Celebrate Ten Years of WebOUT at Cinema Diverse this year!

Happy Birthday WebOUT!

WebOUT is celebrating its 10th anniversary at Cinema Diverse, with three days of fun web series screenings at 5pm on Sept. 17, 18 and 19.

Having grown over the years, the programs are a mix of series from special screening channels, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and the like – many of them making their premieres in this program.

Our host Kevin M. Thomas, @ReelKev, has become a staple of the film festival and he finds interesting and creative shows – and new ways to stream like this year with the introduction of vertical shows which have exploded so much that there’s already a convention for them: VertiCon. ReelKev always brings back some new episodes from festival favorites.

WebOUT: Deja View – Friday, Sept. 18,  5pm Friday, Deja View,  brings new episodes from shows from previous years. This year, we have  the season two premiere of Tyler Martin’s award-winning “Don’t Suck.” This show has received national attention as it subplot is connected to a Broadway musicals and theatre queens are eating it up and talking all about it.  Our friends at HERE TV have provided us with “Single, Out,” which has our main character Adam who has grown through the previous seasons and now one wonders if his life has changed forever since having his first sexual experience. Next, the men behind “The Homo Sapien Experience,” a big hit on TikTok and Instagram, are among the funniest people alive and promise each year to come but never make iy as they are busy on Broadway and doing hilarious videos like this laugh-out-loud episode dealing with  “Twink Death.”   But the team of Todd and Juss  behind “Unrequited” says they are coming and ready to meet the audience and answer questions. This episode follows Liam and his crush– but this time around, will he make headway in making something happen in this black LGBTQ dramedy. We also get to focus on another character in HERE TV’s “Guys Like You” which often shows different sides to dating and hooking up. The good thing about these new episodes is ReelKev makes sure they can stand alone and you aren’t required to have seen the previous season or episode. But after watching these, you will want to binge for sure.

WebOUT: Seeking Size Queens, Bears, Dicks and Barbie – Saturday, Sept. 19, 5pm  Only at WebOUT can you find content as diverse as shows about size queens, bears and Barbie.  Don’t get too excited about the “dick” it’s more a clickbait here but still fun. This program starts off with “Size Queens,” which has hit the internet by storm and we’re happy to screen it and have its creator Kenny Fierro, join us along with stars Rick  Shattuck and Holly  Sidell. We are in for another treat you bear lovers with “Only Bears”  which just started the festival circuit and can’t be screened anywhere else but a film festival. The creators/stars Adam Kern and Jeff Willey are planning to attend as is director and film festival icon Billy Clift.  Maybe they will convince everyone’s favorite cub Tom Goss to attend who has a cameo as does Jason Stuart. Ready for dick? Well, it’s actually a show called “Dick Bunny”  which will also have writer Susie Mendoza join us and, to be honest, the show isn’t what you think it is; rather, it’s a British children’s tale with a gay best friend character who may or may not be real played to the hilt by the always funny Drew Droege. “Seeking…” deals with the break-up of a very hot (straight?)  man whose gay roommates use him to find favor at bars and any situation that requires a shirtless man to help them get what they want. Our next show we’re kind of cheating. It should have been in the Friday program as Warrencito and his Dollmation program have been here before and even won festival favorite a few times. This time, literally hot off the presses, he’s bringing Barbie in a “Designing Women” re-enactment of the famous scene about the nights the lights went down in Georgia. Warren will be there to talk about the great lengths and details he focuses on to make these Barbie videos favorites among the WebOUT audience.

WebOUT: The Long Shorts – Sunday, Sept. 20,  5pm  One great thing about web programs is they can be any length. One year we screened an entire season of a TikTok show and the whole season was 15 minutes. But some shows, like traditional television, might need a little extra time to tell their story. Our ReelKev found “One for the Team”  at a different festival and just knew the WebOUT and Cinema Diverse would love it. This queer sports drama, from Emmy-winning filmmaker Rain Valdez (and co-written by Darryl Stephens from “Noah’s Arc”) is about a talented trans athlete who transfers schools so his talent is what’s noticed and not that he’s trans, which stifled his chances at his previous school. This show is very topical and we are happy to report when of its three creators Kyle Puccia will be on hand.   HERE TV also always known its core audience of mostly gay men and stories that have either emotional or titillating topics, and this year one of their new shows, “Jamaal,”  is no exception which basically brings AI into the bedroom of a couple and if you think “Megan” turned things upside, wait to see what “Jamaal” can do. Our other two shows are exciting new ways to watch web programs: the vertical drama. They have taken the market by storm with soap operas that pop-up in our IG and TikTok and done so over the top and tongue-in-cheek that it reminds us of 1980s soap operas. Each episode is very short, often set for you to love it so much and be left on the edge of your seat due to a cliffhanger at each episode, that people often can’t wait until the next day for a free episode and subscribe to the show. The app/channel ReelShort has provided us two shows – but don’t worry , the have made compilations to appease us and still keep us wanting more. First we have “The Prince’s First Love,” which shows 9 episodes in less than 17 minutes.  Our prince is swept up by a rebel with a cause – might we be swept up as well? We’re also excited that we’ve almost convinced director Declan Clifford to attend, but he’s been knee-deep in other projects. ReelShort’s second program is also a new release in which the editing and compilation pushed our deadline but at the end of the day, they made it with “Salt Kiss,” that covers the gamut from sex clubs à la “Pillion” to a sexy love story with “Younger” and “Walking Dead’ star Nico Tortorella. If he got you hot and bothered in those shows, you will just melt under his S&M spell this time around.

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