ENJOY THE 21ST OUTSHINE FILM FESTIVAL MIAMI EDITION
By Michael Bustamante & Rafa Carvajal | Photos provided by OUTshine Film Festival
OUTshine Film Festival is South Florida’s largest LGBTQ arts & culture organization 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 and contemporary perspectives on the LGBTQ experience.” The 21st OUTshine Film Festival Miami Edition returns for its 11-day run, April 18-28, 2019, with over 85 feature-length films, documentaries, and short films from all over the world. The Festival will also have an 8-day Fort Lauderdale Edition October 10-20, 2019, so keep an eye out for Wire Magazine’s issue #20.2019 for the Fort Lauderdale Edition and our spotlight film picks.
According to the OUTshine’s Executive Director Victor Gimenez, “OUTshine is proud to offer a great diversity of films from different countries, genres, and subject matter. Latin America comes in strong with Fireflies (Mexico), José (Guatemala), Socrates (Brazil), Men of Hard Skin (Argentina), The Blond One (Argentina), and many more. The continent of Africa is well represented with films from Kenya (Rafiki) and South Africa (The Harvesters and Canary). Hollywood is also present with Matt Bomer’s Papi Chulo, Molly Shannon’s Wild Nights with Emily, and James Caan’s and Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Jewish interest film Holy Lands. Documentaries will also shine with docs about sports (The Ice King), Broadway (Leonard Soloway’s Broadway), and fashion (Halston). For OUT of the Box films, there is post-apocalyptic Riot Girls and steamy Sauvage.”
For its opening night on Thursday, April 18, OUTshine will feature Tell It To The Bees, in partnership with Care Resource at a new venue for the Festival – the Historic Lyric Theatre in Downtown Miami. The Festival then moves to its home base at the Regal South Beach April 19-28 in auditoriums 17 and 18 on the 3rd level of the theatre. To purchase tickets, and for more information and the Festival’s full lineup of films, visit outshinefilm.com.
Wire Magazine sat down with Executive Director Victor Gimenez to learn more about this year’s OUTshine Film Festival Miami Edition.
Rafa Carvajal: What are the highlights of this year’s Festival?
Victor Gimenez: The big news this year is that we expanded the Festival by one day. The Festival is now 11 days, and we are opening on Thursday, April 18. This was a big success in Fort Lauderdale, and it also allows us to screen more films on Friday. The other big news is that we have a new opening night venue – The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex. The entertainment that night will be honoring the rich cultural history of the area.
RC: What are the must-see films?
VG: Obviously, all are spotlight films: Tell It to the Bees, our Opening Night film with Academy Award winner Anna Paquin; the Ladies’ Spotlight Vita & Virginia; the Centerpiece film Retablo; the Men’s Spotlight The Blonde One; and the Closing Night film The Shiny Shrimps. If you love docs, we have a great line-up: Dykes, Camera, Action!, The Ice King, and Little Miss Westie. My pick of the Festival is The Harvesters – a film that makes you think on many levels. Two additional screenings I want to call attention to are Where Justice Ends as part of our Social Justice Program, and Let’s Stop HIV Together – a free community event sponsored by the CDC where short films will be screened and community partners will be on hand for outreach and information.
RC: Tell our readers about this year’s parties.
VG: The Festival is about community. Community coming together over our love of film, and coming together to have fun. The Opening Night Party is at The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex. Food will be created by celebrity chefs Todd Erickson, Josie Smith Malave, and Guily Booth. Both the food and entertainment will be honoring the rich cultural history of the area. The Ladies’ Spotlight Party will be Saturday, April 20 on the first floor of Yuca on Lincoln Road. The Men’s Spotlight Party will also be on Lincoln Road Thursday, April 25 at the National Geographic Fine Art Gallery. For all other event listings please visit our website at outshinefilm.com
RC: Who are some celebrities who are attending the Festival this year?
VG: For Opening Night, we will have writer/director Mike Doyle from our Work-in-Progress screening of Sell By; and Star Diana Wiswell and writer/director Ruth Caudeli from Second Star on the Right. For Closing Night, we are honoring Fred Rosser (former WWE star Darren Young) with our Vanguard Award for his work with #BlocktheHate and being the first openly active gay wrestler. Throughout the Festival, we will also have more filmmakers and talent throughout the week.
RC: Is there anything else you’d like to share with Wire Magazine readers?
VG: Yes, this year we will be honoring one of our own Opening Night with our Angel Award – Lynn Bove. Lynn is truly one of the greats in our community and works hard to make sure the ladies are always represented. She was involved with Aqua Girl from the beginning, her iCandee Events are the talk of the town, and her commitment to the Festival is without question.
This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 8.2019