New York, NY (Top40 Charts) OUT Web Fest (OWF) returns on May 12th 2017 to celebrate the best in independent LGBTQ digital storytelling with an opening night event at YouTube Space LA. Featuring luminaries in the LGBTQ and media communities and hosting speaker panels by industry-leading figures, the three-day festival will commence with a red-carpet premiere at the beautiful, YouTube Space LA in Playa Vista. The premiere will honor Tyler Oakley and Gigi Gorgeous for their contributions to queer digital storytelling, and the event will include a screening of the acclaimed documentary This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous, directed by multiple Academy Award-winning director
Barbara Kopple.
"As an LGBTQ-inclusive festival dedicated to new and emerging queer and allied storytellers, OWF is more important than ever at this time in history and we could not be prouder to partner with YouTube Space LA to launch our second year," said
Christopher J. Rodriguez, Head of Programming for OWF. "The setting for our opening night is the perfect venue to celebrate stories by and for the LGBTQ community and we are delighted to honor these two talents with our annual REVRY-presented Visibility Awards."
Tyler will be given the Vanguard Award honoring an out influencer who has had a profound impact on LGBTQ visibility and acceptance and Gigi will receive the Vision Award for her courage, creativity, and optimism in telling her unique story to a wider audience and helping to evolve society's perspectives on LGBTQ issues.
OWF's mission is to celebrate diverse and queer-inclusive content told through the digital medium and to offer storytellers from around the globe a chance to share their vision, a mission firmly aligned with YouTube, whose platform has - in a relatively short amount of time - managed to transform the way people communicate and empower people to express themselves as individuals.
"YouTube has supported the LGBTQ community for years and we're honored to host OUT Web Fest's second annual digital shorts festival at YouTube Space LA to further shine a spotlight on the voices shaping the important conversations around LGBTQ issues," said Liam Collins, Head of Americas, YouTube Spaces. "Two of this year's honorees - Tyler Oakley and Gigi Gorgeous - are beacons for the LGBTQ community on YouTube and beyond, and we're thrilled that they'll be recognized for all their efforts and that audiences will get an opportunity to watch Gigi's story first-hand with a screening of our YouTube Red Original documentary, This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous."
Opening night will be followed with festival screenings the next two days at the historic Downtown Independent Theater in the heart of Los Angeles, where OWF will conduct category screenings and several high-profile industry panel sessions.
This year's festival is presented in partnership with REVRY, the world's first and only global LGBTQ-dedicated digital streaming service who will present a special screening each day of the festival.
OWF will conclude with an awards presentation ceremony and special performances from emerging REVRY music artists at the popular gay bar and nightclub, Precinct. To purchase tickets to the festival, please visit https://www.outwebfest2017.eventbrite.com/.
