OUTshine ONline: LGBTQ Film Fest Goes Virtual

Are you a Floridian seeking new ways to occupy your time during this pandemic?

Why not binge on some wonderful queer content via the all-new virtual Miami Edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, running August 20th to the 30th?

This is the 22nd annual celebration, and it will be made available this year to all of Florida! Executive Director Victor Gimenez says, "The Board & Staff have viewed the challenge of COVID-19 as one to make the Festival not only survive but grow... we look forward to providing our quality LGBTQ+ films to the entire State of Florida. And more importantly, have these new patrons join us for the live Festivals when life gets back to normal."

The Fest will feature 37 feature and documentary screenings and five short programs over the 10 days, and include online social events, live Q&As, filmmaker/talent appearances, and more. Participants will be able to view their selected films for up to 48 hours after the start date.

Opening Night ("Stage Mother"), the Centerpiece ("Goddess of Fortune") and Closing Night ("Single Street") will have a virtual party experience involving entertainment, silent auctions, and chances for the virtual festival-goer to interact with each other.

Below are my picks for some of the best this Fest has to offer.

Cicada

Matt Fifer and Kieran Mulcare's stirring and deeply moving "Cicada" is one of the most impressive films of the Fest. For the first 20 minutes or so it's easy to assume you're watching another gay slut film (a really well-made one) for which a single artist wears too many hats (writer, co-director, co-producer, and lead, Fifer). But as the film peels away the layers of its central character, Ben (Fifer), a bisexual who goes "back on the dick" (his sister's speak), the viewer becomes privy to his childhood trauma and the reason he's so damaged. Ben embarks on a romance with a closeted Black man (Sheldon D. Brown, additional story credit). With the Sandusky trial looming in the background, this powerful, rich work isn't afraid to delve deep. And Fifer proves he is a filmic force to be reckoned with as writer, director and actor. FYI: Cobie Smulders steals all her scenes as a wacky therapist with a deaf cat named Klonopin. Easily one of the best indie films of the year.

T11 Incomplete

Suzanne Guacci's exquisite, heartfelt new film, "T11 Incomplete," is a rich, nuanced character study and June-September romance all in one that explores a number of rarely-examined topics like the sexuality of women over 40, as well as economic hardship and wonders about notions of forgiveness and redemption. Kate (Karen Sillas) is a recovering alcoholic health aide trying desperately to fix past mistakes. She is tasked with caring for Laura (Kristen Renton), a vital young paraplegic. The two connect and fall in love. The ensemble is stellar, with Sillas giving a remarkably subtle and refined portrait of a deeply flawed woman doing her best in a world where people are quick to judge others by past mistakes. Guacci's talent for welcomed subtext and knowing exactly when to begin and end a scene allows for a rewarding and transcendent filmic experience.

Goddess of Fortune (La Dea Fortuna) Centerpiece

I'm a huge fan of Ferzan Ozpetek, the only Italian director who consistently makes films about queer life. His work is thought-provoking, entertaining, and usually a seamless blend of comedy and tragedy (and, often, deliberately melodramatic). His latest gem, "The Goddess of Fortune (La Dea Fortuna)," written by Ozpetek with his longtime collaborators Gianni Romoli and Silvia Ranfagni, is no different. Alessandro (Edoardo Leo) and Arturo (Stefano Accorsi) are your gay brains-meets-brawn couple, together for 15 years but on the rocks for a number of reasons, including infidelity. An old friend, Annamaria (the always amazing Jasmine Trinca), pops back into their lives with two children, needing the guys to care for them for a spell. What follows is wacky, entrancing, and devastating. Accorsi, an Ozpetek favorite ("His Secret Life," "Saturn in Opposition") and Leo rock their parts. And a third act appearance by the great Barbara Alberti deliciously takes the film into thriller territory. In Italian with English subtitles

The Strong Ones (Los Fuertes)

Slightly reminiscent of Francis Lee's extraordinary film "God's Own Country," Omar Z��iga Hidalgo's debut feature "Los Fuertes (The Strong Ones)" is a super-sexy meditation on love and clashing cultural classes, set in a remote oceanic town in southern Chile. While visiting his sister, smoldering hot Lucas (Samuel Gonz�lez), an architecture student, meets and falls hard for smoldering hot Antonio (Antonio Altamirano), a local fisherman who also performs in Chilean war reenactments. The chemistry is off the charts in this seductive, poetic, and ultimately bittersweet gem that authentically explores lust, love, and identity. In Spanish with English subtitles.

A Skeleton in the Closet

Nicol�s Tete's absorbing and entertaining film "A Skeleton in the Closet (Todos Tenemos Un Muerto En El Placard O Un Hijo En El Closet)" deceptively begins in sweet queer-rom-com fashion and becomes something much different: A peek at the secrets, lies, and homophobia that threatens to tear apart a middle-class Argentinian family. At the heart of the work is one young gay man's desire for familial love and acceptance, as well as his search for what he wants. Facundo Gamband�'s revealing performance holds the film (and family) together. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Douze Points

An outrageous satire that is sure to be divisive, Danny Sirkin's "Douze Points" had me laughing from the opening to the film's zany climax and emotionally satisfying ending. Tarik (Adel Djemai) and Rasoul (Zacherie Fakiel) were teen besties until Tarik came out at 15. Years later, Tarik is "TJ," a wayyy-out 'n' proud singer who is representing France in Europe's biggest song competition. Rasoul has become an ISIS operative, and his mission is to disrupt the contest finals. "Douze Points" is gut-punch hilarious stuff, written by Yoav Hebel, Sarel Piterman, and Assaf Zelicovich, poking fun at ISIS, Mossad, Eurovision and religious extremism. Left-wing cancel culture sensitives need not bother; the rest of you, have a blast! In English, French and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Single Street (Singel 39) Closing Night

For those who think '80s-'90s-style Hollywood rom-coms are dead, you need only look to the Netherlands and Frank Krom's poignant, delightful dramedy "Single Street (Singel 39)" to realize that they're still kicking. Sure, the types of players and scenarios have changed, but the structure and manipulation techniques remain the same. Monique (Lies Visschedijk) is a highly successful, single cardiac surgeon who puts career first. She meets Max (Waldemar Torenstra) – well, he kind of foists himself upon her – a feisty gay artist and the friendship sparks fly! Despite a ton of overused tropes and tricks, this film made me smile. A lot. And Torenstra proves that 40-something is the new 30-something. In Dutch, with English subtitles.

Minyan

Samuel H. Levine recently appeared on Broadway and the West End in Matthew Lopez's "The Inheritance," where he proved a rather riveting presence. In his first major film, Eric Steel's "Minyan," he impresses, showing us his character's anguish and longing. The overly ambitious and often hypnotic work, set in 1986, centers on a 17-year-old boy grappling with his burgeoning sexuality amidst the backdrop of the Russian Jewish world of Brighton Beach. Repression, homophobia, assimilation, deception, and survival are just some of the lofty themes tackled in t his film. In English, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles.

Stage Mother - Opening Night

Jackie Weaver is a mesmerizing thesp who can brandish her comic chops ("Silver Linings Playbook") as easy as she can embody sinister villainy ("Animal Kingdom"). In Thom Fitzgerald's old fashioned but charming "Stage Mother," written by Brad Joseph Henning, she gets to deliver a lovely portrait of a mother exorcising her own demons after she abandoned her now-dead gay son. Texas baptist meets San Francisco drag as Fitzgerald creates a kind of cinema magic that makes the viewer long to be a patron at the club, Pandora's Box. Adrian Grenier excels in a role that should have been larger and more fleshed out. Renditions of "Love Will Lead You Back" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" highlight a film that provides a much-needed message of acceptance and celebrating one's own uniqueness.

The Acrobat (L'Acrobate)

Canadian writer-director Rodrique Jean's "Acrobat (L'Acrobate)" sometimes feels like an endurance test, when it isn't shocking us with scenes of graphic sex and BDSM. The setting is Montreal amidst endless construction around a particular hi-rise apartment, where depressed businessman Christophe (S�bastien Ricard) meets angst-filled, disabled squatter Micha (Yury Paulau). They hook up, never exchanging names even when former acrobat Micha basically moves in. Both men are keeping secrets, and both unleash their dark anguish/despair on one another via sado-masochistic sex – the kind that looks very real. Ricard and Paulau hold our interest. In English, French and Russian with English subtitles.

Dry Wind (Vento Seco)

Daniel Nolasco's strangely gripping, "Dry Wind (Vento Seco)" could easily play on a double bill with "The Acrobat," since it features enigmatic characters and semi-hardcore sex as well. The plot to this low-fueled Genet-meets-Fassbinder feature centers on a horny middle-aged Brazilian fertilizer company employee (Leandro Faria Lelo), who enjoys crotch-staring and raunchy sex in the woods – usually with his younger, ripped co-worker (Allan Jacinto Santana). That is, until an even hotter dude catches his eye (Rafael Theophilo, looking like he just burst off a Tom of Finland drawing). It all culminates in a fantastical ending that is sure to please many horny middle-aged bears. I do applaud both films for their unabashed and unashamed exploration of sex. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

And Three Outstanding Docs

A Worm in the Heart

The stories coming out of Eastern Europe, specifically Russia, over the last several years about the persecution of LGBT people are truly alarming. Director Paul Rice, along with his partner Liam Jackson Montgomery, decided to journey to Russia to speak with members of the queer community and chronicle stories the homophobic government would rather see suppressed. Their six-city odyssey, via the Trans-Siberian Railway, is a devastating and revealing one. Bookended by the adoption of the gay propaganda law in 2013 and the purge in Chechnya in 2017, "Worm" is an insightful and empathetic work that acts as a warning of things to come if Western countries aren't careful. In English and Russian, with English subtitles.

The Capote Tapes

Ebs Burnough's investigation into Truman Capote, the author ("Breakfast at Tiffany's," "In Cold Blood") and the man, "The Capote Tapes" is an exceptionally enlightening doc that examines the writer's enigmatic nature and tries to shed some psychological light on his inner workings as well as his process (and does a better job than the two narrative features, "Capote" and "Infamous"). It's a fascinating portrait of a truly iconic figure who "swished the lavender curtains apart." The film leaves viewers breathlessly wondering if his long-promised final novel, "Answered Prayers," is indeed out there somewhere, just waiting to be discovered.

Cured

It's been less than 50 years since the American Psychiatric Association decided to finally remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders (in 1973!!!). Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon have created a potent and engaging documentary, "Cured," on this vital movement, so important to LGBT equality, when a small group of true queer heroes challenged the patriarchy and proved victorious. And in a nod to irony, one of their most homophobic opponents turns out to have a gay son.

The 22nd Annual OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival is presented by Gilead and Miami-Dade County. The Virtual Film Program, Tickets and Festival Passes are available at OUTshineFilm.com