These Outfest2021 Films Showcased the Black Queer Experience

Black voices shined at this year's Outfest

Outfest, the LGBTQIA+ festival that celebrates diverse cinema from all over the world, has led the charge in promoting films from a number of different points of view. There was also a marked increase in the number of films that were created by and starred Black talent. Three, in particular, create a lovely triptych showing the past, present and future of Black queer life. Justice Jamal Jones’ How to Raise a Black Boy, Robert Philipson’s Smoke, Lilies and Jade, and George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. 

Each film had its premiere during Outfest2021 in Los Angeles. I was on hand to talk with the filmmakers and cast about these very special projects.

Pictured: Nathan Hale Williams

How to Raise a Black Boy

How to Raise a Black Boy is an artistic dream of a film. Filled with poetic narration, stark and beautiful visuals and an epic soundtrack, it’s the pseudo nighttime story designed to keep you up and thinking. 

Written by Justice Jamal Jones and called an “experimental fairytale”, the film is a sweeping ode to the times in life when boys must decide what really makes them men. Jones, an Omaha, Ne native like myself, is a filmmaker, actor and writer based in New York City. They founded Rainbow Farm Productions to create a space where individuals can cultivate the multiplicity of themselves outside of inaccurate binary standards. 

In the film, as the monster of toxic masculinity, shame and self-doubt stalk the four boys in the film, they run, in beautiful and terrifying slow motion, laughing and running until they can’t anymore. Narrated by Rayeen Pendarvis, the film is heart-clenching and definitely one to watch. 

All Boys Aren’t Blue

Based on the life and words of non-binary author George Matthew Johnson, All Boys Aren’t Blue uses a mix of narrative and performance to bring the author’s words to life. Director Nathan Hale Williams employs the work of four artists to pull off this feat; Bernard David Jones, Dyllon Burnside, Thomas Hobson along with voiceover work from the iconic Jennifer Lewis. Each performer orates a chapter from Johnson’s book accompanied by archival photos and visual artistic elements. Johnson’s autobiographical work is vulnerable and their tales are filled with conflicting yet truthful thoughts about Black masculinity and how it aligns with their queerness. The performances are powerful, particularly one performed by Dyllon Burnside that re-enacts an essay called ‘Smile’ where Johnson lost their teeth at the age of 5.

Williams shared how he became the director of the film. “I had just finished reading the book. I said to myself that I had to get in touch with George and tell them that their memoir really touched me. It’s about black masculinity in association with Blackness and Black queer identity and literally the next day Amara [Kennedy] and George from AHF [AIDS Healthcare Foundation] wanted to adapt it into a film. It was pure serendipity, God is good!” Williams was excited and enthusiastic not only about the screening, but of all the Black queer screenings in the festival. 

“We’ve made storytelling accessible. There used to be so many gatekeepers - and there still are, we have to change that, but if you have a phone and you have a story, you can tell it. I love that it’s become so open and because of technology we don’t have all the limitations and barriers. You can tell your story.” 

Smoke, Lilies and Jade

Based on the book by Richard Bruce Nugent of the same name, Smoke, Lilies and Jade is set during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. The film brings previously forgotten queer influence to the forefront. We follow Alex (Xavier Avila) who is gaining ranks as a voice. He has a girl he’s sweet on, but he can’t seem to get a certain beauty out of his mind. Beauty (Ernesto Reyes) accompanies Alex on a journey as he discovers his sexuality and what it is to be openly artistic in the middle of a renaissance. 

Harry Fowler shines in his role as Raymond, Alex’s mentor who recants a tale of his after-dark exploits. Additionally, Billy Porter’s narrations are as smooth as the brothers and sisters who innovated that very specific time in Black history. The film also features Alexandra Grey, a trans actress in a cisgender role, as Melva, Alex’s love. She does a good job of representing his past while he reconciles his future. 

Screenplay writer and executive producer Robert Philipson has long been a fan of the Harlem Renaissance, even going so far as to produce several pieces of media to go along with this narrative feature. “Shoga Films, my production company, has been working on a large project called The Queer Harlem Renaissance for quite a while now. We have a few documentary shorts, a couple of narratives in production. Smoke, Lilies, and Jade is based on the short story and it is the first positive expression of same-sex desire in American literature.”

Philipson spoke about how great it was to work with the queer directing team of Gossfield and Le Near saying although he wrote the script it was the team - who are also a couple - that transformed it for the screen. 

“Film is a collaborative art,” he says glowingly of the duo. “I’m a scholar, I’m a writer and I’ve become a producer because that’s the only way I can get the movies made! But I’m not a director of narrative.” Philipson knows his wheelhouse and then he surrounds himself with the best. 

Gossfield and Le Near, who have been making projects for over 20 years and were excited to get on board, opened up about directing Smoke, Lilies and Jade. “This one was a whirlwind because it was a little more ambitious. It’s a period piece and had multiple locations and we had to find places in LA that looked like vintage NY in not even a week” Le Near says, recounting the process.

Gossfield shared why he and Le Near took it so personally. “The Harlem Renaissance is a very important structure in the Black community. It’s one of those times we look back on and admire or we wish were in.  And it’s often told without looking at the queer experience and influence on that movement. For queer people, it’s always encouraging to find figures from the past that we can kind of relate to and look up to. This gives a voice and highlights to the people who lived during that time.”

Gossfield and Le Near got their start at Outfest with The DL Chronicles back in 2007 and always look forward to being there. Le Near agrees, “The Black queer artists today don’t exist in a void. There is a continuum and we need to know where we came from. A lot of the work that we do today was influenced by the work that was done by those queer artists then. A lot of people don’t realize how connected we are to that period. It’s a very brave period to be standing in your truth and that is an inspiration for who we are today."

It's not too late to watch!

All three selections were part of the Outfest virtual streaming package. If you miss them during this cycle, keep your eyes peeled for distribution or the next festival they are in. You won’t be sorry!