We’re talking about Dayton’s popular LGBTQIA+ festival at The Neon movie theater, now known as the Out Here Dayton Film Fest. McNeal serves as director of the festival and also managers the downtown theater.
The hard work has paid off. In the past two decades the festival has presented 337 films and hosted 57 guest artists. For this year’s festival alone, the 12 committee members spent four months screening close to 70 films before choosing this year’s line-up. The result is 24 films from around the world — a combination of shorts, narrative features and documentaries.
The festival is slated for Oct. 9-12.
McNeal said the weekend event would not be possible without the strong partnerships that have been established in the community over the last 19 years.
“So many people have come to support our mission — understanding that it takes more than just selling tickets to make it all possible,” he said. “Being able to gather together to see LGBTQIA+ films on the big screen is powerful ... and all the more necessary during these challenging times. Visibility and networking and building stronger community ties is valuable — and we can accomplish that by sharing our stories.”
It’s big news that the festival has received an Ohio Arts Council ArtsRISE grant — “designed to support organizations working to expand access to activities to a broad range of participants.”
Each year the festival opens a scholarship portal on its website which ensures that anyone who applies has access to free tickets. Last year 50 individuals took advantage of the generous offer.
“I recall one young trans woman seeking me out last year to thank us for what we do as well as for the free tickets,” McNeal said. “She explained that making ends meet had been a challenge over the past couple years, but that being able to have access to the festival — and seeing such an array of films in a space with her own community — meant so much.”
Some of this year’s highlights
- Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” starring Margaret Qualley & Ethan Hawke is the Friday night film followed by a party at Joui Wine. The film is set on the evening of March 31, 1943, when legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical “Oklahoma.”
Credit: sabrina lantos
Credit: sabrina lantos
- “Queens of the Dead” will be screened late Saturday night and was directed by Lisa Romero, daughter of legendary horror filmmaker George A. Romero. It stars Ohio’s own drag queen superstar Nina West.
- Special festival speakers include Megan Rossman, director of “We’ll Carry On Alright,” the story of reversed roles in a friendship between an African American lesbian and activist, and a white, lesbian and Jewish professor who is 40 years her junior.
- Cheri Gaukle, who some will remember from the 2023 festival, will return with her new film, “Old Girl in a Tutu: Susan Rennie Disrupts Art History.” The story: “feminist scholar, Susan Rennie, seizes her iPhone and sneaks her queer, octogenarian body into master works of art, disrupting the narrative of the male gaze.”
- A sneak preview of “Free Beer Tomorrow” with guests Julia Applegate and LuSter P. Singleton. The film focuses on Jack’s/Summit Station, Ohio’s longest running lesbian bar.
Meet producer Marc Smolowitz
One of those in the forefront of the LGBT film festival movement is Marc Smolowitz, an independent filmmaker who’s been running a successful film company for the past 30 years. He’s worked on 60 films as both a producer and a director, and produced Dayton’s opening night film, “Outerlands.”
“I always explain that the director is responsible for everything on screen and makes all the creative decisions,” he said. “The producer is responsible for making sure it gets on screen; without producers directors can’t be creative. There are lots of producers on a film because it takes that many people to make sure that movie gets on a screen.”
Producers, he added, are sometimes heavily involved in the financing and managing the business aspects of a film and are something involved creatively as well.
“For most of my movies I’m often working with younger directors, lifting up the team and involved in all aspects of production. From script to screen is a long journey that can take years. Most of my movies have budgets under three million, those aren’t huge budgets but they aren’t micro-budgets either. That’s a good size independent film budget.”
A lot of Smolowitz’s films are LGBTQIA+ and Dayton’s festival has shown many of them. He believes these types of festivals may be the only way that one of his queer films might show in Dayton.
Looking back
There are now hundreds of LGBT festivals around the world and Smolowitz does business with all of them. He was on his way to open an festival in Australia when we spoke.
Niche festivals, he said, have become increasingly popular and include Jewish film festivals, African festivals, festivals focusing on the disabled.
“They are important community events,” Smolowitz said. “The community comes together and feels a sense of empowerment through cinema and seeing themselves on screen.”
When Dayton’s festival premiered 20 years ago it was a very different time in our country.
“It was before same-sex marriages, before Trump, before You Tube,” said Smolowitz. “Jonathan’s festival debuted at a time when there weren’t other places to see these types of films; he was fulfilling a need. Dayton’s festival became hugely successful in a short number of years.”
In the 2010’s the film industry became increasingly free and open. Audiences could stream a wide variety of films anytime.
“Festivals had to adjust and work harder to get audiences because you could sit at home and see movies on Netflix. So they had to become more than just a film festival and became community gatherings where people could get out of their houses and come together. It was empowerment plus community building.”
There is there is something about movies and festivals that have a special quality that draws people in, said Smolowitz.
“If the films are good and the events are well produced they have staying power, even in an age of streaming and smart phones. People are hungry to be together because we can become so isolated.”
Concerns
Smolowitz said these types of festivals are taking on a new urgency in the current climate when LGBT people are under attack, especially the trans community.
“If you’re trans or non-binary living in Dayton, Ohio, it’s difficult at this moment in 2025. If you can come to see a movie like ‘Outerlands’ where the main character is trans and non-binary, it can be a hugely moving experience for a young person. The film doesn’t really focus on the character’s identity; it’s just a good story that people want to see.”
He’s hoping the festivals continue to thrive and get support and continue to attract young people and be a place of community connection.
“Cinema is an art form that exists to be experienced in a dark theater, together. I want LGBT people to be able to come together in safe places. We want to be able to see ourselves in deep and profound ways. When you see a good movie and you see yourself on screen, there’s nothing more transformative. That’s the gift of cinema.”
HOW TO GO
What: “Out Here Dayton Film Festival”
When: Oct. 9-12
Where: The Neon, 130 E. Fifth St., Dayton
Admission: Weekend passes are $87.21 which includes an opening night party. Single tickets are $10. Single tickets for Friday night’s screening of “Blue Moon” which includes the party are $15.
Scholarships: Anyone who would like to apply for a scholarship (access to free tickets) should check out the scholarship portal on the film festival website. For a complete list of movies and schedule, see outheredayton.org.
Parking: Free across the street from the theater.
Other: Last-minute details and additions will be updated on the festival’s Instagram and Facebook pages @outheredayton.
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