February 2007: Berlin - 57° berlinale - Outfest's Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation

Outfest protects our past, showcases our present and nurtures our future by fostering artistic expression of gender, sexuality and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) culture and its transformative social impact on the world.Many of the landmark lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) films produced over the last 30 years are already in danger of fading away, their original exhibition prints in tatters, their negatives in woeful storage conditions … or even lost.

What if we were unable to share these crucial, life-altering images with future generations? These moving images represent a profoundly important record of our struggles and joys, a record of where we come from as LGBT people.

Outfest’s inaugural $1.5 million campaign will support the Legacy Project over the next three years as we build landmark collections of crucial LGBT moving images and undertake our first film restoration projects.

Outfest Legacy Project is the only program in the world devoted to addressing the crisis in LGBT film preservation. In partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Legacy Project has established the largest publicly accessible collection of LGBT moving images in the world. In addition, Outfest and UCLA are collecting film prints and other material for permanent preservation, will strike new prints for widespread public exhibition and restore damaged films to their initial release forms.