By Jan Mitchell

The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) returns for the 37th year, November 4 – 13, 2022, with an exciting line-up of more than 100 new American Indie and International features, docs, and short films in a variety of genres that will thrill, fascinate and uplift you. Although the festival is only 10 days this year, opposed to 18 days in previous years, FLIFF packs a punch with more outstanding entertainment, more celebrity and filmmaker guests, more over-the-top parties, red carpet premieres, and Q&As and receptions held at some of the most amazing venues and charming theaters throughout Broward County. Below are a few highlights. 

Savor Cinema and Paradigm Cinemas Gateway in Fort Lauderdale and Cinema Paradiso – Hollywood will showcase films, many with receptions and guests, throughout the festival.

FLIFF returns to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for the Opening Night festivities and the Southeast Premiere of Director Paul Dektor’s American Dreamer, a hilarious comedy with heart starring Peter Dinklage, Shirley MacLaine, and Matt Dillon. 

The Centerpiece event and film at Amaturo Theater features the U.S. Premiere of Ride Above, the true story of the extraordinary bond between a horse and young rider, and their battle to overcome odds after a devastating accident. Directed by Christian Duguay, Ride Above stars Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds), Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only), and Danny Houston (Yellowstone).  

Meet the ocean’s strangest and most spectacular creatures as FLIFF presents Jonathan Bird’s & Howard Hall’s Florida Premiere of Secrets of the Sea in 3-D on the giant AutoNation IMAX screen at the Museum of Discovery and Science.  

Parties that will “wow” you include WinterFLIFF at the breathtaking waterway estate Villa de Palma, the splashy Beach Bash at Las Olas Oceanside Park, and Closing Night cowboy-themed premiere of Yellowstone Season 5, featuring a country western band at Bergeron Everglades Ranch.  

Other films not to miss include All Man –The International Male Story, directed by Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed, which is a journey across three decades of the International Male catalog’s lasting impact on fashion, masculinity, and gay rights. The screening and reception are sponsored by The Scott L. Bennett Fund at Our Fund Foundation and OutClique Magazine.    

Danish filmmaker Gabriel Bier Gislason’s unnerving horror movie, Attachment, centers on a Lesbian love story and delivers a bounty of terror rooted in Orthodox Jewish mysticism and folklore.     

Executive Produced by Mark and Jay Duplass and directed by Sarah Adina Smith, The Drop is a clever, cringe-worthy comedy comprised of a hilarious ensemble cast, including Humpday’s Joshua Leonard and 22 Jump Street’s Jillian Bell as an obnoxious hippie couple. 

Director Juan Felipe Zuleta’s oddball comedy, Unidentified Objects, follows a misanthropic gay dwarf and a plucky sex worker on a road trip in search of aliens. What sounds like a wacky premise is actually a heartfelt story about finding your people. 

Directed by Craig Bettendorf, Not a Tame Lion offers first-hand accounts from those closest to John Boswell, an openly gay world-renowned expert in Medieval History and Linguistics who feverishly worked to complete Same Sex Unions in Medieval Europe, a book that changed the trajectory of the Marriage Equality debate, all while battling the debilitating effects of AIDS.