The 23rd annual OUTshine Film Festival Miami edition will take place April 23rd to May 2nd, with an opening night celebration at the Dezerland Drive-In. Due to the pandemic, this year’s festival will be mostly digital, with three in person events. It will feature 80+ LGBTQ films from around the world beginning with the opening night presentation of Potato Dreams of America, a semi-autobiographical comedy film that follows director Wes Hurley growing up in Russia and coming to the United States with his mail-order bride mother. Additional highlights for the week include Pretenders, A Good Man, the documentary Keyboard Fantasies and the Closing Night film Charlatan. The OUTshine Film Festival Miami Opening Night Drive-In premiere of Potato Dreams of America will take place Friday, April 23, 2021 @ 7:00 PM at Dezerland Drive-In (14401 NE 19th Ave, North Miami, FL 33181). Tickets to all OUTshine Film Festival Miami edition films go on sale on Monday, March 29 at outshinefilm.com.
“No matter who you are or what your coming out journey has been, we have a film for you,” says Victor Gimenez, Executive Director of OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, a bi-annual film festival with a mission to unite the community through social events and films that inspire, entertain and educate. Launched in 2008 as The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the festival expanded ten years later to include the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Both were brought together as OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, with the Miami edition held every April and the Fort Lauderdale edition held in October.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Miami edition will be held predominantly online. “One of the greatest strengths of the festival being virtual is that it allows us to show the films for longer periods of time and to a broader audience across the entire state of Florida,” Gimenez continues.
Additionally, the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Miami edition will host virtual Q&As with filmmakers and talent and stream them on their Facebook and YouTube channels. “These will be great because we can we can really go in depth with talent located across the globe,” Gimenez explains.
An exciting new feature being added to this year’s OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Miami edition is OUTshine At Home. After the festival’s conclusion, OUTshine will offer its members 8-10 films every month; a mixture of brand-new films and older festival titles that are not available on any streaming services. “It will enable our audience to discover incredible new content and remain engaged in LGBTQ+ film throughout the year,” Giminez says. He believes it will also encourage new members from all parts of Florida – Orlando, Jacksonville, Naples, and Tallahassee – to join their community and experience OUTshine LGBTQ+Film Festival Miami when it becomes a physical event again in April 2022.
For more information about the 23rd Annual Miami Edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, visit www.outshinefilm.com. Follow on Facebook @OUTshineFilmFestival, on Twitter @OUTshineFilm and on Instagram @OUTshineFilm.
