Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone will not be attending the closing night of this year’s Outfest LA, where they were set to receive the James Schamus Ally Award.
The couple was expected to be on hand for the July 23 event at The Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, but their rep tells PvNew that will not make an appearance due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“We understand that Melissa and Ben are unable to join us for our closing night due to the strike,” Outfest executive director Damien S. Navarro said in a statement Thursday afternoon.“We will miss them, as our closing night will be a wonderful celebration of our community.”
Outfest kicked off July 13 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Amandla Stenberg, who received the Platinum Maverick Award from the LGBTQ film festival, skipped the festivities in support of the actors walkout. Jacqueline Castel, director of Stenberg’s new indie, “The Animal,” accepted the award on her behalf.
McCarthy and Falcone are longtime LGBTQ allies. In June, they boarded “Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story” as executive producers. The documentary short, which premiered at Outfest on July 16, tells the story of Tim Sullivan, an 82-year-old West Hollywood candlemaker who has been sober for more than 40 years. The film, directed by Zeberiah Newman (“Unexpected”) and Michiel Thomas (“Game Face”), chronicles Sullivan’s coming out journey and his tradition of hiring unhoused and newly sober people at his company, Timothy Jay Candles.
“once we heard the lovely story of Tim Sullivan and began to understand how many people he’s helped in his life through the making of beautiful candles, we realized these filmmakers were telling exactly the kind of story we want to help get out into the world,” McCarthy and Falcone told PvNew when they were announced as exec producers.
Outfest kicked off with director Aitch Alberto’s queer coming-of-age drama, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” on opening night, which took place just hours before the SAG-AFTRA strike started.
SAG-AFTRA released a statement on Twitter supporting attendance at opening night. “Reminder: the #SAGAFTRAstrike starts at 12:01 a.m. on July 14,” the tweet read. “#SAGAFTRAmembers can support #OutfestLA tonight. We’ll support each other on the #SAGAFTRAstrike picket lines tomorrow.”
The 41st edition of the 11-day festival featured more than 170 titles from over 25 counties.
