Tina Mabry to Receive Fusion Achievement Award at 2017 Outfest Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival

Outfest - the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization promoting equality by creating, sharing, and protecting LGBT stories on the screen - has announced writer-director Tina Mabry (Mississippi Damned, "Queen Sugar") as the recipient of their Fusion Achievement Award. Mabry will receive the award at the Fusion Gala during the 2017 Outfest Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival on Saturday, March 4. D.B. Woodside ("Lucifer," Mississippi Damned) and Michael Hyatt ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Mississippi Damned) will present the award to Mabry.

Tina Mabry made her feature film directing debut with the critically acclaimed Mississippi Damned. Mabry was a producer, writer, and director on OWN's award winning "Queen Sugar," created by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. She also produced and directed the award-winning Melody 1963: Love Has To Win, an American Girl special for Amazon Kids, for which she won a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programming as well as a NAACP Award. Mabry's upcoming projects include directing two episodes of Netflix's new comedy series, "Dear White People."

"Tina's first short film The Slowdown debuted at the inaugural Outfest Fusion festival in 2004, and shortly thereafter, her first feature, Mississippi Damned, took home our Audience Award at Outfest Los Angeles. Since then she has time and time again shown she can channel deeply personal stories into masterful award-winning art," said Christopher Racster, Executive Director of Outfest. "Tina continues to produce, write and direct fresh, relatable, inclusive work in a time when we still struggle to see diverse representations in film and television. It is incredibly meaningful to watch as her talent gains wider and wider recognition and to come full circle at Outfest Fusion and honor her for her achievements."

During Outfest Fusion on Saturday, March 4, festival-goers will be able to see an unaired episode of the new FOX series, "Star," followed by a discussion with creator Lee Daniels and stars Ryan Destiny, Brittany O'Grady, Amiyah Scott, and Miss Lawrence. Following a screening of episodes of Netflix's "One Day at a Time," executive producer Norman Lear, co-creators Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, stars Justina Machado and Isabella Gomez, and writers Becky Mann and Michelle Badillo will be present to discuss the queer experience within the Cuban-American culture. The evening will end with the yearly Fusion Gala Shorts screening at the Egyptian, which boasts the world premiere of April A. Wilson's Care, Ozzy Villazon's Get The Life and Ken Sawyer's Private Dick: Buying Dick.

The festival also features the first LGBT post-Oscars screening of the 2017 Best Picture Winner, Moonlight. Outfest Fusion includes eight filmmaking workshops, including one taught by Andrew Ahn, writer-director of Spa Night and winner of the 2017 John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. The festival just added TCL Chinese Theatres to accommodate larger crowds for weekend screenings.

ABOUT TINA MABRY
A native of Tupelo, Miss., Tina Mabry graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Film Production in 2005. A true hyphenate, Mabry is a writer, director, and producer for television and film. She is currently a co-producer and writer for USA's hit drama "Queen of the South" and will direct an episode in 2017. Mabry was a producer, writer, and director on OWN's award-winning "Queen Sugar," created by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. Mabry produced and directed the award-winning Melody 1963: Love Has To Win,an American Girl special for Amazon Kids. She won a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programming for Melody as well as a NAACP Award. Mabry directed two episodes of Justin Simien's "Dear White People" for Netflix, which will premiere in 2017. In film, Mabry began her career co-writing the feature screenplay Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007 and won Best Feature Narrative at South by Southwest Film and Music Festival. Mabry went on to write and direct her first feature film, Mississippi Damned, which garnered an impressive 13 awards at 15 film festivals, including awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2009.[DIDN'T IT WIN ONE OF OUR BIG PRIZES?] The film premiered on Showtime Networks in February 2011. Mabry has worked on a number of short films, including her first film, the award-winning Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan, which screened at more than 50 film festivals worldwide and aired on Showtime Networks, Logo and Centric. Mabry has written and directed two episodes of Independent Television Service's "Futurestates" program, a series showing visions of what life in America will be like in decades to come.

Mabry was named among the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in Filmmaker Magazine in 2009 and was recognized by Out Magazine as one of the most inspirational and outstanding people of the year. She was featured in The Advocate magazine as part of their "Top Forty Under 40" issue, which features 40 individuals who are raising the bar in their respective fields. Mabry has participated in several talent development programs, including Film Independent's Writers' Lab, Tribeca Film Institute's All Access, and Sundance's Screenwriters Intensive.

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