Come OUT and See What's Screening at OUTshine Fort Lauderdale LGBTQ+ Film Festival

Let the sun shine in, and OUT, in the Sunshine State!

This year's edition of OUTshine Fort Lauderdale brings queer stories of love, life, hope, and triumph to audiences in Broward Country and beyond. The offerings this year bring together 38 features curated from around the world, as well as more than two dozen shorts divided into three programs. Narrative films, documentaries, premieres, and flashbacks to old favorites will fill the festival's ten days, Oct. 19 – 29, with special events rounding out the experience. Select films streaming from Oct. 30 – Nov. 5, so you don't have to live in Florida to enjoy the fest!

The interim executive director of OUTshine Fort Lauderdale, Mark Gilbert, declared, "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."

Added Gilbert: "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."

No matter what your taste in movies – comedy, drama, horror, musicals, or movies that mash genres together – there's bound to be plenty for you here. Things get started with the Opening Night selection on Thursday, October 19. "The Mattachine Family," directed by Andy Vallentine is a "tender and funny" film that blends comedy and drama in a tale about the bonds of family – chosen and otherwise – as a longtime couple come to terms with their foster son returning to his biological mother, and what his departure means.

The movie magic continues all the way to Closing Night and Andrew Haigh's mysterious romance "All of Us Strangers," in which sexy "Fleabag" star Andrew Scott embarks on a passionate love affair with "Aftersun" actor Paul Mescal – and finds his way to his own childhood home, where his dead parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) are still just as they were in his youth, along with the family home itself.

In between are Spotlight Films and associated events that speak to every color of the rainbow flag. The festival's TransCendant Spotlight showcases German family drama "Oscar's Dress," in which a father comes to terms with his child's identity; the British thriller "Femme," in which a bashing victim recognizes his assailant at a gay sauna and contemplates revenge; the Ladies' Spotlight, "Marinette," is a French biopic of the women's soccer champ and equality advocate Marinette Pichon.

The lights go down, too, for the After Dark program, featuring horror and thrillers like Mexico's erotic tingler "The Trace of Your Lips" and Egypt's supernatural story of live struggling against superstition (and magic) in "The Judgment."

Things lighten up with "A Big Gay Hit! Where The Bears Are: The Documentary," a look at the popular web series, as well as the comedy "Cora Bora." Love inside the walls of a lockup is the setting for "The Lost Boys," and in "Chasing Chasing Amy" transgender documentary filmmaker Sav Rodgers remembers how the Kevin Smith movie – problematic as it might be – provided him a first, sustaining glimpse of queer representation on screen.

For tickets and more information, follow this link.

Here are twelve movies you don't want to miss during the festival's ten days:

1. "The Mattachine Family"

Andy Vallentine's family drama explores what happens when two foster dads, Thomas (Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Juan Pablo di Pace) lose their place as the center of their son's family life when the boy's biological mother re-enters the picture. Few losses can strain a relationship like the loss of a child, and as the two men wrestle with the shift in their lives, it sends them on different paths.

Showing: Thursday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m.

2. "Pine Cone"

Indian director Onir draws on his own life to follow fictional filmmaker Sid Mehra, a filmmaker, across twenty years as love completes and confounds him and change sweeps India, bringing legal rights to LGBTQ+ people – only for those rights to be snatched away before being restored once again.

Showing: Saturday, Oct. 21 at 4:45 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5

3. "Big Easy Queens"

Shot in South Florida and featuring local drag talent, this horror musical delves into a New Orleans power struggle between good and evil, as personified by warring twin sisters... not to mention the undead and the glamorous!

Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7:15 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5

4. "The Trace of Your Lips"

This pandemic-set love story from Mexico resonates with the cultural memory of the AIDS crisis and vibrates with desire as Román and Aldo yearn for each other in a time of lockdowns and enforced separation. Julian Hernandez directs this "OUTshine After Dark" offering.

Showing: Sunday, Oct. 22 at 9:00 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5

5. "Opponent (Motstandaren)"

A refugee from Iran seeks freedom and safety in Sweden and goes back to wrestling to secure his family's future. But the toughest match isn't on the mat: It's in his own heart and soul as he grapples with his own denied desires.

Showing: Friday, Oct. 27, at 8:45 p.m.

6. "Glitter & Doom"

Director Tom Gustafson and screenwriter Corey Krueckeberg join forces once more to tell the story of Glitter, a young man looking to forge a career in the circus, and his new heartthrob, Doom, a budding singer-songwriter. In a musical milieu where unexpected faces pop up for wild cameos, can the two find their way toward their dreams without passing each other up? Be sure to catch the festival's Centerpiece film, a lovely musical built around the songs of the Indigo Girls.

Showing: Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m.

7. "Oscar's Dress"

The North American premiere of Hüseyin Tabak's film is OUTshine Fort Lauderdale's TransCendant Spotlight selection. When father of two Ben takes the kids in because his ex, Mira, is having a baby, it's a chance for some family bonding – and for secrets, like young Oscar's dress, to come tumbling out.

Showing: Sunday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m.

8. "All the Colours of the World are Between Black and White"

When Bambino and Bawa meet in Lagos, their mutual attraction is undeniably strong. But as the two spend a day together, eros and danger go hand in hand: They may be moving toward a deeper bond, but they are also moving through a city where being murdered for being gay is an ever-present possibility.

Showing: Saturday, Oct. 28 at 2:00 p.m.

Showing: Saturday, Oct. 21 at 9:30 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5

10. "The Judgment"

When out, gay Mo brings his boyfriend Hisham back to Egypt from America, he shrinks back into the closet – and into the crippling psychological and emotional confines of superstition and internalized homophobia, as someone who know Mo's secret starts terrorizing him with witchcraft. His relationship threatened (and perhaps his life as well), can Mo find the courage to live his convictions? Director Marwan Mokbel ("Ouija Summoning") creates a movie of psychological horror.

Showing: Friday, Oct. 20 at 9:15 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5

11. "All of Us Strangers"

Andrew Haigh ("Weekend," "Greek Pete," "Looking") adapts Taichi Yamada's novel and turns it into a personal meditation. A screenwriter, Adam (Andrew Scott, "Fleabag") begins a romance with Harry (Paul Mescal, "Aftersun"); shortly afterwards, he finds himself revisiting is childhood home, where his long-dead parents (Claire Foy, Jamie Bell) are somehow still alive and well... and young.

Showing: Sunday, Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m.

12. "All the Fires (Todo Loa Incendios)"

Bruno struggles with grief and loss after his father's death, finding solace in fire. As his mother starts to move on, Bruno searches for his own way forward, sparking a romance with a pyromaniac in another town. But it might be the case that she isn't the one to kindle his true passions.

Showing: Sunday, Oct. 22 at 1:00 p.m. and streaming Oct. 30 – Nov. 5