OutfestNEXT

Our Stories Create Change

After a season of rebuilding and refocusing, we're thrilled to present OutfestNEXT—four powerful days of cinema celebrating the resilience, joy, and artistry of LGBTQ+ storytelling.

Experience emotionally impactful contemporary, independent queer films including award-winning features and shorts, engaging conversations, and anniversary screenings of beloved classics from our archives. Each film has been carefully chosen to inspire, affirm, and unite our community during these crucial times.

Born from Resistance, Built for Tomorrow

NEXT honors our revolutionary roots. In 1982, we began as an act of defiance on the UCLA campus—a single weekend of screenings held despite administrative opposition. Today, as our community faces renewed challenges, Outfest reclaims its founding spirit: creating vital spaces where we gather, celebrate our truths, and stand strong together.

‍Your Voice, Our Future

This is more than four days of screenings—it's a rallying cry and a homecoming. NEXT launches a collective vision of queer storytelling: fluid, genre-breaking, and radically present. It’s a space where strength and empowerment aren’t just themes, but shared experiences. This is where creative futures take shape — not behind closed doors, but in community, in collaboration, and in full view.

Join us to celebrate who we are. Transcend what divides us, and co-create what Outfest becomes. Your presence matters. Your stories matter. Together,  we’ll set the scene for what comes NEXT.

Four days. Connective stories. One unstoppable community.