About Out at The Movies
OUT at the Movies, Winston-Salem’s LGBTQ+ Film Series, was founded in August 2004 by Rex Welton and Lee Mecum. Latter Days was the first film, and it screened to a large and enthusiastic audience at the ACE Theatre Complex on the campus of what was then known as North Carolina School of the Arts. Matt Jones and Eric Self of UNCSA’s School of Filmmaking have been a tremendous help from day one.
After our inaugural screening, we decided to screen a film on the second Saturday of every other month. Some of our more popular films have been Ask Not, Bad Education, But I’m a Cheerleader, e-Cupid, East Side Story, Hannah Free, In Broad Daylight, Loggerheads, Pedro, Ready? OK! and The Trip. Our most attended screening by far has been For the Bible Tells Me So. Due to unprecedented demand, we added three screenings and sold almost 1,000 tickets!
Proceeds from our first screening supported UNCSA’s School of Filmmaking. Revenue from subsequent screenings have benefited the School of Filmmaking and other 501c3 organizations in our community.
Post-film Q & A’s have been a lot of fun and very interesting. Three of the FTBTMS families (Brenda and David Poteat, Phil and Randi Reitan and Mary Lou Wallner) traveled to Winston-Salem, and it was the first time that they had all been in the same city at the same time. Alex Nicholson and Jarrod Chlapowksi of Ask Not joined us for two screenings and fascinating post-film Q & A’s. Dr. Jamie Koufman, subject of In Broad Daylight, provided another memorable evening.
OUT at the Movies was thrilled to present the North Carolina and/or Southeastern United States premieres of Ask Not, e-Cupid, Gun Hill Road, Hannah Free, Primos Training Rules and 8: The Mormon Proposition. It is believed that we had more audience members attend our screenings of For the Bible Tells Me So than any other non-profit film series in the country.
In February 2010, OUT at the Movies collaborated with a/perture cinema in downtown Winston-Salem and screened A Single Man. It was our first screening away from the UNCSA campus and was a big success. Since then, there have had additional screenings at a/perture, Green Street UMC, Salem College and Wake Forest University as well as continued screenings the second Saturday of every month at UNCSA.
In 2014, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the OUT at the Movies series, the inaugural OUT at the Movies International Film Fest brought actors, directors, doc subjects and audience members to Winston-Salem for screenings, Q & A’s, nightly receptions and an awards party. In addition to screenings, subsequent years have featured art shows, concerts and theatre. The festival has continued each year with a shift to a mostly virtual festival in 2020.
OUT at the Movies is a 501c3 organization.