OUTshine Film Festival
Apr 16 - 26, 2020
By: Ian Maloney | Dec 19, 2018
For the past 21 years, Miami has been home to one of the hottest LGBT Film Festivals in the country. Over the years, the festival has gone through a couple of different names changes. In 2008, the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival started the Fort Lauderdale Festival, and most recently, it has been rebranded the OUTshine Film Festival, “underscoring its brightness, broad appeal and dynamic multi-cultural location.”
The 2019 Miami Edition of the OUTshine Film Festival will take place April 18-28. With films showing at two venues, Regal Cinemas South Beach and The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex, the film festival is a great way for the LGBTQ community to come together to celebrate and support these films that tell the story of our lives. As Ebony Rhodes, former Board Member mentioned, “[film is] an art form that lends itself to being able to really tell the nuances of personal experience. With a film festival and with a space like what we have, to be able to then share that with other people that can then connect on this specific experience is really powerful. So I think in that sense it also builds community.” Executive Director Victor Gimenez expanded upon that thought. “We always encourage people when you come to the movies, come there before with your friends, watch the movies and then have a few drinks afterward, watch another movie and just talk about the films. We always try to do different events where people watch the movie and then go to the party afterward to continue the conversation about the movie they just saw and hopefully meet somebody new that was in the same theatre and talk about it.”
OUTshine organizers promise a festival that will be “OUTrageous. OUTspoken. And OUTstanding” and the 2019 program delivers on all accounts. The entire spectrum of the LGBTQ rainbow is represented in more than 80 films from across the globe. There are documentaries, short films, comedies, dramas and everything in between so there’s sure to be something for everyone. Many of the films are making their US and east coast premieres. There is even a film staring Golden Globe winner Matt Bomer called Papi Chulo, in which the hunky star plays a gay TV weatherman who befriends a straight, portly, migrant worker who is looking for work outside a hardware store. The film is a black comedy about loneliness and the desire to find connection across clear racial and socio-economic lines.
For guests that are coming to the film festival from out of town or for those who just want a “staycation” during the festival, there are a couple of South Beach hotels that are offering special rates for festivalgoers. Check out the Albion Hotel as well as Hotel Gaythering, both offer reduced rates if you mention you’re booking for the OUTshine Film Festival. The Albion is offering king rooms for $180 or two queens for $195 and waive the resort fee, while Hotel Gaythering, which is gay-owned, will give a 15% discount off of their lowest available rate for your stay.
Besides the films, OUTshine works with a host of local venues for the pre- and after parties for many of the films. Check out the events page for the full lineup and to purchase tickets to all of the special events. There will be opportunities to meet and greet the stars, directors and producers as well as Q&A sessions with many of the filmmakers after the shows.
OUTshine Film Festival is an important cultural event in Miami and Miami Beach and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of the LGBTQ community and allies. Film festivals like OUTshine thrive because people want to see themselves reflected in film. Choose a couple of films to see, get the popcorn and candy ready, and head out to the movies. You will be happy you did.