Inaugural Pride LIVE! Hollywood Fest Expands Lineup With Music Events, Screenings and More

The inaugural Pride LIVE! Hollywood festival has added several events to its lineup.

A number of screenings have joined the schedule, including The Big Johnson, about queer punk legend Dean Johnson, with nightlife impresario Mario Diaz and filmmaker Lola Rocknrolla discussing the film and its subject afterward. 

Additionally, organizers have added screenings of Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field, focusing on the Sex and the City costume designer; the comedy Things Like This, with writer-director and star Max Talisman in conversation to follow. In addition, the Los Angeles premiere of the U.K. feature Unicorns, starring Ben Hardy and Jason Patel, will be preceded by Remi Gabriel’s short Barbie Boy.

And two free-admission events will take place at Amoeba Music: Power-pop band L.A. Exes will perform and sign their album Get Some at Amoeba Music, and a Pride weekend kickoff event will feature Long Beach-based DJs wonderfulbryan and speakandspel spinning LGBT favorites.

These join previously announced events including a tribute to Norman Lear’s pioneering television work, anniversary celebrations of TV series The Golden Girls and Queer as Folk (the latter of which is sold out), presentations of disco-era films and more.

Created by Mark Lieber and Adam Newman, the producers of Infinity Festival, the event aims to celebrate the best entertainment — both classic and new — through a queer lens. It’s being curated and hosted by New York Times bestselling author Jim Colucci (Golden Girls Forever) and writer-performer Frank DeCaro (The Daily Show and Sirius XM OutQ), in collaboration with The Hollywood Partnership and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Along with Lieber and Newman, Colucci and DeCaro, Pride LIVE! co-founders include Brian Folb, a longtime Hollywood community influencer and CEO of Hollywood Offices, and production veteran Jeroen Hallaert. The Hollywood Reporter is the festival’s presenting media sponsor. 

“Pride LIVE! Hollywood is a celebration of Hollywood as a global beacon of creativity, pride and progress,” Colucci and DeCaro said in a joint statement. “From beautiful bears to ‘Barbie boys,’ disco balls to discussion panels, this is where the past, present and future of LGBTQ+ pop culture meet.” 

The event will take place in June at various locations including NeueHouse Hollywood, the W Hollywood, The Ricardo Montalban Theatre and LA Explained, Emerson College, Amoeba Music, The Aster and Lemon Grove, Hollywood Offices, and the indie theater Cinelounge in the  Hollywood Offices at 6464 Sunset.

“It’s more important than ever that we celebrate the fabulous light of programs like Queer as Folk, not to mention Pride LIVE! Hollywood’s other offerings,” Queer as Folk star Scott Lowell said. “Especially during Pride Month in L.A. at a festival that not only acknowledges the past but shows us the path forward.”

A full programming schedule and tickets can be found at www.pridelivehollywood.com.