Lineup For Outfest’s Second Annual Queer Television Festival “The OutFronts” Released!

Outfest has revealed the lineup for the upcoming second annual queer television festival ‘The OutFronts’. The event will run from June 3 till June 6, 2022, showcasing tons of queer content and talent.

With presenting sponsor IMDb, ‘The OutFronts’ will be a free-to-view four-day festival. It will include globally available virtual panel discussions and ticketed in-person events in Los Angeles. LGBTQIA+ fans can look forward to episodic premieres, advanced screenings, interviews, and a lot more. 

‘The OutFronts’ festival is all about highlighting the diverse representation of LGBTQIA+ characters on screen, spanning several genres and styles. All panel discussions will be free of charge to view online and via Outfest’s OutMuseum platform.

You can visit the official website here.

“After a record-breaking inaugural year in which we saw nearly 70,000 participants and fans attend our digital event from as far as London, Brazil, and Des Moines, Iowa – we are excited to offer opportunities to come together in person and still provide the same high-level digital experience as last year,” shared Outfest Executive Director, Damien S. Navarro.

“It’s inspiring to know that one festival couldn’t possibly cover all the wonderful LGBTQIA+ stories being told on television today,” said Outfest’s Director of Festival Programming, Mike Dougherty.
“The OutFronts by no means represents an exhaustive account of all that is queer in TV, but they do gather a multitude of brilliantly talented queer artists and allies whose diversity of perspective and experience are on full display in these funny, entertaining, and emotional conversations. I can’t wait to share them with the world.”

Let’s go over the full schedule!

In-Person Events

• Queer as Folk presented by Peacock

The world premiere of Peacock’s Queer as Folk reboot will be healed at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on June 3, 2022, at 7 PM PT. There will also be a post-screening talkback with the creators and cast.

While the US version of Queer as Folk had issues, I can’t deny that I enjoyed watching the series years ago. I’m looking forward to seeing the IP being revisited in modern times.

Queer as Folk is supposed to premiere on Peacock come June 9, 2022. 

• Love, Victor presented by HULU and DISNEY+ (Sat June 4, 12 PM PT – Neuehouse Hollywood)

The advance sneak peek screening of Love, Victor season 3 episode 1 will be held at Neuehouse. To promote the third and final season of the series, the showrunner and young cast will talk about Love, Victor‘s impact and what fans can expect as the story comes to a close.

The panel will be moderated by Tommy Dorfman. The guest talent includes Brian Tanen (Showrunner), Michael Cimino, Anthony Turpel, Bebe Wood, George Sear, Isabella Ferreira, and Ava Capri.

Frankly, I’m glad Love, Victor is ending. The dramatic storytelling really disappointed me. In my opinion, season 2 of Love, Victor was a mess, and not the fun kind. Let’s see what the third season will offer when it debuts on June 15, 2022.

• Queer Firefighters Onscreen and IRL (Sat, June 4, 3 PM PT – Neuehouse Hollywood)

This panel will feature queer firefighters on TV as well as real-life queer firefighters of Los Angeles. The talent includes Ronen Rubenstein (9-1-1: Lone Star), Brian Michael Smith (9-1-1: Lone Star), and Tracie Thoms (Station 19).

For those interested, I do reaction and review videos of 9-1-1: Lone Star, focusing on Tarlos, over at The Geekiary’s YouTube channel.

• Legendary (Sat, June 4, 5 PM PT – Neuehouse Hollywood)

Legendary‘s host and MC Dashaun Wesley will go over some of the show’s most iconic performers, house mothers and fathers, and judges. This is more of a recap type of thing.

Legendary season 3 will premiere on May 19, 2022, and I do plan to cover it with reaction and review videos on The Geekiary’s YouTube channel.

Virtual Panels

• Chucky (Sun, June 5, 8 AM PT)

With season 2 of Chucky being worked on, Child’s Play creator Don Mancini and the franchise’s major cast will talk about how Chucky’s legacy has led to one of the queerest shows on television.

Featured talent includes Don Mancini, Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif, Zackary Arthur, Bjorgvin Anarson. The panel will be moderated by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies).

You can read my coverage of Chucky season one here.

• Gentleman Jack (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

Creators Sally Wainwright will be joined by cast member Lydia Leonard to discuss season two of the popular British series Gentleman Jack and the show’s passionate fanbase.

• Harlem presented by Prime Video (Sun, June 5, 8 AM PT)

Jerrie Johnson, playing the queer and savvy tech entrepreneur Tye, will be joined by castmates Juani Feliz, Johnathan Burke, and supervising producer Travon Free to discuss storylines in Harlem season one. The event will be moderated by Tre’vell Anderson.

• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series presented by Disney Plus and Disney Branded Television (Sat, June 4, 8 AM PT)

With the third season of HSMTMTS being set at Camp Shallow Lake, fans will get to see series creator Tim Federle and key cast members gather to discuss the show’s groundbreaking depiction of young gay romance and more.

The cast members include Frankie Rodriguez, Joe Serafini, Julia Lester, Larry Saperstein, and Saylor Bell. Series writer Ilana Wolpert will also be present.

While I initially side-eyed the show, I found myself becoming a fan of HSMTMTS during the second season. I’m looking forward to covering the third season!

• Motherland: Fort Salem presented by Freeform (Sat, June 4, 8 AM PT)

With the third and final season of Motherland: Fort Salem getting ready to premiere on June 21, 2022, show creator Eliot Laurence and cast members Taylor Hickson, Ashley Nicole Williams, Jessica Sutton, Amalia Holm, and Demetria McKinney will share what fans can expect. It will be moderated by Dana Piccoli.

You can read Jessica’s coverage of Motherland: Fort Salem here.

• RuPaul’s Drag Race presented by VH1 (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

This panel will have moderator Dino-Ray Ramos in conversation with two of the top five queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14, Angeria Paris VanMichaels and Bosco, as they talk about their experience on the iconic show.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars season 7 will debut on May 20, 2022. Of course, I will be doing episode reactions on The Geekiary’s YouTube channel.

• 4400 (Sat, June 4, 8 AM PT)

Even though 4400 got canceled, fans can still enjoy a panel featuring Ariana Jackson, Sunil Nayar, Ireon Roach, T.L. Thompson, Jett Garrison, Shomari Kirkwood, Taylor Townsend, and Bradley Estrin-Barks.

• The Sex Lives of College Girls sponsored by IMDb (Sun, June 5, 8 AM PT)

This panel will have co-creator Justin Noble along with actors Reneé Rapp and Midori Francis talking about the show’s popularity and queer impact. It will be moderated by Jill Gutowitz.

• Sort of (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

Moderated by Naveen Kumar, the panel will include Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo, Amanda Cordner, Cassandra James, and Becca Blackwell to discuss the show’s impact when it comes to telling a story through the lens of a gender-fluid millennial of Pakistani descent in Sort of.

• Tom Swift presented by The CW and CBS Studios (Sat, June 4, 8 AM PT)

Even though The CW decided to recently cancel a bunch of queer-inclusive shows, at least the world will be getting the debut of Tom Swift come May 31, 2022. 

The featured talent on the panel, moderated by Ranard Caldwell, includes cast members Tian Richards and Marquise Vilsón, producers Melinda Hsu Taylor, Noga Landau, and Cameron Johnson.

• The Wilds presented by Prime Video (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

The Wilds is no doubt one of the most popular queer-inclusive shows out there. Season 2 premiered on May 6, 2022. Moderated by Dana Piccoli, the panel will include Mia Healey, Erana James, Miles Guitierrez-Riley.

• Yellowjackets presented by Showtime (Sun, June 5, 8 AM PT)

Another queer-inclusive show with audience and critic appeal, fans are eagerly waiting for the second season of Yellowjackets.

The panel will include Tawny Cypress, Liv Hewson, Rukiya Bernard, along with writer and co-ep Ameni Rozsa. It will be moderated by Michael Cuby.

• A Career-Spanning Conversation with Paula Pell (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

Upon the release of Girls5Eva season two, Paula will be joined by The Advocate’s Editor in Chief Tracy Gilchrist to talk about not only that series’ comic genius, but her experience as a queer woman in the television business.

• From Influencer to Actor (Sun, June 5, 8 AM PT)

Featuring Kalen Allen, Gigi Gorgeous, and Boman Martinez-Reid, the panel will have said talent talk about “breaking” into television and film, and the lessons they learned along the way.

• The Queer Pioneers sponsored by IMDb (Sat, June 4, 8 AM PT)

Moderated by Cameron Scheetz, this retrospective Outfest panel will bring together a handful of actors, Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life), Jane Sibbett (Friends), to talk about fighting for queer rep in media not so long ago.

• The New Queer Icons of Television sponsored by IMDbPro (Mon, June 6, 8 AM PT)

In this special panel, Dave Karger sits down with four brilliant queer actors, Harvey Guillen (What We Do in the Shadows), Brandon Scott Jones (Ghosts), Javicia Leslie (Batwoman), and Vico Ortiz (Our Flag Means Death), to talk about creating such unique and appealing queer characters.

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Which panels are you most excited about?

Let us know.

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(via press release)

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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