Frameline47 Presents Out in the Silence Award to Nigerian Director

by Valerie Complex - DEADLINE - June 29, 2023

Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival concluded its 47th iteration on Saturday, June 24, with a screening of Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music, directed by Oscar-winning duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet). The documentary feature about the titular performer’s singular spectacle was preceded by the Festival’s annual Award Ceremony, which reaffirmed the dynamic future of queer cinema.

This year, the 11-day Festival ran from June 14–24, 2023, with events held in theaters across San Francisco, including the historic Castro Theatre, located in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ cultural district, and the Roxie Theater, Frameline’s longest-running partner theater. Frameline47 also returned to Oakland this year, featuring the Festival’s first-ever Oakland Opening Night (Jac Cron’s Chestnut) and Centerpiece (Hannah Pearl Utt’s Cora Bora) films, both of which screened at The New Parkway Theater. With a full slate of upwards of 90 in-person screenings and programs, Frameline47 featured essential queer films from Bay Area locals and international filmmakers alike, and welcomed 55,000 moviegoers, including streaming. This is a 25% increase on Frameline46 in 2022.

“No matter the metric, Frameline47 was a resounding success,” says James Woolley, Executive Director of Frameline. “We are proud to be California’s largest film festival, and the achievement means all the more because we are a celebration of queer cinema. Despite the changing moviegoing landscape, Frameline embodies the resilience of the larger LGBTQ+ community. We’ve not only adapted, but grown. Seeing that realized in numerous sold-out Castro Theatre showings was truly remarkable.”

The highlights of Frameline47 were numerous, varying in both scope and content. With its deep San Francisco roots, the Opening Night film — Andrew Durham’s Fairyland — began the Festival on a note both celebratory and intimate. Bolstered by a lively Q&A, passionate audience, and the music of the Castro Theatre’s beloved organ, Opening Night proved filmgoers’ desire to return to in-person showings. “Moments like Opening Night illustrate our organization’s power in the queer community — the power to build empathy and mutual understanding, and to find moments of joy,” says Nguyen Pham, Frameline’s Director of Philanthropy. “Not only is Frameline an authority in this space, but we take our responsibility seriously. At this moment, sharing queer cinema is life-changing — and life-saving — work, and it’s something we undertake together.”

This resolve can also be seen in Frameline47’s dedication to supporting queer and trans filmmakers at all stages of their careers. Presented during the Festival, the Out in the Silence Award, which provides $5,000 to the selected filmmaker, honors an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility, especially in places where such acts are rare and unexpected. This year, Frameline honored Babatunde Apalowo, the director of the Nigerian gay romance All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White. The Out in the Silence Award is generously underwritten by longtime film community members Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson and is named after their Emmy-winning 2010 film, which documented the quest for fairness and equality in rural and small town America. More about Out in the Silence.