Description:
As
leader of the world’s only LGBT political party, Bemz Benedito
dreams of being the first transgender woman in the Philippine
Congress. But in a predominantly Catholic nation, rallying for LGBT
representation in the halls of Congress is not an easy feat. Bemz and
her eclectic team of queer political warriors must rethink
traditional campaign strategies to amass support from unlikely
places. Taking their equality campaign to small-town hair salons and
regional beauty pageants, the activists mobilize working-class trans
hairdressers and beauty queens to join the fight against their main
political opponent, a homophobic evangelical preacher, and prove to
the Filipino electorate that it’s time to take the rights of LGBT
people seriously. But as outsiders trying to get inside the system,
will they have to compromise their political ideals in order to win?
Culminating on election day, Out Run provides a unique look
into the challenges LGBT people face as they transition into the
mainstream and fight for dignity, legitimacy, and acceptance across
the globe.
Biography: S.
Leo Chiang is a documentarian based in San Francisco and Taipei.
His Emmy Nominated film, A Village Called Versailles, about
the transformation of the Vietnamese American community in
post-Katrina New Orleans, picked up eight film festival awards and
aired on Independent Lens series in the US. His most recent
documentary, Mr. Cao Goes to Washington, won the Inspiration
Award at the 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. His other
films include To You Sweetheart, Aloha and One + One (CINE Golden Eagle Award 2002). Leo received his MFA in film
production from University of Southern California. He is currently
the co-chair of New Day Films, the American social-issue documentary
distribution co-operative.
Johnny
Symons is a Bay Area documentary filmmaker focusing on LGBT
cultural and political issues. His feature documentaries include Daddy & Papa, which premiered at Sundance, broadcast on
PBS’ Independent Lens, and was nominated for a national Emmy for
Best Documentary. Beyond Conception premiered at the Florida
Film Festival and broadcast on Discovery Channel. Ask Not won
four festival awards, aired on PBS’ Independent Lens and screened
on Capitol Hill for members of Congress. He co-produced the Academy
Award-nominated Long Night’s Journey into Day, which won the
Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance. Johnny has a
master’s in documentary production from Stanford. He is assistant
professor and coordinator of the documentary program in the cinema
department at San Francisco State University, and is currently a
Fellow in the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program.
