![]() | |
Location | Miami, Florida |
---|---|
Founded | 1983 |
Website | www |
The Miami Film Festival (formerly Miami International Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Miami, Florida, that showcases independent American and international films with a special focus on Ibero-American films. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city center and includes features, documentaries, short films, and retrospectives. The programming is selected so as to include: premiers for both established film-makers and up-and-commers, socially relevant films, multidisciplinary and experimental films, and films showcasing international musicians. [1] The stated mission of the Miami Film Festival is to bridge cultural understanding and encourage artistic development. [2]
The Miami Film Festival debuted in February 1984, under the auspices of the Film Society of Miami. It was founded by Nat Chediak and Steven Bowles and directed by Mr. Chediak for its first eighteen years, becoming the City's premier international cultural event. When the City of Miami went bankrupt, control of the festival was assumed by Florida International University in 1999. [3] Dismayed by FIU's stewardship following the event's loss of independence, Chediak left the festival in 2001. Miami-Dade College took over in late 2003 after Florida International University lost $20 million in state funding and incurred an $800,000 deficit. [4] [3]
Since 2006, the beginning of the ten-day festival has shifted to early March. [5] The Festival has now grown to become a comprehensive global festival with an annual attendance of over 70,000. [6] The Festival is held for 10 consecutive days, opening annually on the first Friday of March. [7] In 2014, the festival introduced MIFFecito, a fall presentation. [8] The following year, the festival rebranded it to GEMS Film Festival, a 4-day event held in October to present "the jewels of the fall season." [9] [10] [11]
Jaie Laplante became director of programming in 2011. [12]
In 2024, critically acclaimed and award winning feature film Mountains (2023) by Miami-based director and screenwriter Monica Sorelle, about urban renewal in the Little Haiti neighborhood, was the winner of the 2024 Knight Made in MIA Feature Film Award at the festival. [13] [14] [15]
Miami, officially the City of Miami, is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the much larger Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14 million, is the second-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast after Atlanta, and the ninth-largest in the United States. With a population of 442,241 as of the 2020 census, Miami is the second-most populous city in Florida after Jacksonville. Miami has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 61 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m).
Hialeah is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people at the 2018 census. It is located west-northwest of Miami, and is one of a few places in the county—others being Homestead, Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, and Golden Beach—to have its own street grid numbered separately from the rest of the county.
Kaseya Center is a multi-purpose arena on Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. The arena was previously named American Airlines Arena from opening in 1999 until 2021, FTX Arena from 2021 until 2023 following the bankruptcy of FTX, and Miami-Dade Arena during an interim period in 2023. Since April 2023, the naming rights to the arena are owned by Kaseya under a 17-year, $117.4 million agreement.
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in University Park, Florida. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florida and the eighth-largest public university in the United States by enrollment. FIU is a constituent part of the State University System of Florida.
Miami Executive Airport, formerly known until 2014 as Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, is a public airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Downtown Miami. It is operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.
Emilio Estefan Gómez is a Cuban-American musician and producer. Estefan has won 19 Grammy Awards. He first came to prominence as a member of the Miami Sound Machine. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan, father of son Nayib Estefan and daughter Emily Estefan, and the uncle of Spanish-language television personality Lili Estefan.
Miami Gardens is a city in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is located 16 miles (26 km) north of Downtown Miami with city boundaries that stretch from I-95 and Northeast 2nd Avenue to its east to Northwest 47th and Northwest 57th Avenues to its west, and from the Broward County line to its north to 151st Street to its south. The city's name originated from Florida State Road 860, a major roadway through the area also known as Miami Gardens Drive. Miami Gardens had a population of 111,640 as of 2020. It is Florida's most populous city with a majority African American population and also home to the largest percentage of African Americans of any city in Florida, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is a principal city in the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida, which is the nation's ninth-largest, and world's 65th-largest metropolitan area with a population of 6.158 million people as of 2020. Miami Gardens is the home of Hard Rock Stadium, a 64,767 capacity multi-purpose stadium that serves as the home field for both the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League and the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Miami's NCAA Division I college football team, which has won five national championships since 1983.
Little Haiti, is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. It is known historically as Lemon City, Little River and Edison. It is home to Haitian immigrant residents, as well as residents from the rest of the Caribbean.
Arthur E. "Art" Teele Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from the Republican Party. In the early 1980s, he served as the head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration from 1981 to 1983. Born into a wealthy black family in Florida, Teele received an excellent education and became an officer in the US Army, and later had a successful career in private practice and politics. The Miami Herald published claims of legal wrongdoing against Teele during his fight to have a conviction against him overturned, after which he killed himself. Posthumously, his case was appealed and his conviction was overturned, exonerating him of all charges.
North Miami Senior High School (NMSHS) is a public high school in North Miami, Florida, United States. Located at 13110 NE 8th Avenue, The school opened as Edward L. Constance Junior-Senior High School in 1951; with 1,500 students in 7th, 8th and 9th grades. Another grade was added each year for the next three years. The class of 1955 was the first graduating class. Early in 1955, the name of the school was changed to North Miami Senior High School. In the fall of 1955 the 7th, 8th and 9th grades were moved to the new North Miami Junior High School.
Miami Northwestern Senior High School is a public four-year high school located in Miami, Florida, United States
The Federal Correctional Institution, Miami is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Florida. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The institution also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum-security male offenders.
The Miami Book Fair is an annual street fair and literary festival organized by Miami Dade College. The weeklong gathering attracts more than 300 national and international authors every year and features pavilions for comics, children, and young adults, among others.
The Borscht Film Festival is a film festival organized by the Borscht Corporation held in Miami, Florida roughly every 18–24 months. The festival's mission is to tell Miami stories, forging the cinematic identity of the city. While most of the films screened are commissioned specifically for the festival by the Borscht Corporation, they also accept works where the subject matter or filmmaker has some tie to South Florida.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is the public school district serving Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida, the largest in the Southeastern United States, and the third-largest in the United States with a student enrollment of 356,589 as of August 30, 2021.
Hugues Gentillon is a Haitian film director, screenwriter, producer, and scientist. He is the founder of Yugy Pictures Entertainment, a film production company based in the United States.
Rudolph Moise is the owner and medical director of Comprehensive Medical Aesthetics in Miami. Prior to becoming a physician, he served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force for more than 21 years, earning the rank of colonel, the highest position awarded to an American of Haitian descent at that time. In July 2023, Dr. Moise was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden.
Miami has one of the largest and most prominent LGBTQ communities in the United States. Miami has had a gay nightlife scene as early as the 1930s. Miami has a current status as a gay mecca that attracts more than 1 million LGBT visitors a year. The Miami area as a whole has been gay-friendly for decades and is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community has its own chamber of commerce, the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC). As of 2005, Miami was home to an estimated 15,277 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The Miami metropolitan area had an estimated 183,346 self-identifying LGBT residents.
Monica Sorelle is a Haitian American filmmaker and visual artist based in Miami. Her work investigates South Florida and Caribbean cultures and perspectives, and her films have been featured in numerous international film festivals.
The Third Horizon Film Festival(THFF) — first known as the Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival — is a major international film and media arts festival held annually to celebrate Caribbean culture, its diaspora, and the Global South in Miami, Florida. The Third Horizon Film Festival was officially established in 2016 to present competitive and non-competitive screening sections including feature films, documentaries, short-length movies, and experimental narratives. In addition of its moving-image programming, the THFF also includes a series of performances, visual arts components, panel discussions, and lectures.