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.[1] 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

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The Vancouver Queer Film Festival logo

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.[2]

Festival awards

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People's Choice Award for Best Feature

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Year Film Director
2006[3] Unveiled Angelina Maccarone
2007[4] Shelter Jonah Markowitz
2008[5] 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

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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.

Year Film Director
2006[6] What Don't You Understand About "I'm Leaving Again" Amey Kazymerchyk
2007[7] Trans Neptune Matthew Long
2008[8] Writing the Land Kevin Lee Burton
2008[8] 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

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Originally named for OUTtv's Hot Pink Shorts TV show (The OUTtv Hot Pink Shorts Award), this award recognizes an exceptional short film.

Year Film Director
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 Haggis[9]
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

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Out in Schools

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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.[10] 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.[11] 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

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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.[12]

2007

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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.[13]

Film Director Mentor
The Nuwest Steambath Julian DeMayo Kenneth Sherman
Going In Jacks Cheng Terra Poirier
Borderless Me Setareh Mohammadi Karen Duthie
Checkpoint Alex Mah Winston Xin
^1 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

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References

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  1. ^ Peter Knegt, "30 years of resilience: Vancouver's queer film fest illuminates the full beauty of LGBTQ lives". CBC Arts, August 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "About Out on Screen".
  3. ^ Event Calendar – Out on Screen and Vancity presents Vancouver Queer Film Festival
  4. ^ "here! Films presents "Shelter"". Archived from the original on April 9, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
  5. ^ "Events - Vancouver Queer Film Festival". Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  6. ^ Vancouver Queer Film & Video Festival :: :: Press
  7. ^ Trans Neptune – News
  8. ^ a b "Vancouver Queer Film Festival - Events". Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  9. ^ Takeuchi, 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 Archived November 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Kids in the halls | Straight.com
  11. ^ Caring for Communities : Vancouver Foundation
  12. ^ CuedUp November 2006
  13. ^ "Vancouver Queer Film & Video Festival 2007 ::". www.outonscreen.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007.
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