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By Bonginkosi Tiwane

Digital Journalist


‘Runs In The Family’ bags international nomination for its representation of LGBTQ community

The film will come up against US film 'Rustin', which was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company Higher Ground.


A South African film, Runs in the Family (RITF) has scored a nomination at the GLAAD Media Awards, for its representation of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.

“So deeply proud of the entire team and grateful for this big nod from the Hollywood queers. If you haven’t yet, check out RITF on Netflix and tell all your friends,” wrote one of the movie’s leads, Gabe Gabriel.

Runs In The Family follows a reformed con artist and his transgender son on a road trip across South Africa to break his ex – the estranged mother – out of rehab and return in time for a drag competition that could win the boy his gender-affirming surgery. Gabriel, who is a transgender man in real life, portrays the character of the son.

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The Netflix movie is directed by Ian Gabriel, who also directed Four Corners and Forgiveness. The cast includes celebrated actors such as Diaan Lawrenson and Faniswa Yisa.

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GLAAD Awards

The GLAAD Media Awards are one of the most visible annual LGBTQ awards show in the world which send powerful messages of acceptance to audiences globally.

They recognise and honour media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect the community’s lives.

This year is the awards’ 35 instalment and Runs In The Family is nominated in the Outstanding Film, Streaming or TV category against stiff competition.

The film from Mzansi is nominated alongside the critically-acclaimed Rustin, which tells the story of US activist Bayard Rustin.

Rustin was an openly gay black man in the 1960s that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movements in the US.

He organised the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. His impact in the emancipation for black history was often cast to the side-lines, because of his homosexuality.

Rustin is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground and the movie’s lead actor, Colman Domingo has already won an award for the role in the AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards. Domingo recently thanked the British Academy Film Awards for his Best Leading Actor role on Rustin.

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