Outfest Grand Jury Prizes Go To ‘Anhell69,’ ‘Something You Said Last Night,’ ‘The Fabulous Ones,’ Actor Isaac Krasner And More

Outfest announced its grand jury prize winners today, after the LGBTQIA+ film festival in Los Angeles wrapped its 41st edition.

Anhell69, directed by Theo Montoya, won the Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Documentary Feature, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize. The film set in Medellín, Colombia takes a hybrid doc-fictional approach to explore the country’s history of violence and the bleak prospects for many young people in Colombia. POV magazine has called it “uncompromising and disturbing, the best kind of transgressive documentary filmmaking.”

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Queendom, directed by Agniia Galdanova, earned a Special Mention in the documentary feature category. [Scroll for full list of Outfest awards winners].

The Grand Jury Prize for North American Feature went to Something You Said Last Night, directed by Luis De Filippis. It tells the story of a transgender woman in her mid-20s who takes a family trip that forces her to confront life decisions. Special Mentions in that category went to Fancy Dance, directed by Erica Tremblay, and The People’s Joker, directed by Vera Drew.

Jurors awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding International Narrative Feature to The Fabulous Ones, directed by Roberta Torre. Outfest programmers describe it as “a hilarious and poignant paean to trans friendship — it is something like magic.”

Isaac Krasner, the young star of Big Boys, won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance, North American Narrative Feature. In the coming-of-age comedy, “a teenage boy’s unexpected crush turns a camping trip into a weekend of self-discovery.” Choi Hae-jun, star of Peafowl, won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance, International Narrative Feature.

During the festival, Outfest gave out several other honors, including the Outfest Achievement Award to filmmaker Andrew Ahn, director of Fire Island and Spa Night. Actor-producer-musician Amandla Stenberg earned the festival’s Platinum Maverick Award, while electronic music artist and activist Madame Gandhi received the Platinum Alchemy Award. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre won the inaugural Outfest Achievement Award for Press and Media, “the organization’s highest honor…  [celebrating] the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media.”

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone earned the James Schamus Ally Award, recognizing their work supporting equity and inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community. As we previously reported, McCarthy, Falcone and Stenberg did not appear in person at Outfest to collect their awards because of the actors strike. Jean-Pierre cited the same reason for declining to come in person to accept the Press and Media Award.

A select number of award-winning films will be available to view on Outfest Los Angeles’ virtual platform through July 30. Audience Award winners will be announced at the end of the virtual viewing window.

 “In a truly exceptional year for LGBTQIA+ film, in which our artists delivered such a diverse collection of provocative, insightful, and fearless work, the choices made by our esteemed juries could not have been easy,” Outfest Director of Programming Mike Dougherty said. “Congratulations to every filmmaker in our festival for their commitment to unapologetically queer cinema in all its forms, and to these awardees for their much deserved recognition.”

The North American Narrative Features Jury was comprised of Tuck Dowrey, Creative Executive, Page Boy Productions; Allegra Madsen, Director of Programming, Frameline; and actor Breeda Wool.

The International Narrative Features Jury was made up of Jamie Gonçalves, Producer (Dos Estaciones); film programmer Anna Li, and Evan Schwartz, Vice President of Content, Wolfe Releasing. The Documentary Jury for both features and shorts, meanwhile, was comprised of Anja Block, Documentaries, Discovery+; Aurora Brachman, Filmmaker (Joychild); and film programmer Anita Raswant. 

The U.S. & International Narrative Short Film Jury included Anto Astudillo, Lead Programmer, TRANSlations: Seattle Trans Film Festival; actor Nava Mau, and Cameron Scheetz, Entertainment Editor, Queerty.

This is the full list of Outfest awards winners:

The Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Documentary Feature: 

Anhell69, directed by Theo Montoya

Documentary Feature Special Mention:

Queendom, directed by Agniia Galdanova

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding North American Narrative Feature: 

Something You Said Last Night directed by Luis De Filippis

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance, North American Narrative Feature:

Isaac Krasner in Big Boys

Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting, North American Narrative Feature:

Sebastián Silva for Rotting in the Sun

North American Narrative Feature Special Mentions:

Fancy Dance directed by Erica Tremblay

The People’s Joker directed by Vera Drew

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding International Narrative Feature: 

The Fabulous Ones directed by Roberta Torre

Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting, International Narrative Feature: 

Asog, screenplay by Seán Devlin, Jaya, and Arnel Pablo

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance, International Narrative Feature: 

Choi Hae-jun in Peafowl

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding International Narrative Short Film:

An Avocado Pit directed by Ary Zara

International Narrative Short Special Mention:

Christopher at Sea directed by Tom C J Brown

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Short Film:

Love, Jamie directed by Karla Murthy

Documentary Short Special Mention:

Here, Hopefully directed by Hao Zhou

Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding U.S. Narrative Short: 

Dilating for Maximum Results directed by Nyala Moon

U.S. Narrative Short Special Mention:

As You Are directed by Daisy Friedman

Special Programming Awards, presented by the senior Outfest programming team:

Emerging Talent: Alice Maio Mackay, T Blockers

Artistic Achievement: Rumpelstiltskin directed by Ethan Fuirst

Social Impact: Truth Be Told directed by Nneka Onuorah

Hornitos First Shot Award:

A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms (or Whatever Longer Title You Prefer), directed by Lorena Russi

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