Michiel Thomas introducing a screening of his film ‘Game Face.’ (Photo courtesy Thomas)

When Michiel Thomas was planning his first feature documentary, he wanted to create a better understanding about the athletes in the LGBT sports community. As a gay athlete, it’s topic he’s passionate about.

The resulting film is powerful. “Game Face” ollows the path of MMA fighter Fallon Fox and college basketball player Terrence Clemens. Both athletes began their sports careers in the closet before revealing that they were transgender (Fox) and gay (Clemens).

The film is an emotional rollercoaster as it showcases the inner conflicts, highs and lows that happen as the two athletes try to be the best they can be with the obstacles they face.

“I wanted to show that Fallon and Terrence are people just like everyone else. There are still so many misunderstandings,” Thomas says. “The LGBT teen suicide rate is through the roof and I have LGBT friends who have lost scholarships, friends and teammates. I wanted to educate in a compelling way.”

Thomas was born and raised in Neerpelt, Belgium and ran track and field until he became fixated on basketball at age 12. At 16, he was selected to be a junior player with Bree, a Belgian First Division professional team.

He left the team after three years realizing that at a height of 6’1” he was not tall enough to have a professional career. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking in Brussels, Thomas headed to the Los Angeles area to pursue broadcasting and journalism and received another degree from Santa Monica College.

At 29, he now makes his living doing freelance camera work and editing. He found it tough as a first-time filmmaker getting his feature documentary picked up by film festivals. For the first five months there was no response and then it finally opened at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in April. It has been screening ever since almost every weekend in film festivals all over the world.

“It has been a very satisfying year,” Thomas says. “The film has won several awards and was even screened by the Olympic Committees in Oslo, Norway and Rio de Janeiro.”

Thomas says the most satisfying thing to come from the film has been the evolution of his subjects. Fox and Clemens who were both nervous when the movie came out.

“The first Q&A with Terrence was in Miami and he was very shy. It has been very cool to see both him and Fallon blossom into doing speaking engagements,” Thomas says. “I was hoping all along that this would create opportunities for both of them. I think they will inspire many people.”

As for Thomas, he has been happily a part of the National Gay Basketball Association’s tournaments playing for five years with the L.A. Dream and now playing with 3 the Hard Way. He will be competing in the Daytona tournament next month.

“We are currently in talks to have the film distributed to the public and I look forward to more people to seeing my work,” he says.