This just in!

Outfest will present its 15th Annual Achievement Award to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato whose credits include such classic LGBT titles as Party Monster and The Eyes of Tammy Faye and the new documentary Becoming Chaz.

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.

“Few acts can balance mainstream popularity with cult status and maintain their independence, singular vision and relevance – especially in the mood shifting LGBT landscape,” says Outfest Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer said in a statement.

The award will be presented to Bailey and Barbato prior to the Opening Night Gala screening of Gun Hill Road on Thursday, July 7 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

Bailey said in reaction to the honor: “Outfest has been such an important organization to us and to the entertainment industry, although we are certain that they got this wrong, because we aren’t gay and we are far too young to be honored in this way!”

Added Barbato: “Actually we are gay dinosaurs, and given we were born this way, thank goodness there was an Outfest 15 years ago to help welcome us to Hollywood.”

For twenty years, their World of Wonder global entertainment company has been producing ground breaking and landmark film, television, and web programming often reflecting lifestyles and subjects no one else is brave enough to approach.

Emerging from the ‘80’s punk scene as disco-pop-rock duo The Fabulous Pop Tarts and NYU’s Graduate Film Program, the multi-media partnership between Bailey and Barbato morphed into World of Wonder in 1990.  Their immediate success gave birth to an immense and diverse body of work including 1997’s The Real Ellen Story, the 1998 Outfest award-winning “shockumentary” Party Monster; the wildly popular documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye that opened Outfest in 2000; and 101 Rent Boys also in 2000.

Their documentary output has been prolific, including titles ranging from Monica in Black and White to Inside Deep Throat such docu-series as Transgenerations.

Over the years they have produced work for almost every US Cable Network, including four seasons of Million Dollar Listing, six seasons of Tori & Dean and RuPaul’s Drag Race now shooting its fourth season.

They premiered their latest documentary film Becoming Chaz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and in May the film was broadcast on OWN as the first film in the Oprah Winfrey Documentary Club. Randy and Fenton continue to expand their reach with everything from blogs to an art gallery and a coffee table book.

Last year’s Outfest Achievement Award was presented to Jane Lynch, and previous recipients include: Don Roos, Jane Anderson, Gregg Araki, Bill Condon, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Todd Haynes, Sir Ian McKellen and Gus Van Sant.

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