As the LGBTQI Community both honors and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, OUTwatch – Wine Country’s LGBTQI Film Festival has tagged this year’s event as “Irrepressible.”  We honor those individuals and groups who fought for LGBTQI rights bringing us to this point in time, where we both enjoy the many advancements but both struggle to keep those civil rights and expand them to our entire community. This year the festival will happen at our permanent home Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol, which this year is celebrating 20 years of “Bringing the Best Films in the World to Sonoma County.”   OUTwatch is likewise determined to bring the best of International LGBTQI Cinema to the North Bay and are thrilled to have two astounding achievements in queer world cinema included in out line-up – one from India and the other from Spain.  The festival will showcase seven irrepressible, irresistible, and irreplaceable films – five exemplary feature films and two demonstrative documentaries. 

This year, the schedule is: Friday, October 4 – 7:30 p.m. Gay Chorus Deep South In response to a wave of anti-LGBTQ laws in Southern states, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus embarks on a tour of the American Deep South to bring a message of music, love and acceptance, to communities and individuals confronting intolerance.  Saturday, October 5 – Noon The End of the Century The mysteries of romantic connection, the challenges of a long-term relationship, the allure of personal freedom are explored in this sexy, funny, and moving film, set in picturesque Barcelona.   2:30 p.m.  Kattumaram In a small Indian village recovering from a devastating tsunami, a man struggles to marry off his niece, but the lovely and intelligent teacher has just met a butch photojournalist.4:30 p.m. Sell By Scott is mired as a ghost painter for a famous artist, while his boyfriend is rocketing to stardom as an Instagram fashion in this delightful ‘dramedy’ that asks the timeless questions:  how do you know who’s right for you, and how do you know when to let go?  7:30 p.m. More Beautiful for Having Been Broken  This story, about three broken women whose lives intersect at a lakeside community and who are forever changed through their shared love of a boy with special needs, is rich with romance, personal growth and family secretes  Sunday, October 6 – 1:30 p.m.  Snapshots Patty and her daughter Allison arrive at Gran’s house for their annual girls’ weekend where they ponder a box of old photos that holds secrets of love lost, love betrayed and love wanting. 4 p.m.  Changing the Game Thisdynamic documentary takes us into the lives of three transgender high school athletes — all at different stages of their athletic seasons, personal lives, and their unique paths as transgender teens.  7 p.m. The Infiltrators  A rag-tag group of undocumented youth – Dreamers – deliberately get detained by Border Patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center.  This Special Screening is a benefit for Queer Asylum Accompaniment, a new group that is assisting LGBTQI Asylum Seekers who want to settle in Sonoma County. 

To provide all members of the community with an opportunity to enjoy our program free tickets will be distributed to the organizations and groups that serve our community.