One of the highlights of the Miami Film Festival is the chance to see movies made right here in the 305.
For the 42nd year of the festival, opening Thursday, April 3 and running through Sunday, April 13, there is an impressive array of narratives and documentaries that are produced in the MIA.
“I am just more and more proud of our community every single year,” says Lauren Cohen, director of programming at the Miami Film Festival.
Some of the homegrown films include the world premiere of the comedy “Ethan Bloom,” shot mostly in Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, and directed by Herschel Faber, with a screenplay by Maylen Dominguez. The East Coast premiere of Sergio Vizuete’s stunning “Becoming Vera” uses much of downtown Miami as its backdrop, and Xander Robin’s “The Python Hunt” where the Florida Everglades frames the documentary feature, which won a special jury award in March at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.
Of about a dozen films made in Miami, nine compete for the sixth edition of the Made in MIA award. Rounding out the competition films are “News Without a Newsroom,” directed by Oana Liana Martisa, “A Weird Kind of Beautiful,” directed by Gabriel Mayo, “Edge of Hope,” directed by Dudley Alexis, “El Sonido de Miami”, and “Hablando con Chago,” both directed by Emilio Oscar Alcalde and “Know Me: The Untold Miami Bath Salts Phenomenon,” directed by Edson Jean, a dramatic feature film about the 2012 incident that happened when Rudy Eugene attacked a homeless man.
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“What’s so special about ‘Know Me,’ ” says Cohen, “is that it’s a film that’s trying to put a lens on the family who had to deal with the media firestorm of creating these narratives and sensationalizing a real tragedy for his family and everyone involved. It is such a humanistic portrait in a way,” Cohen says of Jean’s film.
While Faber’s comedy feature has many of its casting choices out of Hollywood –Mindy Sterling who played Frau Farbissina in the “Austin Powers” movie series, Joshua Malina known for his role as Will Bailey on “The West Wing” and Hank Greenspan from the television series “The Neighborhood” as Ethan Bloom – the film is set in Coconut Grove and Coral Gables. The director says he got his first job as a production assistant when Mike Nichols was filming “The Birdcage” in Miami Beach. “This is where I got my start. My roots are here.” He also made his first movie in Miami.
“One of the things I love about the film and why I wanted to make it in Miami is because it explores so many different communities. There’s the Jewish community, the Catholic community and the Latin community, and just all these different people that come together. This was just the place to do it,” says Faber. The comedy is about a 13-year-old Jewish kid who secretly wants to become a Catholic. Faber shot scenes inside All Souls Episcopal Church on Pine Tree Drive and at Temple Beth Shalom, both in Miami Beach.
Although he spent his growing years in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Faber says his childhood was spent in Miami Beach where his father grew up. “I had a real nostalgia for the Grove and the Gables,” he says. “This is a uniquely Miami movie and I know (screenwriter) Maylen felt the exact same way. This is a love letter to Miami.” Faber, who lived in Los Angeles for 15 years before moving back to Miami, now lives in Pinecrest.
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“I think people love to see South Florida on screen and they are often our biggest selling titles. People really flock to them and this year’s lineup couldn’t be better,” says festival director James Woolley, mentioning Alcade’s “El Sonido de Miami,” which traces the evolution of Miami’s signature Latin music sound, a fusion of Cuban and American influences, and of which the filmmaker says “is a fusion of cultures that could only happen in Miami. It comes from the struggle of trying to keep your culture in a new country. And the importance of being in a city that allowed for immigrants to create a home away from home.”
Spanish filmmaker Vizuete’s “Becoming Vera” is full of cinematic beauty and focused on Miami. The coming-of-age film is about an 18-year-old girl who has aged out of Miami’s foster system. She has a talent for playing Latin Jazz piano and Vizuete, who has spent years as a foster parent, follows the ups and downs of her journey to get her off the streets.
“I wanted to show Miami from the eyes of a local. People think of Miami as a spring break hangout, the beaches, but there is another Miami, completely different to that and I wanted this to be a tribute of sorts to the local Miami that we know.” Some beautiful shots of Biscayne Bay and other night shots of the skyline capture the city’s essence. “I have gotten some questions a few times like, ‘where did you shoot your film? Was it New York? No, it is Miami.”
“Interstate,” a documentary by former Miami Herald newspaper reporter Oscar Corral and Miami-based filmmaker Haleem Muhsin, shows a different side of Miami and other cities whose Black communities were impacted in the 1950s by the U.S. Interstate Highway System cutting through minority communities.
“We did a short film about the way that I-95 impacted Overtown in Miami and after we did that short film, Haleem and I, well, we couldn’t let it go and then we found out that it happened in other places,” says Corral.
Muhsin grew up in Miami Gardens, but says that Overtown, Liberty City and Allapattah were his “stomping grounds” when he was a kid.
“My father would tell me about how historic the city of Overtown was and what it meant to the African American community. In terms of business and its Hollywood appeal,” he says, mentioning that it was, at the time, the Motown of the South.
Another documentary, “Two Islands,” produced by Melissa Messulam, director of Miami Dade College’s Koubek Center, got its start in Miami after a two-week residency between Afro-Cuban musicians from Miami and Aboriginal storytellers, dancers, and musicians from Australia. Miami-based Afro-Cuban multi-instrumentalist Michael Gil then traveled to Australia where he spent time with the First Nations Aboriginal artists. The film, directed by Humberto Ochoa, chronicles the two-year international cultural exchange.
Spotlighting Miami filmmakers at the festival is a way to get them in front of industry movers and shakers who may be able to, as Cohen says, “help them grow as filmmakers and maybe even help them in their careers.”
She mentions some of the members of the jury, two of whom are based in New York and will be coming to Miami to judge the Made in MIA category, including Chris Mason Wells, director of distribution for MUBI, a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor, and Jasper Bash, the head of distribution for Variance Films.
“My hope is that they see something that really touches them or moves them and then maybe there’s a collaboration opportunity, maybe a film gets a sale. That doesn’t always mean that’s going to happen but having people like this see your film is definitely a step in the right direction in being able to take these films further than our city,” says Cohen.
Woolley arrived 18 months ago to the Miami Film Festival, operated by Miami Dade College, as its executive director after Jaie Laplante, who served as director for 12 years, stepped down. Woolley’s most recent stint before taking the job was as the executive director of San Francisco-based Frameline, the world’s longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival.
“This is my first full year where I’ve had a full 12 months of planning and it’s been wonderful. We have 120 features and 80 shorts that we are excited for people to see this year,” he says, adding that there are “high ambitions” for the future of the festival. “We want to be one of the largest regional film festivals.”
Woolley admits there are still some challenges for film festivals post COVID-19. “I do think festivals are in a better place right now than theaters because they are special. They often come with filmmaker talents, parties and chances for connection. But because the challenge I think all of the industry faces right now is just getting people off the couch.”
The reason to get up off the couch, Woolley says, is that the festival is programmed to provide an experience. “We believe that an experience is what will bring people out and it’s an opportunity for people to see some great films they may not catch otherwise.”
IF YOU GO
What: Miami Film Festival
When: Thursday, April 3 to Sunday, April 13. Screening times vary. See full schedule.
Where: Olympic Theater, 174 E. Flagler St., Miami; The Adrienne Arsht Center Knight Concert Hall, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE 3rd St #100, Miami; Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; Koubek Center at Miami Dade College, 2705 SW 3rd St., Miami; Regal South Beach, 1120 Lincoln Road Mall, Miami Beach; O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Drive, Coral Gables.
Cost: Most films are $15.50, general admission; $14.50, students, military, seniors (62 and older). Special event tickets range from $34 to $130.
Information: (305) 237-3456 or miamifilmfestival.com
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