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The OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Returns Virtually Experience The 23rd Annual Miami Edition Film Festival April 23-May 2, 2021 The festival will be primarily a virtual experience with limited physical presentations. One such event is the Opening Night Drive-In on Friday, April 23rd at Dezerland Park, 7:00 PM. Potato Dreams of America is the feature film; a semi-autobiographical film about director Wes Hurley growing up in Russia and coming to the United States with his mail-order bride mother; it has a very JoJo Rabbit sensibility. Thanks to the virtual screenings, OUTshine is able to offer the films for a 5-day viewing window and are available across the entire state of Florida. The Festival has taken advantage of this statewide availability by advertising across the state and expanding its audience. Also, the Festival has increased its Q&A sessions to almost all films and provides longer form content for cinephiles. These sessions go live on Facebook & YouTube and are kept accessible on YouTube thereafter. OUTshine’s mission is to inspire, entertain, and educate; encouraging a sense of community through international and culturally diverse films that offer historical and contemporary perspectives on the LGBTQ+ experience. “No matter who you are or what your journey has been, we have a film for you,” says Executive Director Victor Gimenez. In addition to the Opening Night Drive-In Film, he recommends A Good Man, Boy Meets Boy, the documentary Keyboard Fantasies, and Closing Night Film Charlatan. The festival will feature 80+ films from around the world. New for 2021 is the Festival’s new OUTshine-At-Home initiative, which will launch after the Miami Edition. OUTshine-At-Home will be offering 8-10 films per month. The films will be a mixture of brand new movies and older festival titles not available on regular streaming services. It will allow our patrons to always be engaged with and discover new content through OUTshine. And like the Festival proper, OUTshine-At-Home will be available across the state. As people discover OUTshine and enjoy what is being offered, the goal is to invite them to the physical festival once we are back to a state of normalcy. “We learned a lot last year. We had new patrons to the festival through the virtual experience that liked what we had to offer, and we are looking to reach new supporters. We also know this new audience and our old audience are wanting to come back to physical venues once it is safe to do so. With OUTshine-At-Home we are aiming to have a much greater physical attendance in 2022 as new members want to really experience what we are all about and get to know the members which have supported us for years, ” says Gimenez. “We are proud of the line-up we have this year. It’s amazing how much LGBTQ+ cinema has grown and the quality of the offerings. Discover what we have this year at our 23rd Annual Miami Edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival.” For more information, please visit www.outshinefilm.com.