Outshine Film Festival Miami Edition starts its second and final weekend from Thursday, April 25 through Sunday April 28. During the second week the festival is showing 22 films. Here are some of the highlights, but to see a complete list of films and parties go to: OutshineFilm.com.
Thursday April 25th
The Blonde One – 6:45 pm
In the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Gabriel has just moved in with his colleague, Juan. Shy and reserved, Gabo is reluctant to follow Juan’s wandering hands and meaningful looks. With a revolving door of beauties streaming out of Juan’s bedroom, his machismo seems firmly in place. However, the attraction between the two men is undeniable. What starts out as a sexual relationship based on convenience of location soon develops into the engrossing evolution of a tender and intimate relationship, which is as sweet as it is heartbreaking. As reality begins to intrude on the couple’s homemaking fantasy, something has to give, or does it?
Marilyn – 9pm
Marcos and his family work as ranch hands. His father and brother handle the heavier tasks while Marcos stays home near his mother. Each has a path to follow, yet Marcos bides his time waiting for Carnival, the one moment where he can let his true self out to shine. Marilyn is a nuanced story of rural oppression, prejudice, and homophobia where characters are pushed to their limits to an unavoidable and desperate conclusion. Based on a shocking real case, Walter Rodriguez gives a powerful breakthrough lead performance as a boy confronted with the impossibility of being who he wants to be.
Drive Me Home – 9:15 pm
Antonio and Agostino grew up together in a small town in Sicily; they dreamt of living a different life, somewhere else. Now thirty-year-olds, they both live abroad but they lost touch years ago. When Antonio discovers that the house he grew up in, which had been empty for a long time, is about to be sold at auction, he decides to leave and reconnects with his childhood friend. But their lives have changed a lot. Old conflicts and new revelations bring them through Europe…a road movie, in an 18-wheeler.
Friday April 26th
Canary (Kanarie) – 6:45 pm
Set in 1985 South Africa against a backdrop of apartheid, religion, and war, Canary is a charming musical drama chronicling one teen’s struggle to find his voice. After being drafted, Johan joins the Canaries (the South African Defense Force Church Choir). He believes it will keep him out of fighting a war he is against, but he soon begins to see the role he plays in the oppression and injustice around him. The Canaries teach him that through hardship, camaraderie, first love, and the liberating freedom of music, his true self can be discovered.
Sauvage – 9pm
22-year-old Leo works as a prostitute. The men come and go without complications until Leo develops feelings for Ahd, who is actively seeking escape from his life of nightly hookups with lonely old men. Leo, in contrast, seems to not know or desire any other kind of life, despite friends and doctors questioning his lifestyle. Despite the physical toll of his work and the humiliation that may accompany it, Leo prizes his freedom and never let’s go of his ability to love and be loved.
Socrates – 9:15 pm
The sudden, unexpected death of his mother puts 15-year-old Socrates in a precarious position. A child of the São Paulo slums, he now has to survive on his own. At first, he hides his mother’s death, telling her employers that she’s just sick so he can take over her cleaning job. But when this ruse fails, his struggle for survival turns more desperate, as fraught as his search for love in the arms of a troubled older boy. Socrates is an astonishingly assured first feature whose cinematic fluency renders his minuscule budget irrelevant and utilizes a cast and crew of underprivileged Brazilian youth.
Saturday April 27th
Leonard Soloway’s Broadway – 12:15pm
Through verité documentary footage, humorous storytelling, interviews and archival film material, Leonard Soloway’s Broadway captures a Broadway few have ever seen as told through the eyes of a legendary Broadway producer you’ve probably never heard of. He lived an unconventional life on his own terms and, over a 70-year span, staged over 100 shows (and counting) which generated history making headlines, over 40 Tony Awards, 62 Tony Nominations, 21 Drama Desk Awards, 29 Drama Desk nominations and 3 Pulitzer Prizes in addition to launching the careers of famous stars known the world over.
MADE BY SOUTH FLORIDA: Where Justice Ends – 2:30 pm
Where Justice Ends explores the intersection of two important and timely topics of social justice: conditions within the U.S. prison system and the injustices that befall transgender people encountering the law. The film looks into why so many transgender people encounter the police, how those encounters often lead to discriminatory treatment, and the inhumane conditions that transgender people all too frequently experience. Told through the words of transgender inmates and experts and narrated by the Tony award-winning stage, screen and TV actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, Where Justice Ends casts a light on one of the most hidden social injustices in our country.
My Father, The Bride (Oishi Kazoku) – 5:15 pm
Tohka returns to the island where she grew up to attend the second memorial service for her late mother. She is greeted by her father, Seiji, who is wearing her mother’s clothes and announces that he is getting married again…to a local handyman, Kazuo. While Tohka finds herself unable to process this mind-boggling situation, her younger brother, Midori, is happy with his father’s decision, and he and the rest of the family get ready to celebrate the new couple. Witty, charming and honest, My Father, The Bride defines family on its own terms.
Fireflies (Luciérnagas) – 7pm
After he stows away on a cargo ship leaving Turkey, Ramin unexpectedly ends up in Veracruz, Mexico. Having escaped persecution as a young gay man in Iran, his home country, he suddenly finds himself far from everything he knows, experiencing the limbo of exile in a tropical port where his past and future are constantly confronting new relationships and rekindled desires. Ramin tries to cope with the distance from his lover, who stayed in Tehran. The paradox of his feelings is immense: while in a state of longing and nostalgia, he savors his newfound freedom far from Iran.
Men of Hard Skin (Hombres de Piel Dura) – 9:15pm
Teenager Ariel lives a seemingly quiet life with his father and sister on their picturesque farm in a rural part of Buenos Aires. However, unbeknownst to his family, Ariel has been abused for years by Omar, his neighborhood priest. Having confused his mistreatment for romantic affection, Omar ends their relationship and Ariel embarks on a secret affair with one of the male workers on his father’s property. Defiantly unsentimental in its approach, José Celestino Campusano’s richly textured exploration of sex, power and ecclesiastical abuse in Argentine society is a complex and often confrontational piece of work, posing many tough questions without resorting to easy answers.
Consequences (Posledice) – 9:45pm
Seventeen-year-old, hunky Andrej is admitted to a youth correctional facility where he meets Željko, another delinquent and the self-appointed leader of the other detainees. Soon Željko starts exploiting Andrej in return for keeping his homosexuality a secret thus causing Andrej’s sense of responsibility and moral integrity to be put to the test. Andrej must ultimately choose between joining Željko and his reckless lifestyle or staying true to himself.
Sunday April 28th
Halston – 1:30pm
Roy Halston Frowick was America’s first celebrity designer. His life story is a dramatic and visually outstanding tale of the transition from classic Hollywood elegance to the extravagant wild nightlife of the 1970s. His ideas perfectly encapsulated the times, and his creations made him the regular stylist for stars. Halston flew high but gambled his empire on an escalating hedonistic lifestyle and a series of impulsive decisions during a period that started as one long party and ended up spinning out of control. Frédéric Tcheng tells the story with style, originality and plenty of exuberance just like Halston would have wanted.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM: The Shiny Shrimps (Les Crevettes pailletées) – 6pm
Matthias, an Olympic swimming champion at the end of his career, makes a homophobic statement on TV. His punishment: coach the Shiny Shrimps, a VERY flamboyant, VERY bad and VERY LGBT water polo team. They have only one thing in mind: to qualify for the Gay Games in Croatia where the hottest international LGBT athletes will compete. It’s the start of a bumpy and joyful ride. If the Bad News Bears were a water polo team and GLBT, they would be The Shiny Shrimps. Faster, Higher, Stronger…and fabulous. In attendance will be Vanguard Award Recipient Fred Rosser.
