OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale’s 15th anniversary edition, internationally acclaimed as one of the largest LGBTQ+ cultural festivals in the world, will feature the erotic stylish thriller “Femme” (UK, 2023) as its Men’s Spotlight Film.

Jules is a beloved drag queen who loves to perform, where his stage persona is not just a role but a truer version of himself. After a brutal beating, Jules retreats into himself and stops performing. When he encounters his aggressor again, it happens in a gay sauna. Following an impulse, Jules becomes entangled in a risky revenge game with a profoundly closeted young man. ”Femme” doesn’t just force its characters into the revenge and erotic thriller genre but reinvents the revenge script, exploring both openly homophobic violence and internalized homophobia, and the daily tensions of queer existence. Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping have crafted a tense, stylish thriller about desire and self-loathing.

An afterparty will take place at Union Kitchen & Bar in Wilton Manors at 10 p.m.

This year’s OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival 15th anniversary edition celebrating queer culture runs through October 29 and will feature 38 internationally acclaimed features and 26 shorts including premieres and documentaries that inspire, entertain, and educate along with a variety of parties and special events taking place at various venues throughout Broward County.

OUTrageous, OUTspoken, and OUTstanding, this year’s OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale edition is sponsored, in part, by Gilead, the State of Florida through the Division of Arts & Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward County Cultural Council. Support has been provided by the following funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: the Stephen and Ethel Keller Fund, the Maxine Powers Hofert Fund, the Drial Foundation Fund, and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Broward Community Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. This program was also made possible by a grant from The Our Fund Foundation, an LGBTQ Community Foundation.

Ticket subscription packages and individual tickets are on sale now. For more information, call (877) 766-8156 or visit outshinefilm.com.