For the first time in its 37-year history, Out On Film, Atlanta’s annual LGBTQ film festival, is welcoming a new executive director.
Justice Obiaya interned at the Atlanta Film Festival while completing his master’s degree at SCAD in 2016, working with the executive director and business director on fundraising efforts. While going through festival passes to give away to community partners, he stumbled upon Out On Film. As a gay man passionate about filmmaking, his interest was piqued.
“I was like, ‘How do I not know about this?’” he told Georgia Voice. “I ran home that night, and I did a quick internet search. I found that they were a very long-running festival, so I filled out an application to volunteer.”
Festival Director Jim Farmer invited Obiaya to attend a committee meeting and he was hooked. For the past eight years, Obiaya has been involved with Out On Film in various capacities: volunteer, festival coordinator, and marketing committee chair. Now, he continues his journey as Out On Film’s first executive director.
When speaking to Obiaya, his love and admiration for Out On Film are obvious.
“As a gay man. I grew up without a lot of representation,” he said. “That’s really what I love about Out On Film: they are all about representation and inclusivity, they create a platform to tell stories about the queer community who we are, and I love how what they do and what they offer normalizes who we are. It creates a safe space for festival attendees. We have attendees not just coming from the Atlanta metro area, but from the state of Georgia and outside the state, that may not have a place where they as a queer community can come together and celebrate the arts, and that’s what they do here as we do at Out On Film … I love what we do, the impact we make on the community.”
With his enthusiasm, it is no surprise that when the Out On Film board was looking for someone to grow the organization, they knew…
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