“Brokeback Mountain” producer James Schamus to receive 2014 Outfest Achievement Award

Outfest announced today that screenwriter and producer James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm, The Wedding Banquet) will be receiving the 18th annual Outfest Achievement Award.

The Achievement Award is Outfest’s highest honor and is presented in recognition of a body of work that has made a significant contribution to LGBT film and media.

The honor will be presented to Schamus prior to the Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival’s Opening Night Gala screening of Life Partners on Thursday, July 10 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

Outfest Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer said of the honoree: “The scope and the depth of James’s work as a writer, producer and studio head, has had a tremendous impact on the LGBT community. He has shepherded stories and storytellers who have defined the LGBT experience for three decades — from the new queer cinema films of Tom Kalin and Todd Haynes to the boundary-pushing Pariah and from the historical insight of Milk to, of course, the iconic Brokeback Mountain.”

Outfest has previously presented the award to Kimberly Peirce, John Waters, Jane Lynch, Bill Condon, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, Don Roos, Donna Deitch, Kenneth Anger, Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes, Jane Anderson, Christine Vachon, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Gus Van Sant, Ian McKellen, John Schlesinger, and Strand Releasing.

Outfest will be held July 10 – 20.