OUTSHINE LGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL Fort Lauderdale Unveils Full Film Schedule For 15th Anniversary Edition

OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale, internationally acclaimed as one of the largest LGBTQ+ cultural festivals in the world, is proud to announce its 15th anniversary film schedule.

This year's highly anticipated festival celebrating queer culture runs October 19 – 29 and will feature 38 internationally acclaimed features and 26 shorts including premieres and documentaries that inspire, entertain, and educate along with a variety of parties and special events taking place at various venues throughout Broward County.

“We are thrilled to announce this incredibly diverse title lineup with a variety of North American, East Coast and Florida premieres for our 40th LGBTQ+ film festival and our 15th Fort Lauderdale anniversary,” said Mark Gilbert, OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale interim executive director. “With the uncertainty and mixed sentiments of all going on in our area, today, it is important that our stories are told, our struggles and triumphs shown and that we come together to share the experience. And this year most definitely promises our greatest film program to date.”

This year's opening night film taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (1 E Las Olas Blvd), is The Mattachine Family (USA, 2023). Directed by Andy Vallentine, This heartwarming comedy drama follows Thomas and Oscar, who, after their first foster child returns to his birth mother, grapple with different ideas about what making a family actually means. Tender and funny, The Mattachine Family reflects on “chosen” families, the bonds we form with friends, lovers, and children, and how those define us, elude us, and perplex us. The film stars Nico Tortorella (Younger; Walking Dead: World Beyond), Juan Pablo Di Pace (Fuller House, Mamma Mia!), and Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek). An afterparty will take place at 10 p.m. at Rooftop @1WLO (1 W Las Olas Blvd #700).

On October 21, at 7:30 p.m., at Savor Cinema (503 SE 6th St) the Men's Spotlight Film & Party will feature the erotic stylish thriller Femme (UK, 2023). Jules is a drag artist in London who withdraws into himself and loses his career after a horrific attack. Months later, he recognizes one of his assailants in a gay sauna and quickly realizes he has the perfect, but risky, opportunity to get revenge. An afterparty will take place at Union Kitchen & Bar in Wilton Manors at 10 p.m.

In collaboration with PRIDE Fort Lauderdale and Trans Social, OUTshine is pleased to present its TRANScendent Spotlight, the North American premiere of Oskar's Dress (Oskar's Kleid) (Germany, 2023) at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 22, at Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale. This heartwarming story portrays an overwhelmed father who runs up against his own limits of acceptance with his child's fundamental search for identity. 

On Monday, October 3, beginning at 7:15 p.m. at Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale, OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale spotlights South Florida's small but mighty filmmaking community from students to seasoned veterans of the industry. Selections include USA shorts The Last Lesbian Library, I Remember, Azulejos, and Don't Say Butterfly.

This year's previously announced Centerpiece Film Glitter & Doom (USA/Mexico, 2023), a fantasy summer romance, will screen at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 26, at Savor Cinema. The film follows a musician who wears charisma as camouflage and a carefree kid about to run away with the circus as they fall in love at first sight.

A highlight for the women will be The Ladies' Spotlight Film & Party beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, at Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale (1820 E Sunrise Blvd.). Marinette (France, 2023) is biopic of Marinette Pichon, the first French female soccer player to sign on to the American professional league. She was a true pioneer and advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and equality in general.  She was a fighter whose legacy lives on today. A 9 p.m. afterparty will follow at Hair Circus (501 SW 2nd Ave).

In addition to the ambitious line-up, OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale is pleased to announce its new OUTshine After Dark program showcasing a curated international selection of queer horror films, erotic thrillers and offbeat films that fit in with autumn's spooky season vibe. Films to be screened include psychological horror films The Judgement  (Egypt, 2023) and Almamula (Argentina, France and Italy, 2023), horror film You're Not Me (Tú no eres yo)  (Spain, 2023), the East Coast premiere of the homoerotic, magical The Fantastic Golem Affairs (El Fantastico Casso Del Golem)(Spain, 2023), and the East Coast premiere of the erotic thriller The Trace of Your Lips (La Huella De Unos Labios) (Mexico, 2023).

Additional selections of note include A Big Gay Hairy Hit! Where The Bears Are: The Documentary (USA, 2023); The Lost Boys (Le Paradis)(Belgium/France, 2023) – an official selection of the Berlinale and Frameline Festivals; the touching rom-com Cora Bora (USA, 2023) an official Selection of SXSW, OUTFest, Frameline, Honolulu Rainbow, and OUT On Film – Atlanta festivals; Chasing Chasing Amy (USA, 2023), the documentary behind the popular film that explores the transformational impact of a ‘90s rom-com on a 12-year-old kid from Kansas, coming of age and contending with queer identity; OUTshine's Cocktails & Cinema locally produced feature Big Easy Queens (USA, 2023) and the filmed in Miami narrative February (Febrero) (Cuba/USA, 2022).

The suspenseful drama All Of Us Strangers (UK, 2023) will be the Closing Night Film commencing at 5:30 pm. on Sunday, October 29, at Savor Cinema. British director Andrew Haigh, whose 2011 feature breakthrough Weekend is among the most widely beloved queer romances of the 21st century, has returned with an expertly modulated, emotionally overwhelming love story suspended in a metaphysical realm. One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town and his childhood home where he grew up. Immediately following at 8 p.m., festivities, awards and a celebratory evening will take place at The Fitz (503 SW 2nd Ave).

OUTrageous, OUTspoken, and OUTstanding, this year's OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale edition is sponsored, in part, by Gilead, the State of Florida through the Division of Arts & Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward County Cultural Council. Support has been provided by the following funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: the Stephen and Ethel Keller Fund, the Maxine Powers Hofert Fund, the Drial Foundation Fund, and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Broward Community Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. This program was also made possible by a grant from The Our Fund Foundation, an LGBTQ Community Foundation.

A full schedule will be available at https://outshinefilm.com/program. Ticket subscription packages and individual tickets go on sale September 30 for the 15th anniversary edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale. For more information, call (877) 766-8156 or visit outshinefilm.com.

The OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, celebrating 15 years in Fort Lauderdale and 25 years in Miami, is a bi-annual film festival with a mission to inspire, entertain, and educate; encouraging a sense of community through international and culturally diverse film, video and other media that offer historical, contemporary and entertaining perspectives on the LGBTQ+ experience. Launched separately - in 1998, as The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and in 2008, as the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival - both were brought together under one brand to become OUTshine Film Festival, underscoring its brightness, broad appeal and dynamic multicultural locations, the nonprofit festival is critically and internationally acclaimed as one of the largest LGBTQ+ cultural arts happenings in the world. OUTrageous. OUTspoken. And OUTstanding in what we deliver.

For more information and tickets, visit outshinefilm.com

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