The last day of San Diego’s this year’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival was held on Sunday at the Museum of Photographic Arts at Balboa Park. The annual event was organized by FilmOut, an organization that first started in the 90’s as a thesis project by a student at San Diego State University (SDSU).
“It’s an opportunity to educate, enlighten and entertain around the communities associated with the LGBTQ community which are unique,” said Kaleb Gabriel, the Executive Director of FilmOut. “They have their own stories, their own unique needs and helps bring representation to people who are underrepresented in general media,” he said.
Among the dozens of films featured during the festival is a short film called “Do Us Part”. The film stars Tyler Yath, who plays a character of the same name in the film, who struggles with an eating disorder. The uncomfortable topic draws from writer and director Ryan Beene’s lived experience.
“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,” said Beene.
Yath studied memoirs and literature surrounding eating disorders to prepare for the role in the film, and hopes that people walk away with a new perspective after watching it.
“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,” said Yath.
FilmOut has a healthy lineup of sponsors to make the annual festival possible. However, organizers are concerned that recent cuts from the federal government could impact the grants they receive from the city and county. Ahead of next year’s festival, FilmOut hopes that the San Diego community comes out to support them.
“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,” said Gabriel.
The San Diego LGBTQ+ Film Festival is the only one of its kind in San Diego County. The organization holds movie screenings a couple times every month. For more information you can visit their website.