Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ film festival, Inside Out, has selected three feature-length directorial debut Canadian projects for its annual Finance Forum this June.

This is the festival’s 32nd year and sixth instalment of its Finance Forum, which Inside Out says is the first 2SLGBTQ+ event of its kind. The forum will take place from June 2 to 4 and provide queer-led creative teams with 2SLGBTQ+ content an opportunity to pitch their feature film projects directly to top Canadian and international executives.

This year’s forum lineup includes a total of eight films from Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Finland, the U.K., and the U.S.

The three Canadian projects include Ontario-based Alyson Richards’ Midlife, which is a zombie-comedy from Clique Pictures. Richards previously wrote the screenplay for the Clique Pictures-produced horror The Retreat. Midlife was selected for the Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey-funded NYC Writers Lab.

Alongside Richards is Vancouver director Maxime Beauchamp’s Cross Country Baby, with producer and Playback 10 to Watch alum Kent Donguines attached. The comedy is about a gay couple who’s desperate for a family of their own and goes on a cross-country road trip that will test their parent potential. The film was selected by the CFC Producers Lab, Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices, and Whistler Film Festival Power Pitch events.

There’s also Ontario writer-director Blake Mawson’s supernatural thriller Perennials, from Wildhood producer Gharrett Patrick Paon.

Participants will have the opportunity to pitch to returning companies such as Bankside Films, Bleecker Street Media, Bohemia Media, CBC Films, Cinetic Media, Killer Films, mk2 Films, Netflix, NEON, Protagonist Media, Sphere Films, Powderkeg Media, The Population, Verve Talent and Literary Agency, and XYZ Films.

New companies include Gamechanger Films, Good Chaos, Hot Sauce, and Studiocanal.

Started in 2017, the forum has been supported by Ontario Creates, Telefilm and the Canadian Media Producers Association. The forum’s goal is to create a dedicated space for 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers to receive the connection and support they need.

Past Canadian forum participants include Phil Connell’s Jump, Darling (Big Island Productions), which had its world premiere at Inside Out in 2020 and picked up North American distribution.

Image: Unsplash