Professor Symons Screens Documentary for National Coming Out Day

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- In addition to being filmmakers, Symons and Chiang are both professors. Chiang has been an adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz and Northwestern University, and Symons currently teaches at SF State. The concept for “Out Run” began in 2011 and was officially released in April 2016. Since its premiere, it has been screened at several festivals, most notably Frameline40, San Francisco’s annual international LGBTQ+ film festival at the Castro Theatre. According to Symons and Chiang, the reactions to the documentary have been very positive and viewers have strongly identified with the LGBTQ+ politics in the film. “Audiences have been struck by the experience of viewing such a familiar thing through a different lens,” Symons said. “They’ve taken a deep dive into something they didn’t know anything about.” About eight to 10 of Symon’s students helped with some of the post-production aspects such as translations, editing, outreach and distribution.