After nearly a year of earning raves on the film festival circuit - including the Sundance Film Festival - Dee Rees will see her debut film, Pariah, finally open in U.S. theaters on Friday (30 December).

Rees is the writer-director behind this drama that tells the story of Aleke, a 17-year-old African-American woman in Brooklyn with a flair for poetry. Aleke is embracing her identity as a lesbian  but must deal with a controlling mother and trying to find her place in the lesbian world.

Rees chose the unusual title because 'it means for me somebody who doesn't have a place. Aleke feels like she doesn't fit in the gay world - butch or fem - or the straight world because of her mom. Aleke knows she loves women. But her question is the more complex question of how to be. It's about her being her authentic self.'

The film was shot in 2009 and is the expansion of a short film of the same name that Rees had written and directed and won 25 best short film awards. Both star Adepero Oduye in the central role of Aleke.

The movie is a deeply personal one for the filmmaker who came out to her family via telephone while living in New York City. She was relieved to have their love and support with her mother and grandmother flying in that weekend to be with her followed the next weekend by her father.

While Pariah is not her life story, there are similarities.

'It's the emotions I experienced that were the same,' Rees said during a recent Los Angeles press junket for the film. 'Who I was was not a choice. ... I knew this film was a universal story. I'm excited to see it playing out and seeing people respond to it.'

The lesbian filmmaker was determined to not make Aleke a victim even if she does endure emotional setbacks through the course of the film.

'She has resiliency,' Rees says. 'I wanted to show that you can encounter broken relationships but it doesn'tr mean it's the end of the world. I didn't want her sexuality to be a tragic thing.'

The movie has an outside shot at receiving some attention from Oscar voters next month if early awards are any indication.

Oduye got a Spirit Award nomination for best actress and Rees was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award given to the best feature made for under $500,000. At the Gotham Awards, Rees won the breakthrough director prize and the National Board of Review gave her film its Freedom of Expression prize.

Still, Rees tells Gay Star News that she is not really concerned about whether the film gets the attention of Oscar voters.

'The film is what is important,' she says. 'I'm excited to see it playing out and to see people respond to it. I'm not really concerned about awards. The film is what it is. [Reaction] been very positive. A lot of people have been telling us that we've told their story. I would hope we get to reach families, that people would be able to see themselves.'