A new TV and film festival coming this June: “Pride LIVE! Hollywood isn’t just a festival, it’s a movement”

I’m very excited to be sharing this news: Pride LIVE! Hollywood, a bold, month-long celebration of LGBTQ+ creativity in media and entertainment, will be held in June!

The event will include a salute to Norman Lear’s pioneering television work, anniversary celebrations of The Golden Girls and Queer as Folk, documentary premieres, feature film screenings, and presentations of disco-era films with casts and creatives. The community will be brought together at such venues as the W Hollywood, The Ricardo Montalban Theatre, LA Explained, Emerson College, Amoeba Music, The Aster and Lemon Grove, Whisky Hotel Hollywood, NeueHouse Hollywood and more.

It’s a first-time event is from the producers of Infinity Festival who are joining forces with The Hollywood Partnership and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

“It honors both Hollywood’s legacy as an entertainment capital and its rich LGBTQ+ history, while reflecting the energy and diversity that make the district so vibrant today,” says Kathleen Rawson, President & CEO of The Hollywood Partnership. “Since the LA Pride Parade returned to Hollywood Boulevard in 2022, our neighborhood has proudly become the center of Pride in Los Angeles and Pride LIVE! is the next powerful step in that evolution.”

With over 150,000 people attending the annual LA Pride Parade and Village, produced by Christopher Street West, Hollywood now hosts one of the largest Pride celebrations in the world. This new month-long entertainment event builds on that momentum and expands the celebration.

I’m already completely sold on the event because it is curated and hosted by The New York Times bestselling author Jim Colucci (Golden Girls Forever) and writer/performer Frank DeCaro (The Daily Show and Sirius XM OutQ). The Hollywood Reporter is presenting media sponsor.

“Pride LIVE! Hollywood isn’t just a festival, it’s a movement,” Colucci and DeCaro said in a statement. “It’s a celebration of Hollywood as a global beacon of creativity, pride and progress. From comedy to culture, disco balls to discussion panels, this is where the past, present, and future of LGBTQ+ pop culture meet.”

The festival shines a spotlight on the voices and stories that continue to shape the LGBTQ+ community. The programming not only celebrates current LGBTQ+ culture, but places it within the broader context of entertainment, history, and social change.

“By reframing landmark TV, film, and literature through a modern lens, we’re opening space for connection, conversation, and reflection on how far we’ve come — and where we’re headed,” co-founders Mark Lieber and Adam Newman of Infinity Festival said in a statement.

Along with Lieber and Newman, Colucci and DeCaro, Pride LIVE! co-founders include Brian Folb, a longtime Hollywood community influencer and CEO of Hollywood Offices at 6464 and 6565 Sunset Blvd, and production veteran Jeroen Hallaert. The Hollywood Offices at 6464 & 6565 Sunset Blvd will be the central hub for Pride LIVE!.

PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Television Tributes Opening Night Event, produced in conjunction with the Norman Lear Center at USC Annenberg, honoring Lear’s pioneering contributions to LGBTQ+ visibility on television. The evening showcases such classics as All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and newer programs such as the One Day at a Time reboot and Clean Slate, plus a celebrity panel discussion and a special personal introduction from Lyn Lear.

A celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Queer as Folk, the groundbreaking Showtime series, featuring a reunion of cast members Scott Lowell, Robert Gant, Michelle Clunie, Peter Paige and Sharon Gless, and creators Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman.

A 40th Anniversary Salute to The Golden Girls with writers, guest stars, and behind-the-scenes talents who made the show a classic whose following is ever-growing, particularly among the LGBTQ+ community. Panelists include writers Rick Copp, Stan Zimmerman and James Berg, production associate and writer Isabel Omero, and more TBA.

Literary Spotlights LGBTQ+ Authors Roundtable featuring Bruce Vilanch (It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time), Curtis Chin (Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant), Rasheed Newson (My Government Means to Kill Me), Alonso Duralde (Hollywood Pride) and others TBA. Moderated by Frank DeCaro (Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania Under the Mirror Ball).

Film Events include the Los Angeles premiere of A Big Gay Hairy Hit! Where the Bears Are: The Documentary. This film tells the story of three gay “bears,” all working in Hollywood, who grew tired of having their gay-themed ideas rejected by the mainstream, so they self-produced their own web series which became a worldwide hit, with over 70 million views online. The documentary examines ageism, body-shaming, sex-positivity, the creative process and how friendship and community can create something beloved all over the world. Creators and cast in attendance.

Disco Night Fever: A salute to disco movies including the classic Saturday Night Fever, introduced by DeCaro with a talk-back to follow featuring director John Badham and star Donna Pescow, followed by a Disco party on an iconic Hollywood rooftop. Another event will feature the camp-tastic Village People origin movie, Can’t Stop the Music, featuring a discussion with original scriptwriter Bruce Vilanch. More titles and talent to be announced.

Salute to LGBTQ+ pioneering producer Steven J. Wolfe with a screening of his groundbreaking film, Relax… It’s Just Sex, with Jennifer Tilly, Wolfe and other cast members in attendance. Directed by P.J. Castellaneta, Relax explores the complexities of a diverse group of friends in Los Angeles, blending humor with poignant moments. The award-winning film has not screened publicly since its initial theatrical release in 1999.

The World According to Allee Willis, a documentary about the multi-talented Hollywood songwriter– whose hits include September, Boogie Wonderland, and the Friends theme – and a discussion with Willis’s friends, Prudence Fenton, Julie Brown, producer Nicolas Cole and director Alexis Manya Spraic, along with other talent TBA.

Screening of independent film The Grotto, written and directed by Joanna Gleason and starring Betsy Brandt, Dan Bucatinsky, Jonathan del Arco, Steve Kazee, Susan Sullivan and more. Followed by a panel with producers and cast TBA.

The Los Angeles premiere of Unicorns, co-directed by BAFTA-nominated Sally El Hosaini (The Swimmers) and BIFA-winning filmmaker/actor James Krishna Floyd. This cross-cultural romance, about a single father who works as an auto mechanic and a British Indian drag queen, stars Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Jason Patel. It is preceded by the new coming-of-age short Barbie Boy by filmmaker Remi Gabriel, making its Los Angeles premiere directly from Frameline Film Festival.

Interactive Events include Frank DeCaro and Kristen Carroll leading a guided tour of the sidewalk stars honoring a panoply of LGBTQ+ pop culture heroes along Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Pride LIVE! runs Wednesdays through Sundays, June 11–29, 2025. Full Programming Schedule and Tickets at www.pridelivehollywood.com . Check back daily for new programming and party additions.