Movie buffs rejoice! Miami Dade College’s acclaimed Miami Film Festival is returning March 3-12 to celebrate a major milestone — its 40th anniversary!
Honoring cinema since 1983, the Miami Film Festival is considered the “preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S.” This year, from Friday through Sunday, more than 140 films from 30 countries worldwide will be screened. Twelve of them will be world premieres.
The festival will open with Somewhere in Queens, directed by comedian and actor Ray Romano, who stars as a bumbling Queens dad that goes to questionable heights to ensure that his shy basketball-star son gets a prized college scholarship.
It will close with Stephen Frears’ The Lost King, starring Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan, about the true story of an ambitious writer and amateur historian who defy the academic establishment to unearth Richard III’s long-missing remains.
Four centerpiece presentations will spotlight key films with directors in attendance for post-screening Q&As:
- Stephen Williams’ Chevalier, starring Kelvin Harrison, Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton and Minnie Driver; about composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who rose in French society as a composer before an ill-fated love affair.
- Benjamin Millepied’s Carmen, starring Melissa Barrera, Paul Mescal and Rossy De Palma; a modern day reimagining of the classical opera by French composer Georges Bizet.
- Dani de la Orden and Àlex Murull’s The Final Game (42 Segundo); the emotional and thrilling true story of the ’92 Olympic Spanish water polo team who, as underdogs, managed to astonish the world.
- Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok’s Judy Blume Forever; a documentary about the popular writer and the generations of readers who have sparked her work.
In addition to spectacular movie screenings, the festival will award cash prizes to shorts, documentaries and features, from its $25,000 Knight MARIMBAS Award, supported by the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation, to its $2,500 Goya Quick Bites Short Film Award, a new award being introduced this year courtesy of Goya.
Screenings will take place at Silverspot Cinema, Cosford Cinema and Coral Gables Art Cinema. For the full schedule and to snag tickets, which will go on sale February 10, head to the festival’s website.