Soon after Lupe Silva moved from New York City to Charlotte in 2018, he started volunteering for Reel Out Charlotte, the annual LGBTQ film festival. But he wasn’t a big film fan then. “I like to say that this film festival chose me,” Silva says. “It adopted me, so I have been working very hard for it ever since.” The more he’s gotten involved, the more his love of film has grown.
Reel Out Charlotte begins its 17th annual festival Wednesday, May 14, with a free screening of short films that Silva, with the help of his volunteer team, has curated. It’s a compelling mix of films, he says. “Some look so beautiful on the big screen, like eye candy. They are thought-provoking as well.”
Silva serves on the board of Charlotte Pride, which organizes Reel Out Charlotte. He gives us the scoop on what we’ll see at this year’s festival.
What’s new this year?
The Independent Picture House has a new auditorium with more space, so we can have different kinds of programs. We’re going to open with an improv performance. That’ll be interesting.
The Queer Design Collaborative has put together an evening with a documentary about a queer architect, Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines, and a talkback following it. We’re excited about that. Also, we had so many good short films submitted and a handful that were too long to incorporate into opening night, so we created a run of the longer shorts that will close the festival Sunday evening.
This is also the first year Reel Out Charlotte is a partner festival for the Iris Prize.
The Iris Prize promotes and highlights LGBTQ stories on film. They have a bigger presence in Europe. They will brand with us on their website, and we will brand with them on our website. We will send our favorite short film to be considered for a prize, which involves a scholarship. It’s another opportunity for a filmmaker to show their film.
Lupe Silva
Can you give an idea of the range of submissions you get?
You could say it’s a narrow band of filmmakers who are producing queer stories. Some years, it has been worrisome because we had fewer films submitted, but this year we had some great submissions right at the beginning, so we weren’t stressed about it. I’m happy with the quality of the films we selected. We try really hard to have representation for everyone in our community.
The submissions are mostly from the U.S. But a few are from other countries, from the Middle East, India, Europe and South America. We are expecting some filmmakers to come to the festival. It will be great to have them in our audience and available afterward for mixing and mingling and for questions.
What are some talkbacks scheduled?
There is the talkback scheduled after the Arthur Erickson documentary Thursday night. On Saturday we have the lead actress and the director of the film Sugar Beach. That evening, following I’m Your Venus, we have a mini ballroom performance.
IPH has been the festival’s home for three years. What are your thoughts about the cinema?
I always champion IPH. Whenever I talk about it to folks, I mention that it is also a nonprofit, so when you see a film there, you are supporting an entity interested in bringing you something unique. We are aiming to do the same thing with our film festival. We’re happy that they’re doing what they do, so that we can do what we do.