Miami Jewish Film Festival has been held annually since 1996 and this year, will be taking place from Jan. 13 to Jan. 27. After 25 years, the event has become a part of South Florida’s culture. In 2013, the festival was expanded under the direction of Igor Shteyrenberg, becoming the second largest festival of its kind and was nominated by MovieMaker Magazine as one of 50 best film festivals worldwide for two years in a row.
Recently, attendance for the Miami Jewish Film Festival has grown exponentially, with more than 50,000 people attending the 2021 event compared to 2014. Plus, the festival has expanded to other locations in South Florida, such as North Beach Bandshell, Regal South Beaches Cinemas, Coral Gables Art Cinema, O Cinema, Miami Beach Soundscape, Aventura Arts and Miami Theater Center.
Throughout the years, the festival has hosted many different and well-known filmmakers, directors, actors and actresses, such as Natalie Portman, Logan Lerman, Nancy Spielberg, Emily Ratajkowski, Montel Williams and Michael Solomonov.
Other American film production and broadcast companies have also taken part in the festival, such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Classics, HBO Documentary Films and Cohen Media.
The Miami Jewish Film Festival was named by the Forward Newspaper as “One of the Best Jewish Film Festivals in the US” and by Miami’s Community Newspaper as the “Best of Miami.” In the past ten years, the festival has screened movies from more than 35 different countries, which of one thousand were either International, North American, United States or East Coast Premieres. The festival focuses on the discovery of new talents and recognition of established filmmakers, and it has created a platform to launch Jewish and Israeli movie productions.
This year, the event will happen in different venues across the Miami area. The festival is open to volunteers and offers different memberships that provide exclusive access to the festival and help invest in international filmmaking. People can also make donations to the festival if they wish to support spreading international Jewish cinema in South Florida and around the world.
The Miami Jewish Film Festival aims to promote Jewish cinema to the world and encourage cultural enrichment, tolerance, and artistic development. It is also a means of strengthening the Jewish community through art and inspiring reflection through film.
Though the festival takes place in January, there are other events throughout the year that also celebrate Jewish cinema. To find information about events, tickets, memberships and venues, access: https://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/about/history/.
