Jill Soloway And Freeform To Receive Outfest Legacy Awards

Outfest, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization promoting equality by creating, sharing, and protecting LGBT stories on the screen, announced today that it will honor Golden Globe and two-time Emmy Award-winning writer-director Jill Soloway ("Transparent," Afternoon Delight) and Freeform, the Disney|ABC Television Group network, at the 2016 Legacy Awards on Sunday, October 23rd.

Merrill Lynch will return as the Presenting Sponsor. This year's awards dinner will once again take place at performing arts venue Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles, with head chef Neal Fraser (Redbird).

Soloway is receiving the Visionary Award, which recognizes artistic and creative contributions to LGBT media visibility, for her Emmy-winning series "Transparent" from Amazon Studios, the first scripted TV show to feature a lead transgender character, and for her contributions to "Six Feet Under" and "I Love Dick."

Freeform will be honored with the Corporate Trailblazer Award in recognition of its groundbreaking programming for young adults, people in high school, college and the decade that follows which includes such LGBT-friendly programs including "Pretty Little Liars", "The Fosters" and "Shadowhunters."

"Jill Soloway has elevated the current transgender conversation like no one else and presents another facet of the LGBT family with dignity, honesty, and humor," says Christopher Racster, Executive Director of Outfest. "There is no other network in the current landscape that is doing more to represent the current attitudes and philosophies of younger viewing audiences than Freeform. Their programming reflects that the path forward for so many young people today is not straight but one full of choices and options and recognizing that gives us all more equality and understanding."

The Legacy Awards serves as a fundraiser to support the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, which celebrates its 11th anniversary this year. Outfest and UCLA Film & Television Archive partnered in 2005 to create the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, the only program in the world exclusively dedicated to saving and preserving LGBT moving images. The Legacy Project is aimed at the crisis in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving image archiving. Many of the landmark LGBT films produced over the last 40-plus years are already in danger of fading away; their original exhibition prints are in tatters and their negatives are in woeful storage conditions, or even lost. For the last 11 years, the Legacy Project is proud to have collected more than 36,000 moving image items and to have restored 24 historically important film and video projects.

Previous Legacy Award winners include Tom Hanks (Philadelphia), Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right), Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City), Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry), Lee Daniels (Empire), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago) Adam Shankman (Hairspray), Roland Emmerich (Stonewall), Alan Poul ("The Newsroom"), Bruce Cohen (Silver Linings Playbook), and Paris Barclay ("Glee").

Other sponsors for the night include: Brown-Forman, Delta Air Lines, Total Wine & More, and Variety.

Tickets are on sale now at www.outfest.org. Tables and tribute ads are on sale now. For information about tables, contact 213-480-7011 or thelegacyawards@outfest.org. For sponsorship and tribute journal ads, please contact Amy Flower atamy@outfest.org or 213-480-7095.

To buy tickets, please visit: http://bit.ly/2cAMuOp

About Jill Soloway

Jill Soloway is the creator of "Transparent," which has won two Golden Globes and eight Emmys, including two for her directing. "Transparent" received ten Emmy nominations for the 2016 season. Soloway founded Topple Productions in 2015 and is the co-creator and director of the television adaptation of Chris Kraus's critically acclaimed novel I Love Dick. Her first feature,Afternoon Delight, won the 2013 Directing Award at Sundance. Outside of the world of TV and film, Jill co-created the theatrical experiences The Real Live Brady Bunch, The Miss VaGina Pageant, Hollywood HellHouse and Sit and Spin and co-founded the community organization East Side Jews. She is the author of the memoir Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants and the upcoming memoirWould You Still Love Me If.

About Freeform

Part of the Disney|ABC Television Group, Freeform is distributed in 94 million homes. The network connects to audiences and goes beyond entertainment with bold original programming and immersive social engagement. The network delivers a unique mix of quality original and acquired series, plus fan favorite movies and the holiday events "13 Nights of Halloween" and "25 Days of Christmas." The Freeform app is a service that allows viewers with participating TV subscription services access to 24/7 live viewing of the network, as well as continued on-demand access via a wide array of devices.

About Outfest

Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the world's leading organization that promotes equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. Outfest builds community by connecting diverse populations to discover, discuss and celebrate stories of LGBT lives. Over the past three decades, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers, and protected over 36,000 LGBT films and videos. The Outfest UCLA Legacy Project is the only program in the world exclusively dedicated to protecting LGBT films for future generations.

About UCLA Film & Television Archive

UCLA Film & Television Archive is renowned globally for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media-and is dedicated to ensuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come. cinema.ucla.edu

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