TITLE: Founder and festival director; program director of OutReels Cincinnati
HOMETOWN: Cincinnati
WHY WE LOVE THEM: For championing everyone’s right to love and for supporting the creative vision of the LGBTQ film community.
OutReels Cincinnati (formerly the CNKY Film Festival) operates
under the umbrella of the Cincinnati Film Society and champions the larger organization’s mission to “embrace, inform and promote cultural diversity through film.” But the CFS and OutReels make their biggest impression by focusing on the future, investing in young and new filmmakers. The future depends on storytellers offering honest examinations of our evolving humanity, which transcends our fragile social rules of engagement and the abuses of rigid religiosity. What better way to see our neighbors and ourselves than through a series of moving frames?
In addition to his work as the founder and festival director of OutReels, Chuck Beatty serves as the editor-in-chief of UNITE Cincinnati, a regional bi-monthly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyle publication, which undoubtedly helps him recognize and keep his eyes on the big picture: Love, and the right to love, is universal. Along with OutReels program director David Wolff, Beatty aims to create a festival dedicated to supporting the creative and critical discussion of LGBTQ issues via film, which, as the most democratic art form, simultaneously reaches and engages the mainstream as well.
“I have a vested interest in everyone I meet and everyone in my life,” he says. “I want nothing but happiness and success for everyone and will do anything I possibly can to make it a reality.”
The daunting challenge, it would seem, would be in navigating that fine line between the needs of the target audience and finding ways to entertain and educate a broader collection of viewers, seeking more than the stereotypically watered-down Hollywood presentations of LGBTQ reel life. How will we ever know what love is?Film offers the chance for what Dr. Cornel West believes is a most “American” right: the ability to “self-make” and “self-create.” Choosing and creating your own narratives is all about defining oneself and one’s experiences. Once you see and love that reflection, the next step is sharing that love.That’s quite a heady utopian dream, but Beatty, speaking here for himself and OutReels Cincinnati, offers us all the chance to share a frame of reference.
What aspects do you love about your job?
The connections I make with the filmmakers and audience members. I make it a point to be as accessible as possible the entire weekend of the festival to make sure I hear the good and the bad as the event is happening. I get to hear how actors and directors, both national and international, love coming to Cincinnati and have come back to not only experience the festival but also our city.
How do you define passion?
I see passion as a type of energy that helps you achieve things when it seems there is little to no hope of success.
How is passion different from love?
I think the difference is desire. Love is pure emotion and feeling, while I see passion as an action.
What are you most passionate about?
I’m passionate about creating an event that gives a platform where LGBTQ issues are discussed in film and the opportunity to start a dialogue.
It’s Friday night after a long week. Where would you love to be?
Probably grabbing a growler from Braxton Brewery and catching up with shows that I missed with Hulu.
Finish this statement with five of your favorite things: “I love…”
I love Sunday brunch. I love theater. I love my family — chosen and biological. I love the Comic Book Expo at the Duke Energy Convention Center. I love artists.
What do you love about Cincinnati?
I have lived in the Cincinnati area my entire life, and in that time I have seen a city mature and blossom.
To learn more about this year’s OUTREELS CINCINNATI film festival, visit cincinnatifilmsociety.org.
This article appears in Feb 10-17, 2016.