The Outfronts will celebrate all things queer on TV.
Hosted and organized by Outfest, The Outfronts second year will feature virtual and in-person panel discussions with the casts and crews of various LGBTQ+ series, advance screenings, and the world premiere of Peacock’s highly-anticipated “Queer As Folk” reboot.
The four-day event will launch June 3.
“After a record-breaking inaugural year in which we saw nearly 70,000 participants and fans attend our digital event from as far as London, Brazil and Des Moines, Iowa, we are excited to offer opportunities to come together in person and still provide the same high-level digital experience as last year,” Damien S. Navarro, Outfest’s executive director, said in a statement.
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Peacock’s “Queer As Folk” is a remake of the groundbreaking 1999 British series created by Russell T. Davies. The new version explores an eclectic group of friends in New Orleans whose lives are transformed in the aftermath of an attack on the LGBTQ+ community that parallels the Pulse nightclub shooting.
“Like most queer ‘90s kids, I had a unique relationship with the original ‘Queer As Folk’,” Stephen Dunn, creator-executive producer-writer-director of the new series, said in a statement.
“Growing up, I was desperate for any sort of connection with people like me. It was the first time I really felt seen,” he said. “The show offered a new paradigm – one where we could accept and celebrate queer love, families, and communities on a global stage.
Dunn says he wanted to create a groundbreaking version of the series.
“Our new ‘Queer As Folk’ is set in New Orleans — one of the most unique queer communities in North America — and I am immensely proud that the new series is comprised of an electric ensemble of fresh characters that mirror the modern global audience,” he said.
Mike Dougherty, Outfest’s director of festival programming, says The Outfronts is not the be-all-and-end-all.
“The OutFronts by no means represents an exhaustive account of all that is queer in TV,” he said in the same statement, “but they do gather a multitude of brilliantly talented queer artists and allies whose diversity of perspective and experience are on full display in these funny, entertaining, and emotional conversations.”
