Celebrate 30 Years of Outfest Tonight!

Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, turns 30 years old today with the start of its annual festival. As usual they will be presenting a huge number of films, documentaries and shorts over the next week and a half. I have been a member for a few years now and am always thrilled to support independent filmmaking and gay and lesbian cinema. I’ve appeared in films here in the past like Hollywood je T’aime and The Closet and will be submitting a few projects next year including our latest hysterical short Dirty Talk. In the meantime, I will just be enjoying the films that run from today July 12 thru July 22nd’s closing night feature, Struck by Lightning, written by and starring Glee‘s Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer.
Opening the festival tonight is the documentary Vito about gay rights activist Vito Russo while other big premieres include the comedy I Do (by my friend David Ross), Cloudburst starring Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, and Bearcity 2: The Proposal. There will also be a Hairspray sing-along and a special panel on the hilarious sitcom Happy Endings... For more on all the films and Outfest, head here.

Below is a list of films I will be seeing (and I’m sure I’ll be adding more in the days ahead)…

Any Day Now (starring Alan Cumming and Garrett Dillahaunt)
Elliott Loves
I Do
My Best Day
Gayby (a hilarious comedy I saw at the LA FIlm Fest)
Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean
Beauty (a fascinating and tense foreign drama)
Struck by Lightning

And enjoy this preview reel of some of the great films that will be playing this year at the 30th Anniversary of Outfest.

Chris Colfer Gets “Struck By Lightning”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Golden Globe winner and two-time Emmy nominee Chris Colfer is parlaying his Glee success into a movie career. His first feature, Struck by Lightening, is due in theaters this summer and not only does he star in it, but he wrote it. Hello multi-talent! Colfer plays a high school student who blackmails his fellow schoolmates into writing stories for his literary magazine, all in the hopes of getting into a great college. The first trailer is out and it looks pretty hilarious and Colfer is definitely showing us some new colors. Check out the clip below which also features Bridesmaids standout Rebel Wilson, Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland, Dermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks, Allie Grant (Suburgatory), Angela Kinsey (The Office), and Emmy/Golden Globe/SAG Award winner Allison Janney. And watch an all new Glee tonight as the kids head into the Sectionals competition for the winter finale episode.

Struck By Lightning