Before Stonewall (top); Sigourney Weaver, Ryan Kelley in Prayers for Bobby (middle); Zach Gilford in Dare (bottom)
Special Events and Panels at Outfest 2009 include q&a's with the talent and creative teams of HBO’s drama Big Love (July 19 at 5:00pm at DGA 1) and Fox’s musical series Glee. Actors Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, and Jane Lynch, co-creator and writer Ian Brennan, and executive producer Dante Di Loreto will be present for the Glee q&a on Saturday, July 18 at 1:30pm at DGA 1.
Additionally, "Words, Pictures and Music," a panel discussion about musicals on the big screen, will feature Bill Condon (Chicago), Leslie Dixon (Hairspray), Peter Barsocchini (High School Musical 1-4), and H. P. Mendoza (Colma: The Musical). Mendoza's new musical, Fruit Fly, will be screened following the discussion.
Among Outfest 2009's other special events are:
- A screenwriting Lab Reading
- A screening of Sandra Bernhard’s Without You I’m Nothing
- Free screenings of Greta Schiller's documentary Before Stonewall (Sat, Jul 11, at Noon at the REDCAT), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots; Debra Chasnoff’s new documentary Straightlaced; and the Annie Award-winning animated feature Kung Fu Panda (!)
- A Sneak Peek of Making the Boys, a documentary about the making of the 1970 gay-themed classic The Boys in the Band
- A special screening of Prayers for Bobby (July 19 at 12:00pm at the DGA 1), starring Sigourney Weaver and Ryan Kelley. Panelists will include executive producers Daniel Sladek, David Permut and Chris Taaffe, screenwriter Katie Ford, actors Ryan Kelley and Scott Bailey, and PFLAG National Executive Director Jody Huckaby
I was once invited to go to a The Sound of Music sing-along. I told my friend I was really sorry I wouldn't be able to make it, but I was going to be on another planet that day. For those who don't have a pathological aversion to sing-alongs, the Ford Amphitheatre screening of Funny Girl (Thu, July 16, 8:30 pm), starring none other than the officially stamped gay icon Barbra Streisand (above), may turn out to be the Evening of Their Lives.
Other screenings at the Ford include the comedies Patrik Age 1.5, winner of the audience award at this year's Frameline festival; Jason Bushman's clever Hollywood, je t’aime; Alison Reid's The Baby Formula; and the Closing Night Gala, Adam Salky's Dare, starring Emmy Rossum and Zach Gilford.
For detailed information on the special events' dates and locations, go to http://www.outfest.org/tixSYS/2009/filmguide/.