To celebrate its 40^th anniversary, Outfest, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious LGBTQ+ film festivals, turned to Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner (and Golden Globe nominee) Billy Porter to kick off the ruby anniversary of the cinematic showcase. How apropos that that gemstone’s dazzling deep red hue is the perfect symbol of not only burning love, which seemed to fill the air at L.A.’s historic Orpheum Theater but also Porter’s infamous thigh-high boots in the award-winning musical Kinky Boots.

But it wasn’t footwear the Pittsburgh native was unveiling. Instead, it was his directorial debut with the film Anything’s Possible, a John Hughes-esque high school comedy that poignantly follows the relationship between a young black trans girl and a Muslim classmate.

Returning to the festival 22 years after he appeared in Greg Berlanti’s The Broken Hearts Club, Porter notes that while the world has changed dramatically since then, the pushback he is witnessing makes it all the more severe.

“I want to talk about the positive,” he proclaimed on the red carpet before the opening night premiere. “At this moment, I chose myself and I chose my own authenticity. My haters and allies told me for years that my queerness would be my liability. For decades, it was. Now it’s my superpower.”

Although the super talent has been acting for more than three decades, Anything’s Possible was the first time the 52-year-old took a step back behind the camera and the experience was a bit overwhelming.

“When you do theater, you have rehearsals for a significant amount of time and you get to work things out over weeks and then you have technical rehearsals and previews and then opening night,” he notes. But for making his first film he saw a different sort of energy and pace. “When you direct, you have to go from the first day of rehearsals to opening night with every scene every day. That was exhausting in a way that I have never really experienced before.”

One wonders if that revelation might have toned down his enthusiasm for the craft. He laughs. “I like being in power, so, I will be doing it again.”

It didn’t take long for Porter to exercise that muscle when he received the 2022 Outfest Annual Achievement Award, presented by the two young stars of his movie, Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali.

Seizing the pulpit, he used the platform to advance upon the theme of his film, intolerance and acceptance.

“Our messaging has to change,” he told the attentive crowd. “We thought we won something, the Democrats, the progressives. We got civil rights, we got Roe vs. Wade, we got marriage equality, we got all the rest. We got a Black president. And then we all sat on our asses and ate bonbons for eight years and then the unthinkable happened. We’re a part of it too. Frederick Douglass said ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ We lost our vigilance. It’s time to get that shit back.”

Then he brought it home.

“Look at me, look at this movie, look at ya’ll! A celebration of trans joy centered on a Black empowered transgender high school senior who has the cutest Arab Muslim boyfriend and has the audacity to demand respect for her humanity.”

For festival director Damien Navarro, the power of Porter is exactly the direction he has tried to steer the festival towards.

“We sometimes are jaded in the LA area that community is represented,” he adds. “But people are still struggling to be accepted and loved. These stories we are sharing from filmmakers from all over the world are being celebrated here at Outfest.”

Noting how it is important to take stock of not only where you have been but also where you are going, Navarro proclaims how the festival has listened to the community. “We know what audiences think they want but we want to surprise them.”

With over 200 films from filmmakers from over two dozen countries, the ten-day program includes dramas, comedies, documentaries, short films and special live events.

“These are all of the genres that used to bully and marginalize us that are now being flipped.”

It seems that anything IS possible.