OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival celebrates its silver anniversary, April 20 – 30, with more 65 features, shorts and documentaries on the silver screen at its new venue, Silverspot Cinema in downtown Miami.
Board Chair and Interim Executive Director Mark Gilbert said the new central location downtown will make the Festival more accessible to the community and offers a perfect venue for both film screenings and the popular festival afterparties.
In addition to lounge chairs, Silverspot Cinema also serves meals and alcoholic beverages. For the opening night event on April 20, tickets include the feature film along with a choice of six entrees like miso-glazed salmon, skirt steak, margherita flatbread and coconut jasmine rice bowls. A dessert party will follow.
The opening film will be “Fairyland,” starring Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, and Geena Davis. Writer and director Andrew Durham explores the relationship between a father and daughter, Steve and Alysia, after they move to San Francisco, where he develops his poetic and personal writing and begins to openly date men. Steve’s bohemian lifestyle clashes with the expectations of parenthood and their bonds are tested in painful and sudden ways.
Local Olympic gymnastics champion Danell Leyva will be honored on April 26 at 7:15 p.m., prior to the screening of “Clocked” (2023). After his second Olympics, Leyva retired and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Since then, he has been seen in nationwide commercials, short films and web and television series. He is one of the featured actors in the drama about a young transgender boxer raised in a conservative Miami family and facing the toughest fight of his life.
The Festival’s centerpiece film, “L'Immensita” (2022), follows on April 27. This Italian film, featuring Penelope Cruz, is set in 1970s Rome. While the film tells the story of the breakdown of a marital relationship, it also explores the transition of the oldest daughter, who longs to live life as his true self and proclaims he wants to be called Andrew. With musical numbers, the film maintains an entertaining tone.
OUTshine wraps up on April 30 at 6 p.m. with “Three Nights A Week” (2023), a French film that utilizes the art and culture of drag to tell a poignant, yet entertaining story that organizers promise “will bring out the true diva in all of us.”
“As a leading LGBTQ+ voice in the community, we are committed to bringing people together to champion diversity, inclusiveness and awareness in the arts and beyond. This year promises an unforgettable line-up of dramas, comedies, shorts, and thought-provoking documentaries, many of which you will only see at the [f]estival,” said Gilbert.
Following the festival, organizers will again offer “OUTshine At Home,” on-demand streamed viewing beginning May 1 and including many of the films, as well as several new titles that were not part of the 2023 schedule.
The 25th annual OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival takes place April 20 – 30 at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE 3rd St #100 in Miami. For a complete schedule and tickets, go to OUTshineFilm.com.
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