Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend Palm Springs: Outfest Announces 2013 Award Winners Wrapping up the LGBT Film Festival's 31st Year In Los Angeles!

The 2013 Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival came to a close yesterday.
Once again the festival delivered another amazing year of programming!

It truly was an honor and a treat for us at Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend to be part of the 31st Outfest Film Festival as official sponsors. Having successfully premiered our first annual "Dinah Film Series" this past April, we have been dedicated to extending our involvement in promoting the many achievements of LGBT filmmakers beyond The Dinah by engaging in and supporting Film Festivals that create and enhance opportunities for our community in front of and behind the camera.

As Mariah Hanson (founder & producer of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend) comments: “Film is one of the most important mediums to expose the general public to our lives and how normal our lives are. Through films we can not only create more straight allies, but also change hearts, minds, legislation, and ultimately change lives as well."

With that in mind, Club Skirts would like to thank everyone at Outfest for making our Outfest experience an outstanding and memorable one! A special thank you as well to Kirsten Schaffer (Executive Director), Christopher Racster (Director of Individual Giving), and Amy Walmann (corporate relations Assistant).

Showcasing some of the finest LGBT films, documentaries and shorts, over the course of 11 days,
the nation’s leading LGBT film festival, and the oldest film festival in the city of Los Angeles, culminated with the announcement of the winners at the award brunch held yesterday at the J.W. Marriott in downtown LA.

The 2013 awards were grouped in three categories: special programming awards, audience awards and jury awards (see the complete list of winners below).

Here are the photos of the Award Brunch:

Amy Walmman (right)

Anna Margarita Albelo, Guinevere Turner

Ann Walker, Louise H Beard and Andrea Krauss

Connie Kurtew

Filmmaker Simon Savory

Kirsten Schaffer

Christopher Racster (right)

Guinevere Turner and Anna Margarita Albelo

KP Pepe

Guinevere Turner accepting her "Grand Jury Award for Actress in a Feature"

Filmmaker Drew Denny

And the winners are:

Special programming award for freedom

"Deepsouth," directed by Lisa Biagiotti

Special programming award for artistic achievement

"Animals," directed by Marçal Forés

Special programming award for emerging talent

Diego Ruiz, writer-director-actor

Audience award for documentary short

"Facing fear," directed by Jason Cohen

Audience award for dramatic short

"Wini + George," directed by Benjamin Monie

Audience award for documentary feature

"Bridegroom," directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

Audience award for dramatic feature

"Reaching For the Moon," directed by Bruno Barreto

Audience award for first U.S. dramatic feature

"Geography Club," directed by Gary Entin

Grand jury award for experimental short

"She Gone Rogue," directed by Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst

Grand jury award for documentary short

"Performing Girl," directed by Crescent Diamond

Grand jury award for dramatic short

"Going South," directed Leesong Hee-il

Grand jury award for documentary feature

"Born This Way," directed by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullman

Grand jury award for international dramatic feature

"It's All So Quiet," directed by Nanouk Leopold

Grand jury award for actress in a feature

Guinevere Turner, "Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf?"

Grand jury award for actor in a feature

Bill Heck and Marcus DeAnda, "Pit Stop"

Grand jury award for screenwriting

Chris Mason Johnson, "Test"

Grand jury award for U.S. dramatic feature

"Test," directed by Chris Mason Johnson

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