA's LGBT Center and LOOK cinemas in Glendale from November 6-9.
To get in the mood, you can stream some past festival favorites from this year's filmmakers, including time-hopping gay romance End of the Century from Lucio Castro, rural yearner Pit Stop from Yen Tan, curious straight guy dramedy The Astronaut Lovers from Marco Berger, trans jazz musician Billy Tipton doc No Ordinary Man from Chase Joynt, or First Nation coming of age Wildhood from Bretten Hannam. And of course, TV giants Brian Fuller and Greg Berlanti need no introduction.
See you there!
Outfest NEXT
All That We Love
Nov 06, 6:00 PM @ Los Angeles LGBT Center
Filmmakers in Attendance
Following the death of her family dog, Emma finds herself at a crossroads where grief and release play together: a midlife awakening is now in full throttle, and those closest to Emma feel the impact, including her best friend Stan and her rambunctious daughter Maggie. To make matters more complicated and ripe for comedic mishaps, Emma’s estranged ex-husband Andy returns to the city from Singapore down on his professional luck and aiming to rekindle things with his lost love.
Dust Bunny
Nov 06, 8:30 PM @ Los Angeles LGBT Center
Filmmakers in Attendance
An eight-year-old girl asks her scheming neighbor for help in killing the monster under her bed that she thinks ate her family.
The Broken Hearts Club
Nov 07, 6:00 PM @ Los Angeles LGBT Center
25th Anniversary Screening
A close-knit group of gay friends share the emotional roller coster of life, relationships, the death of friends, new beginnings, jealousy, fatherhood and professional success. At various stages of life’s disarray, these young men share humorous and tragic relationships and always have each other to rely on.
Rock Out
Nov 07, 8:30 PM @ Los Angeles LGBT Center
In electric, personal, and historical ways, this riveting documentary explores whether there is, or ever was, a home for Queer in the hyper-masculine, black painted worlds of heavy metal, punk and rock & roll. Excavating the often-veiled queer lives of some of the greatest culture-defining disruptors and masterminds of music in the 1960s and 70s, Rock Out demands to know what unique value ‘gay’ brought to creating and revolutionising rock, punk, and metal – from the perspective of managers, producers, artists and fans – and why those contributions have been left buried for so long.
At the Place of Ghosts
Nov 08, 11:00 AM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Haunted by the past, siblings Mise’l and Antle are destined to reunite and join forces against a dark spirit that emerges from their shared childhood. Once inseparable, their fractured relationship set by years of silence and a violent episode rooted in homophobia, is tested as they must return to Sk+te’kmujue’kati (the Place of Ghosts) a forest steeped in ancestral memory where time bends. What initiates from trauma soon transforms into an odyssey of healing, as Mise’l and Antle confront their caretaker’s cruelty, the weight of family secrets, and their own deepest fears. Visually stunning and emotionally raw, this extraordinary tale explores how love, even when repressed, can become the fiercest weapon against hate.
Looking Back, Facing Forward
Nov 08, 11:30 AM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Outfest Short Selects
As Outfest returns from a long hiatus, we want to honor our community of filmmakers by showcasing a selection of the films that have uplifted Outfest and its audiences over the course of its long history in the Los Angeles LGBTQIA+ community.
Niñxs
Nov 08, 1:00 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
At the foot of Tepozteco, a sacred hill that governs the winds and fertility, lies the small town of Tepoztlán. Against this backdrop, fifteen-year-old Karla’s body and mind are undergoing a revolution.
Drive Back Home
Nov 08, 1:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
A conservative plumber from a small east coast village who travels to Toronto in order to get his brother out of jail after he is arrested for having sex with another man in a public park. At the insistence of their strong willed mother, the two brothers must drive the 1000 mile trip back home to New Brunswick, together - discovering each other and themselves along the way.
Love Letters
Nov 08, 3:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Céline is expecting her firstborn. But she’s not the one who’s pregnant. In three months, her wife Nadia will give birth to their daughter. Under the gaze of her friends, her mother, and the law, Céline looks for her place and sense of legitimacy.
Pride Is a (Laugh) Riot
Nov 08, 3:30 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Short Film Program, Filmmakers in Attendance in person
There’s a lot you could say about our community: some of it’s good, some of it’s even better. But one thing no one has ever said is, “queer people are not funny.” (Well, no one worth listening to, anyway.) These shorts showcase the queer experience in all its joyful hilarity.
I Want You So Bad
Nov 08, 5:45 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Short Film Program, Filmmakers in Attendance
We talk a lot in our community about the beauty of queer love—but in this shorts program we want to focus on that other, particular queer phenomenon: the sensuous ache for someone—or something—and the confusing mix of feelings that come when we get what we want.
We Are Pat
Nov 08, 6:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Filmmakers in Attendance
Pat, the evasive, androgynous character made famous on Saturday Night Live by Julia Sweeney, was an inescapable figure in 1990s pop culture. As a child, filmmaker Ro Haber became obsessed with Pat—a character whose popularity stemmed from making others uncomfortable by defying gender norms. Decades later, and now an out trans filmmaker, Haber still grapples with Pat’s legacy. Thirty-five years after It’s Pat first aired, Haber assembles a group of queer and trans comedians, writers, and even Sweeney herself to revisit the character. Through conversation and critique, they aim not to erase Pat but to reframe them, transforming a symbol of ridicule into one of reflection and empowerment.
CAMP
Nov 08, 8:30 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Filmmakers in Attendance
A story of impossible redemption, feminine power, and duels that repeat themselves like cursed cycles.
Perro Perro
Nov 08, 9:00 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Some men are literal dogs! And Juan happens to find one in the wilderness while on vacation. He takes him in, bathes him, feeds him, and shows him much-needed affection. However, his girlfriend warns against becoming too attached…
Communing with the Past
Nov 09, 12:00 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Short Film Program, Filmmakers in Attendance
There are few things that will make a queer person feel less alone than surrounding yourself with queer (or even straight) people of other generations—it can and must be a source of solidarity and strength to learn how to move through an often brutal world, or even how to party.
Drunken Noodles
Nov 09, 12:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Adnan, a young art student, arrives in New York to spend the summer in an apartment. He interns at a gallery that exhibits the work of an older, unconventional artist he once crossed paths with. As moments from his past and present intertwine, a series of encounters, both artistic and erotic, open gaps in his everyday reality.
Dreams in Nightmares
Nov 09, 2:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
After an abrupt layoff, Z embarks on a trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Traveling with her two closest friends, these three queer black femmes find their priorities tested as shapeshifting threats in each city expose (inter)personal and ideological fractures.
State of Firsts
Nov 09, 2:45 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
A documentary that follows Sarah McBride’s groundbreaking first year in Congress as the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. legislature, State of Firsts captures her battle against relentless political attacks. As MAGA Republicans ban her from restrooms and publicly misgender her, McBride confronts threats and discrimination with resilience. Focused on meaningful policy work over partisan conflict, she draws inspiration from historical figures who overcame adversity, offering a powerful look at perseverance in the face of systemic opposition.
Christy
Nov 09, 5:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Christy Martin never imagined life beyond her small-town roots in West Virginia—until she discovered a knack for punching people. Fueled by grit, raw determination, and an unshakable desire to win, she charges into the world of boxing under the guidance of her trainer and manager-turned-husband, Jim. But while Christy flaunts a fiery persona in the ring, her toughest battles unfold outside it—confronting family, identity, and a relationship that just might become life-or-death.
The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Nov 09, 5:45 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Short Film Program, Filmmakers in Attendance
If there’s one thing queer people understand, it’s how to play with form to make an object more interesting. From surreal horror to dystopian animation to blaxploitation, these filmmakers reinterpret the genres they’re working in to create work that is altogether captivating...
Lakeview
Nov 09, 8:30 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
A queer ensemble comedy set over a weekend at the lake house of a group of lifelong friends
Touch Me
Nov 09, 8:45 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.
Also This Week
The Stranger
Nov 03, 12:50 PM @ DGA Theater
Out French provocatuer Francois Ozon adapts the classic existentialist novel by Albert Camus.
Tickets from The American French Film Fetival
Je Tu Il Elle
Nov 04, 7:00 PM @ Los Feliz 3
50th Anniversary screening, with Ackerman's early short films.
A woman suffers a subdued psychological breakdown in the wake of a devastating breakup.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Strangers on a Train
Nov 06, 7:30 PM @ Aero Theater
Book signing with Stephen Rebello for his book, Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train
Based on the novel by lesbian Patricia Highsmith, starring bi actor Farley Granger (who came out in his 2007 memoir), this Hitchcock thriller is hardly subtle--with its queer-coded villain serving as a doppleganger for everything our meek protagonist wishes he could be.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will
Nov 07, 7:00 PM @ Milagro Cinemas
A documentary series with unprecedented access to Juan Gabriel’s personal archives, including videos he filmed himself. Across four episodes, this investigation offers an intimate and revealing story about Alberto Aguilera Valadez, the man behind the iconic Mexican music idol.
Tickets from GuadaLAjara Film Festival
We Forgot to Break Up
Nov 07, 8:00 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Filmmakers in Person
A trans musician is caught in a love triangle with his bandmates as they rise to fame, in this love letter to Toronto’s 2000s music scene.
Pink Flamingos in 16mm
Nov 07, 11:59 PM @ Art Theater Long Beach
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as “The Filthiest Person Alive”.
Tickets from Art Theater Long Beach
Persona
Nov 09, 1:00 PM @ Los Feliz 3
Actor and filmmaker George Griffith in person
You can cut the lesbian tension with a knife in this arthouse masterpiece from Ingmar Begrman. Long imitated, this classic films follows a stage actress who has gone mute, and the pyschologically intense journey she goes on with her young nurse while recovering on an island.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Next Week
Assembly
Nov 10, 7:30 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Interdisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome embarks on a journey with a global cast of artists, vogue dancers, and ground-breaking AI to transform a historic military facility in NYC into an Afro-futurist utopia. This once-in-a-lifetime performance captured on screen investigates and re-imagines LGBTQ and Black cultural expression through fresh, decolonized minds.
The Christmas Writer
Nov 11, 7:00 PM @ Laemmle NoHo 7
Writer/director Christin Baker with actors Kendahl Landreth, Jordan Myrick and Stacey Lee in person
Noel Robbins, a successful author known for writing Christmas romance novels, finds herself struggling with writer’s block after the passing of her mother. Without her usual inspiration, she contemplates stepping away from holiday-themed books altogether. In an attempt to rekindle her creativity, she returns to her hometown of Pinewood, where she reconnects with her grandmother and old friends. She also meets Callie, a charming bookstore owner and single mother, who encourages Noel to help judge a Christmas story contest. As Noel immerses herself in the town’s festive spirit and grows closer to Callie and her daughter, she rediscovers her love for Christmas—and perhaps finds a new love story of her own.
2025 HUMP! Film Festival
Nov 13, 6:30 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
After two decades of bringing independent, genre-bending, jaw-dropping adult short films to the masses, these days the HUMP! Jury receives way too many incredible, festival-worthy submissions each year to narrow them all down into one feature-length presentation.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
SOLD OUT: Blue Moon
Nov 14, 7:30 PM @ Aero Theater
Star Ethan Hawke in person
Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott star in this biopic of bisexual Broadway composer Lorenz Hart in the latest from Richard Linklater, which opened NEWFEST, New York's LGBT Film festival.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
