The Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival is an annual film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, devoted to lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, bisexual and transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

 film and video works. The largest LGBT film and video festival in Canada, Inside Out highlights both Canadian and international film and video through screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, art installations and parties.

First held at Toronto's Euclid Theatre in 1991, the festival has expanded to incorporate a variety of programs related to the promotion and development of LGBT film arts in Canada.

The festival's current executive director is Scott Ferguson.

A sister festival was launched in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 in 2007.

Queer Youth Digital Video Project

In 1998, with the support of Charles Street Video, Inside Out initiated the Queer Youth Digital Video Project to provide opportunities for youth to learn video production in a supportive atmosphere. Queer youth under the age of 25 are mentored through the process of making their first videos, from storyboarding and shooting to post-production

Post-production

Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...

 and editing

Film editing

Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...

. The works are screened at the festival and many go on to play at festivals around the globe. Each year, the videos are compiled on tape and distributed free to schools and community organizations. To date, 63 youth have created work through the project.

John Bailey Film and Video Completion Fund

In 2001, Inside Out launched the inaugural John Bailey Film and Video Completion Fund. Named in recognition of the contribution of a longtime Inside Out supporter and advisory board member, the fund awards grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 to Canadian filmmakers with work in the final stages of production.

Mark S. Bonham Scholarship for Queer Studies in Film and Video

Inaugurated in 2002, this annual $5,000 cash scholarship assists a Canadian student to pursue post-secondary studies in the field of film or video. The first Scholarship was awarded in September 2002 to Adam Garnet Jones from Vancouver. Subsequent recipients include Mary Fogarty of London, Christopher Sanchez and Jung Kim, both of Toronto. The 2006 scholarship was presented to Cam Matamoros, currently enrolled at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Inside Out Arts Endowment Fund

The Inside Out Arts Endowment Fund was established in December 2001 through the Ontario Arts Foundation to provide a stable base of funding for Inside Out in the future. The Fund was created thanks to a generous founding gift from Mark Bonham of $200,000, and it is currently valued at close to $300,000. Supporters of Inside Out can make tax-deductible donations specifically to the Endowment Fund.

Inside Out Library and Archives

Inside Out is currently in the planning stages for the creation of a viewing library that will house copies of films and videos screened at the festival over its history. The library will be open to curators, programmers, students and academics to view works in-house. The library is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. To date, Inside Out has received generous financial support from the Trillium Foundation, the Pride and Remembrance Association and the Department of Canadian Heritage

Department of Canadian Heritage

The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage |department]] of the Government of Canada with responsibility for policies and programs regarding the arts, culture, media, communications networks, official languages , status of women, sports , and multiculturalism...

for the creation of the library.