EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Pride Month recently concluded, but representation is continuing to make its mark in Southern California with an annual film festival kicking off this week.

Outfest LA begins Thursday and runs until July 23. The ever-expanding event will showcase a program of more than 170 titles from more than 25 countries that includes narratives, documentaries and more.

The festival's director of programming, Mike Dougherty, recently opened up to Spectrum News about Outfest, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that uplifts queer and trans creators in the entertainment industry by providing career support and curating an exhibition of their stories.

"Our community has not always had the support of the industry as a whole, or all of the financing that other films may have had. And that is starting to change," said Doughtery in describing the kind of guidance his nonprofit provides. "Filmmakers who still are looking for those greater resources are still finding ways to tell their stories that are really compelling in really creative ways, such that it's just an incredibly memorable program. And there's so much diversity of storytelling in it."

The festival will take place in venues around the city and is headquartered at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood. Tickets and passes are now available, and Dougherty was quick to note how this year's lineup is particularly unique.

"They are some of the best films I've seen, period," he said. "Throughout the year, I kept saying to myself as I was watching certain submissions, 'This is one of the best queer films of the year.' And at a certain point, you're just like, 'Well, we have the best films of the year.' We're in the wider canon. There's just so much talent from every corner of the globe in the lineup, from the Philippines, from South Korea, from Brazil, from Australia, as well as within the United States."

The festival also announced that it will be honoring Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone with the James Schamus Ally Award during closing night in recognition of their allying efforts to foster queer and trans projects. McCarthy and Falcone are both executive producers on "Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story," a short documentary featured at this year’s festival about a West Hollywood candle shop owner who employs homeless and newly sober individuals at his business.

"What I always underline is that it’s a festival of discovery," Dougherty added. "I always encourage people to step outside of their comfort zone and check out something that maybe wouldn't necessarily have hit their radar in the types of films that they gravitate towards usually because there's just such amazing interesting stories that highlight LGBT people from all walks of life, from all parts of the of the world. And I think the most enriching experience you could have at a festival is discovering something that maybe wouldn't have otherwise come across. And you can have that experience with the filmmaker or the actors in the room with you, which is always the most magical part of the festival for me."

For more information about purchasing tickets and passes to this year's festival, please visit here.