Outfest, Los Angeles’ gay and lesbian film festival, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, showing LGBT films in Hollywood and Los Angeles from July 12 to July 22. Since 1982 Outfest has shown more than 5,600 films to one million people, and films have been picked up and distributed around the world. Here’s our guide to the most girl-friendly films Outfest has to offer this year. And we know that Outfest is LA centric but you can also look for these films at fests closer to you! 

Theaters:

DGA: Directors Guild of America
7920 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90046

Ford: John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
2580 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, 90068

Harmony Gold Theatre
7655 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90046

REDCAT: Roy and Edna Disney/Calarts Theatre at Walt Disney Concert Hall
631 W. 2nd St., Downtown Los Angeles, 90012

Orpheum Theatre
842 S. Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles, 90014

Village: LA Gay and Lesbian Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N. McCadden Pl., Los Angeles, 90038

Friday, July 13

My Best Day

Screening: 9:15 pm at Harmony Gold (also 11:30 am on Sunday, July 15 in DGA 2)

Story: Karen juggles a visit from her long-lost father while living in a small town, and her co-worker Megan struggles to choose between her longtime girlfriend and a new love.

Saturday, July 14

Margarita

Screening: 12:00 pm at Harmony Gold

Story: A young Mexican woman named Margarita works as a nanny for a Canadian family, but only when she's not hanging at ladies-only hot tub parties with her girlfriend. But when she loses her job, Margarita must get married or face deportation.

A Map For a Talk (Mapa Para Conversar)

Screening: 7:15 pm in DGA 2 (also 2:00 pm on Saturday, July 21 in DGA 2)

Story: A young single mother in Chile takes a day trip on a sailboat with her artist girlfriend and her disapproving mother, teaching all three about the struggle to accept those we love.

Sunday, July 15

Born Naked(MLB)

Screening: 4:00 pm at REDCAT (also 7:15 pm on Monday, July 16 in DGA 2)

Story: This documentary takes its title from the famous RuPaul quote, "We're all born naked, and the rest is drag." 23-year-old Spanish filmmaker Andrea Esteban and her girlfriend travel to Madrid, Berlin and London to meet young lesbian and trans activists, artists and journalists.

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Sunday, July 15

That's What She Said

Screening: 4:30 pm in DGA 1

Story: True Blood's Carrie Preston directs this comedy about the Manhattan adventures of a bisexual woman (played by Anne Heche), her best friend, and a vibrator addict (Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat) they meet along the way.

I Am a Woman Now

Screening: 5:00 pm at Harmony Gold

Story: This charming Dutch documentary features a group of 70-something trans women who were some of the first to get gender reassignment surgery decades ago and who tell the stories of their lives.

A Perfect Ending

Screening: 6:30 pm in DGA 1

Story: "Without passion, what's the point?" That's the mantra of this drama about a wife and mother of three who launches into a journey of self-discovery with the help of a young female escort from beloved director Nicole Conn (Elena Undone). 

Satan's Angel: Queen of the Fire Tassels

Screening: 6:30 pm at REDCAT

Story: Lesbian burlesque star Satan's Angel has been a household name among nightclubs since the 60s. Now 68, Angel Walker tells the story of her childhood, her life in burlesque and her relationship with her girlfriend Vic.

Mommy Is Coming

Screening: 8:30 pm at REDCAT

Story: Cheryl Dunye directs this explicit German film about a lesbian couple at a crossroads in their relationship when one wants love, another wants sex, and a mother comes for an extended visit.

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Monday, July 16

I Stand Corrected

Screening: 7:00 pm at Harmony Gold

Story: Out director Andrea Meyerson, who created and directed the Laughing Matters series of films, tells the story of Jennifer Leitham, a trans woman who risked her international career as a renowned upright bass player when she came out.

Tuesday, July 17

Young & Wild

Screening: 7:00 pm in DGA 1

Story: A seventeen-year-old in Chile can't express her obsession with sex around her evangelical family. She takes to the web to detail her sex life while maintaining the balancing act of dating a man and a woman at the same time.

Wednesday, July 18

Children of Srikandi

Screening: 5:00 pm in DGA 2

Story: Eight women set out to explore lesbian and transgender women's lives in Indonesia through accounts of queer culture and identity in a Muslim nation.

Walk Away Renee

Screening: 9:45 pm in DGA 2 (also 5:00 pm on Saturday, July 21 at REDCAT)

Story: Director Jonathan Caouette picks up where his 2003 film Tarnation left off in this documentary, drawing on his archive of home video footage of his mother Renee. He retrieves his mother, now mentally ill, from a neglectful nursing home in Texas and brings her back home to New York.

Thursday, July 19

Mosquita y Mari

Screening: 7:00 pm in DGA 1

Story: Yolanda, a studious 15-year-old girl, and Mari, her feisty new neighbor, develop a friendship that embodies awkward first love and first desire.

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Friday, July 20

Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years

Screening: 5:00 pm in DGA 2

Story: This documentary honors Audre Lorde, the esteemed African-American lesbian poet, twenty years after her passing, revealing her personal passions and her international influence.

Kiss Me (Kyss Mig)

Screening: 7:00 pm in DGA 1

Story: In this subtitled Swedish romantic drama, a woman preparing to be married faces life-changing decisions when she begins a love affair with another woman.

Stud Life

Screening: 7:15 pm in DGA 2

Story: When British stud JJ and her best friend Seb go exploring in LGBT London, JJ falls for a mysterious femme while Seb finds himself dealing with online hookups and a clingy drug dealer.

Saturday, July 21

Wildness

Screening: 7:30 pm in DGA 1

Story: This documentary tells the story of Wildness, one of the most iconic queer parties in Los Angeles nightlife history, and highlights the creative tensions that arose when a group of queer artists of color met a community of trans immigrant women at a historic bar in LA.

Cloudburst

Screening: 8:30 pm at Ford

Story: Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker play a lesbian couple headed for Canada to get married who pick up a gay hitchhiker along the way.

Extras:

Girls’ Shorts:

A program of 10 to 20-minute films geared specifically toward ladies. Friday, July 20 at 9:45 pm in DGA 1, and Friday, July 20 at 10:00 pm in DGA 2

Women Make Movies Shorts:

A celebration of the achievements of women directors, highlighting three exceptional short films by women filmmakers. Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm in DGA 2

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