The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) 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. The stated mission of the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) is to bridge cultural understanding and encourage artistic development.
The Festival was created in 1983 by the Film Society of Miami, and held its first annual edition from February 3–12, 1984. Control of the festival was assumed by Florida International University in 1999, and then by Miami-Dade College in late 2003. Since 2006, the beginning of the ten-day festival has shifted to early March. The Festival has now grown to become a comprehensive global festival with an annual attendance of over 70,000. The dates of the 31st edition of the Festival are March 7–16, 2013.
MIFF has introduced filmmakers from more than 60 countries to audiences in South Florida, including such notables as Pedro Almodóvar, Andrea Arnold, Hector Babenco, Luc Besson, Susanne Bier, Bertrand Blier, Juan Carlos Campanella, Joel & Ethan Coen, Alfonso Cuarón, Felipe Martinez Amador, Terence Davies, Sam Fuller, Alex de la Iglesia, Jonathan Demme, Abel Ferrara, Andy Garcia, Patricio Guzmán, Werner Herzog, Steve James, Lawrence Kasdan, Spike Lee, Lucrecia Martel, François Ozon, Jose Padilha, Patricia Riggen, John Sayles, Carlos Sorin, Morgan Spurlock, Fernando Trueba, Liv Ullmann, Paul Verhoeven, Denis Villeneuve, Margarethe von Trotta, and Wim Wenders. MIFF has premiered more than 20 Oscar-nominated films and presented the newest works of diverse filmmakers such as Luc Besson, Alfonso Cuaron, Wim Wenders, Denis Villeneuve, Susanne Bier, and Fernando Trueba.
Famous quotes containing the words film and/or festival:
“You should look straight at a film; that’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”
—Werner Herzog (b. 1942)
“The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)