Miami Film Festival is a world-class platform for International, American, and Ibero-American films. The 44th edition of the Miami Film Festival occurs from April 1-11, 2027. The Festival showcases the work of the world’s best emerging and established filmmakers to the diverse cosmopolitan community of Miami.

In recent years, the Miami Film Festival has attracted approximately 45,000 people a year, as well as 300 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals from around the world as it showcases more than 100 feature narratives, documentaries and short films of all genres, from 40 different countries. Highlights of recent festivals have included award presentations and exclusive in-depth conversations with film legends Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Tom Hiddleston, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Rita Moreno, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ramin Bahrani, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Aldis Hodge, Javier Camara, Andra Day, Ari Wegner, Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and Joshua James Richards; and numerous World and International Premieres.

The Festival also hosts dozens of world-class events every year, including annual conversations in partnership with VARIETY, as well as numerous workshops, masterclasses, legendary parties, and industry happy hours.

Historically, the Festival has had the privilege of hosting a noted group of filmmakers and talent, including Barry Jenkins, Heather Graham, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Showalter, Isabelle Huppert, Carlos Saura, Richard Gere, Rashida Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lena Olin, Pablo Larrain, Edward James Olmos, Monica Bellucci, Rossy de Palma, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Spike Lee, Andy Garcia, Patricia Clarkson, Stella Meghie, Joe Talbot, Jason Reitman, Lulu Wang and countless more. Simultaneously, it strives to be a beacon of support to local filmmaking talent and has elevated the work of numerous local filmmakers via exciting marquee screenings.

Major trade publications such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen and Indiewire attend for coverage and reviews of the films. Miami Film Festival has also made the prestigious “One of the 50 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee” list by Moviemaker Magazine in recent years.

Awards & Prizes

MARIMBAS Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected U.S. or international narrative feature film (60 min or longer) that best exemplifies richness and resonance for cinema’s future.

Made in MIA Feature Film Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected feature film (60 mins or more) of any genre with a substantial portion of its content occurring in South Florida--story AND setting AND actual filming location. To be eligible, production and filming location must have taken place in South Florida, specifically Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and/or Monroe counties.

Made in MIA Short Film Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected feature film (30 mins or less) of any genre with a substantial portion of its content occurring in South Florida--story AND setting AND actual filming location. To be eligible, production and filming location must have taken place in South Florida, specifically Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and/or Monroe counties.

Jordan Ressler First Feature Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected best film made by a filmmaker making their feature narrative (60 min or longer) film debut.

Documentary Achievement Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the best jury-selected best feature-length (60 min or longer) documentary film.

Miami International Short Film Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected narrative short film (30 min or less) of any genre from anywhere in the world.

Documentary Short Film Award
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected documentary short film (30 min or less) from anywhere in the world.

Narrative Feature Film Audience Award
Presented to the Director of the Festival audience’s choice of best non-documentary feature (60 min or more) of the Festival's Official Selection.

Documentary Audience Award
Presented to the Director of the Festival audience's choice of best documentary feature (60 min or more) of the Festival’s Official Selection.

Short Film Audience Award
Presented to the Director of the Festival audience’s choice of best short of any genre (30 min or less) of the Festival's Official Selection.

Cinemaslam (For Florida Film Students Only)
Is an award given to the Director of the winning film of the competition for the jury-selected film from the Festival’s annual Florida film school competition. The purpose of Cinemaslam is to foster excellence in student filmmaking and expose students to the value of film festivals in connecting their work with public audiences and industry professionals. Please read the eligibility criteria carefully. Only eligible films will be considered and no refunds will be given for ineligible submissions.

NON-COMPETITION FEATURE CATEGORIES

Special Presentation
This out-of-competition category highlights significant shorts, features, or episodic content of any genre.

Rules & Terms

1. For all Competition categories, World premiere must have occurred no earlier than January 1, 2026. For Non-Competition categories (Special Presentation), there is no specific regulation regarding the date of a film’s World premiere.

2. For feature films in all competition categories, the Festival will give programming preference to films that offer a World, International, North American or US premiere status. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE REQUIRE ANY FESTIVAL SCREENING TO BE AT A MINIMUM A FLORIDA PREMIERE. Short films, and out-of-competition films, do not have a minimum premiere requirement, but as with in-competition features, strong preference will be given to Florida premieres and higher.

3. Films that are in commercial circulation (theatrical, broadcast, commercial VOD or domestic airline entertainment system) in the USA prior to April 20, 2026 will not be eligible for the Festival.

4. The Festival’s Competition categories have different eligibility rules - the length, genre (narrative or documentary) and origin regulations are subject to change from category to category. For example, some categories accept films of any runtime, while other categories may require a minimum runtime of 60 minutes or a maximum runtime of 30 minutes. For other examples, some categories accept both narrative and documentary films, while other categories are restricted to one or the other; some categories accept films from any country in the world, while others only accept films from the United States or specific counties in Florida. Please read each category description carefully before submitting. If you mistakenly submit to a category for which your film is not eligible, the Festival will not disqualify your entry, but instead our programmers will consider your submission for a category where it will be eligible.

5. Our Festival’s audience-voted awards are determined by the audience of each screening being invited to rate the film on a numeric scale on a paper ballot. The average of the audience’s scoring will be multiplied by the fractional audience participation in the voting process (that is, the number of people who choose to vote out of the total attendance at each screening) in order to come up with a final score. At the conclusion of the Festival, the film with the highest over-all score in each audience-voted category will win that category’s award. Should two top final scores be separated by less than 1/10 of a percentage point, a tie will be declared. Ratings and final scores are confidential and not published or shared.

6. Films selected for the Festival will be required to provide a DCP format file for In-Theater Exhibition.

7. The Cinemaslam category is only open to undergraduate and graduate Florida film students whose films meet the specific criteria listed in that section. It has a later deadline and lower submission cost than other categories. Do not submit your film to this category if it does not meet the eligibility requirements. Ineligible films will not be selected and the submission fee will not be refunded.

8. We do not screen music videos.
32 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Lindsay Nyman

    Miami is an amazing experience! It is a huge, star-studded event that brings films and filmmakers from all over the world. Tons of networking opportunities, panels, talks, and of course, an incredible lineup of films. This is truly a worthwhile fest to be a part of. Lauren and the team are amazing; the communication is stellar, and everything runs perfectly. Thank you, Miami, for including They Call Me The Tattoo Witch!

    May 2026
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  • Ross Widener

    The Miami Film Festival was an exceptional experience for my crew. We would love to return ❤️

    April 2026
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  • Jorge Molina

    Great festival. Really goes out of its way to create places for filmmakers and industry to meet, mingle, and connect. Great way to see the city and the program was well-rounded. Hope to be back!

    April 2026
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  • Kristal Sotomayor

    Wonderful festival and great communication!

    September 2025
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  • Gerardo carreras caceres

    Its been a great festival!!!! Congratulations

    April 2025
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