The Museum of Photographic Arts at Balboa Park hosted the final day of San Diego’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival this year on Sunday. FilmOut, a group founded in the 1990s as a thesis project by a San Diego State University (SDSU) student, organizes the yearly event.
“It’s an opportunity to educate, enlighten, and entertain around the communities associated with the LGBTQ community which are unique,” stated Kaleb Gabriel, MovieOut’s executive director. “They have their own stories, their own unique needs and helps bring representation to people who are underrepresented in general media,” he stated.
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The short film “Do Us Part” is one of the dozens of films that are shown throughout the festival. Tyler Yath, the movie’s star, portrays the same-named character who battles an eating condition. The sensitive subject is based on the personal experience of writer and director Ryan Beene.
“Especially within the Queer community there’s a lot of male validation that we’re looking for, and a lot of times that gets put on your body and what you look like,” Beene said.
Yath prepared for the role in the movie by reading books and memoirs about eating disorders, and she hopes that viewers would leave with a fresh viewpoint.
“It should feel uncomfortable and hopefully they can walk away and really sit with the film and think about it and just come to have a better understanding of other people,” Yath stated.
To support the yearly event, FilmOut has a strong roster of sponsors. Nonetheless, organizers fear that the subsidies they get from the county and city may be impacted by recent federal budget cuts. FilmOut hopes the San Diego community would support them ahead of the festival next year.
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“We have a lot to offer to the world and this is a chance for them to see how we operate, the way our worlds may intersect and the ways that we are more similar than we are different,” Gabriel added.
The only LGBTQ+ film festival in San Diego County is the San Diego LGBTQ+ Film Festival. A few times a month, the group hosts movie screenings. You can visit their website to learn more.
