As part of our Guide to the Arts, which published in PRIME Magazine on Oct. 6, entertainment writer Phillip Valys offered his Critic’s Picks for the best film festivals coming up in South Florida.
OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Oct. 17-24 at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Savor Cinema and Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale; and Oct. 25-27 at multiple theaters in Miami. 877-766-8156 or OUTshineFilm.com.
The 16th edition of this gender-bending suite of indie films and documentaries hasn’t dropped its lineup as of this writing, but we always count on the Miami edition for insight, since that April festival often repeats screenings in Fort Lauderdale. In April, the bash unspooled 50 feature-length movies and shorts led by OUTshine’s Miami centerpiece film “Sebastian,” a sensual drama where an aspiring writer moonlights as a secret sex worker and uses his experiences to fuel his stories. New this year, OUTshine will combine both its editions, kicking off Oct. 17 in Fort Lauderdale and concluding Oct. 27 in Miami, and there will be virtual screenings, panel discussions and, of course, after-parties.
GEMS 2024
Oct. 30-Nov. 3, Miami Dade College’s Tower Theater Miami. 305-237-3456 or MiamiFilmFestival.com.
It’s best to consider this fall festival an amuse-bouche for the much-older, more-prestigious Miami Film Festival (the 42nd edition returns April 4-13, 2025). But GEMS is no slouch, either. As usual, this five-day bash is crammed with buzzy Oscar heavyweights and sleepers already drawing early attention on the foreign and indie-film circuits. Still don’t believe GEMS has its finger on the pulse of great cinema? Check this: At last year’s gathering, GEMS screened early premieres of “Anatomy of a Fall,” “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers” and “The Boy and the Heron” — five full months before they won at the 2024 Academy Awards. This year’s schedule is TBA, but as always, expect appearances from filmmakers, seminars and post-screening parties.
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Nov. 8-17, at Savor Cinema, Cinema Paradiso Hollywood and other Broward County venues. 954-525-3456 or FLIFF.com.
How does Fort Lauderdale’s biggest cinema feast surpass its own high celebrity watermark? The 39th annual county-spanning festival will certainly try when it screens roughly 200 feature-length films, shorts and documentaries, many world and U.S. premieres, at eight venues from Fort Lauderdale to Lauderhill to Hollywood. Last year, the nonprofit bash offered blast-from-the-past appearances from Robert Schwartzman (“The Princess Diaries”), Michael Chiklis (“The Shield”) and Diane Ladd (“Chinatown” and “Wild at Heart”), along with a bill of features starring Nick Jonas, Sharon Gless and even Boynton Beach rapper Bhad Bhabie.
The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival
Jan. 23-Feb. 2, 2025; Rinker Playhouse at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, and EVO Entertainment Delray Beach + IMAX. Sasiff.org.
The youngest upstart on the list, Sun & Stars stampeded out of the Palm Beach County gates in 2023 with a mighty arsenal of movies backed by a heavyweight artistic director in Barbara Scharres, who previously ran programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. So you can expect the festival’s third edition, returning in January, to carry a major slate of feature-length films, documentaries and foreign fare. Last year’s edition, for example, brought documentaries on director Alfred Hitchcock and another called “Taking Venice,” which tackled the rumors of a U.S. conspiracy to win the grand prize at the 1964 Venice Biennale. Sun & Stars has also kept its momentum going with summer programming including a recent screening of “BELLA!” about trailblazing 1970s congresswoman Bella Abzug.
Popcorn Frights Film Festival
August 2025; Savor Cinema and Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale. PopcornFrights.com.
If you thought summer hurricanes were the scariest things worth worrying about in August, you’re dead wrong, city slicker. Fort Lauderdale is home to another serious agent of terror, known for stalking its prey at a pair of arthouse theaters: the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. The 11th edition of Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman’s defiantly indie horror bash will have bloody big shoes to fill, after its recently concluded lineup brought “Up All Night With Freddy,” an eerie-sistible marathon of slasher films marking the 40th anniversary of the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. In another dose of horror nostalgia, the festival even handed a Golden Skull Award to actor Tony Todd, who played the title role in 1992’s “Candyman.” The festival plans to announce its 2025 lineup next spring, but horror-philes needn’t wait that long: Popcorn Frights also programs film screenings year-round, often for the shocking price of … free.