OUTshine Film Festival is South Florida's premiere showcase for LGBTQ+ films producing a large scale festival in Miami (April) and Fort Lauderdale (October)

OUTshine - Miami Edition, is a critically acclaimed event, based in the world-renowned South Florida city of Miami.

The 26th edition of OUTshine - Miami will take place from April 18 - 28, 2024.

OUTshine is committed to its mission: To inspire, entertain and educate the public, encourage a sense of community through international and culturally diverse film, video and other media that offer historical and contemporary perspectives on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.

The festival has grown from a 3-day event in which 25 films were presented to the current format of 10 days with 65+ films. OUTshine is an internationally acclaimed event serving as a platform for numerous World Premiers, North American Premiers and East Coast Premiers. Special emphasis on highlighting and premiering the best pin GLBT Spanish language films.

ABOUT US:

The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival started in 1998; the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in 2008. Both were brought together under one brand to become The MiFo LGBT Film Festival in 2015, with a seasonal event serving each city. Critically and internationally acclaimed, it serves as a platform for numerous premiers and is the largest LGBT cultural arts event in South Florida.

Because of its increasing popularity and success, MiFo has been rechristened to the OUTSHINE Film Festival, underscoring its brightness, broad appeal and dynamic multi-cultural location. Outshine is everything you want in a film festival... inviting, glowing, and eclipsing all others before it. Our mission is 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 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience.

Outrageous. Outspoken. And outstanding in what we deliver.

OUTshine Film Festival is a d/b/a of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit.

Awards & Prizes

Best Full Length Feature: Audience Favorite Selection
Runner-Up Best Full Length Feature: Audience Favorite Selection
Best Documentary: Audience Favorite Selection
Runner-Up Best Documentary: Audience Favorite Selection
Best Short: Audience Favorite Selection
Runner-Up Best Short: Audience Favorite Selection
Best Full Length Feature: Jury Selection
Runner-Up Best Full Length Feature: Jury Selection
Best Documentary: Jury Selection
Runner-Up Best Documentary: Jury Selection
Best Short: Jury Selection
Runner-Up Best Short: Jury Selection

Rules & Terms

ONLINE LINKS ONLY!

OUTshine only accepts on-line screener submissions via FilmFreeway and preferably with a Vimeo link.

Only films completed after January 1, 2023 will be eligible, unless used a retrospective or classic.

To be eligible for the festival, a film must NOT have had a theatrical run in South Florida.

NEW RULE: A film being released on VOD/DVD or otherwise available on-line will be considered on a case by case basis, but will no longer be an automatically disqualified, but the film must meet all the other rules for inclusion.

Once we receive your link we will check FilmFreeway to ensure all of the submission process has been fulfilled.
10 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Aaron Bear

    Such an amazing group of people and a well-attended festival. Lots of stellar and groundbreaking films. Looking forward to next year!

    May 2021
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  • Jacqueline Rhodes

    Great experience, complete with Q&A and interview on queer TV/YouTube. Well-organized, great communication.

    May 2021
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  • Daniel Talbott

    The first time I experienced the brilliance of Miami was as a filmmaker at OUTshine. I was picked up at the airport by a wonderful volunteer, who I became fast friends with and still keep in touch with today. He showed me the beautiful theater that was going to be our home for the festival, he showed me the ocean, and he got me checked in at the host hotel. He said if I need anything at all to call him, and he meant it.

    I walked to the theater and met Joe and Victor right away, both dressed in shorts and wonderful Hawaiian print shirts. No pretension, just professionalism, fun and kindness. Within hours, I was nestled in watching my first film of the fest. It was stunning. It was touching, honest and uncompromising. It asked huge questions and made me proud to be a small part of their extraordinary film festival and the LGBTQ community. That only continued from there and throughout the rest of the week.

    All of this is to say that what OUTshine brings to the city of Miami and into the lives of filmmakers is essential and unquantifiable. It brings diversity, it brings commerce and community. Many film festivals strive for that illusive combination of open-armed kindness and quality, and very few are able to achieve it. Miami OUTshine sets the bar immensely high, and does it without breaking a visible sweat. And in the end, a film festival is about film. And pound for pound that is some of the best and most evocative programming I’ve ever seen. There was not a dud or a favor film in the bunch. I saw things I would never have gotten to see otherwise, and again, I left feeling so proud to be in a group with all the other filmmakers, all of us tucked in with the parrots and palms in that beautiful city.

    Daniel Talbott
    Screenwriter, YOU SAY HELLO 2019
    Director LIGHT 2021

    May 2021
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  • Joe Solomon

    Great festival where filmmakers feel valued and where films are promoted well. We got to be interviewed and were showcased professionally. I would highly recommend this festival!

    May 2021
    Helpful
  • Luca Padrini

    Great experience! Thanks to all organisation :)

    October 2020
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