"50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2025
- MovieMaker Magazine

"One of the Best Jewish Film Festival's in the US"
- The Forward

"One of South Florida's Best Film Festivals"
- Miami New Times

"Best of Miami, Readers Choice" in 2023, 2024, 2025
- Miami's Community Newspapers

"An important stop for any filmmaker"
- Sun-Sentinel

"A monumental festival"
- The Miami Herald

The Miami Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) is recognized as the world's largest Jewish film festival dedicated to celebrating new film and media exploring universal themes of identity, history, and culture. Presenting its 29th edition from January 15-29, 2026, the Festival showcases the work of the world's best emerging and established filmmakers and offers awards in juried competition categories. Among the 134 films that premiered at the 2025 Festival which featured the largest Jewish film program in the world, more than 50 were selected from FilmFreeway submissions. Miami Jewish Film Festival has also made the prestigious "One of the 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" list by MovieMaker Magazine in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2025.

In 2025, the Miami Jewish Film Festival drew more than 58,000 filmgoers and attracted more than 100 filmmakers, producers, talent, and industry professionals to its two-week event of inspiring films, events, panels, and parties that are hosted at 8 major venues throughout Miami. In all, the Festival presents more than 134 feature narratives, documentaries, and short films of all genres, from more than 25 different countries.

MJFF presents dramatic and documentary features, experimental, and animated features and shorts about Jewish history, culture, and identity as well as films that reflect life through a Jewish lens. The programming staff takes a broad view of what makes a film Jewish and have been known to curate films that are Jew(ish) as well as films about issues that are relevant to Jewish communities and resonate with other cultural communities across the globe. Works in all forms and genres are considered.

The Festival receives significant industry recognition; each year several films premiering at the Festival are acquired for US distribution. Recent distributors who have acquired films directly from the Festival include Kino Lorber, Greenwich Entertainment, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Netflix, Menemsha Films, Film Movement, Briarcliff Entertainment, Breaking Glass Pictures, and Go2Films, among many others.

Awards & Prizes

GRAND JURY PRIZE
Miami Jewish Film Festival's top award, presenting a prize to the jury-selected feature film (60 minutes or longer) that is open to any filmmaker whose work – feature narrative or documentary – presents either a substantial portion of its content as Jewish interest or is produced in Israel.

DOCUMENTARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The award offers a prize to the jury-selected documentary feature film (60 minutes or longer) that is open to any filmmaker whose work presents either a substantial portion of its content as Jewish interest or is produced in Israel.

CRITICS JURY PRIZE
Presented to a film of any genre voted on by all accredited film critics covering the annual Festival, for the film they consider the best of that year’s selection.

KADIMA JURY PRIZE
A jury prize recognizing a film whose work positively enhances public awareness of Jewish culture, history, and learning.

TORCHBEARER JURY PRIZE
A jury prize bestowed upon a film that most powerfully depicts a story centered on the Holocaust, its context and implications. This includes exploration of its origins and repercussions, consideration of the many forces driving human behavior, as well as highlighting the resilience and fortitude of survivors and victims.

EMERGING FILMMAKER
A jury prize that honors a first-time feature filmmaker for their outstanding vision and storytelling.

NEXT WAVE JURY PRIZE
A juried prize selected by 21-35-year-olds to a film of any genre that is a directorial debut.

SHORT FILM COMPETITION JURY PRIZE
Winner receives a non-exclusive US distribution release of their film through Film Movement.

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR NARRATIVE
Presented to the filmmakers of the Festival audience’s choice of best narrative feature (60 min or more).

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY
Presented to the filmmakers of the Festival audience’s choice of best documentary feature (60 min or more).

Rules & Terms

The 29th Miami Jewish Film Festival will take place from January 15-29, 2026.

1. Submission Deadlines
Submissions will be accepted from February 10, 2025. The deadline is November 7, 2025. Early entry is encouraged but in no way guarantees acceptance.

2. Submission Format
Films must be submitted via online screener.

3. Submission Eligibility
- MJFF requires at least a Florida Premiere for any feature or short film.
- Works-in-progress are accepted.

4. Selection of Films
Submissions are reviewed and selected under the following criteria:
- Quality of narrative and production values
- Independent nature of the production

5. Festival Screenings
Films selected for the Festival will be required to provide a DCP format file for In-Theater Exhibition. Blu-ray or pro-res video files may also be requested.

6. Scheduling
No film may be withdrawn from the festival program after its selection, nor will MJFF pay screening fees for any submissions.
36 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Iván Cherjovsky

    The screening was amazing. The organizers were kind and gentile. A great experience to me!

    February 2025
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  • Chiel Christiaans

    It was nice to be able to participate in the Miami Jewish Film Festival with our documentary "Custaryans". A film that is very Dutch in nature and atmosphere, but which therefore had the opportunity to be seen by an international audience. It was a great opportunity for us! Chiel Christiaans and Judith van Vliet - Format Family

    February 2025
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  • Warren Blum

    We were honored to be part of this festival and show our film Laemmle's List on the Virtual Platform in 2025. Working with the team who put on the festival was a breeze. They were very helpful and answered all our questions and made the whole process very enjoyable. The Miami Jewish Film Festival is a great film festival and showcases such a wide range of Jewish films. It really does a great service to the film making community and to the audiences who love to see Jewish-related content.

    February 2025
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  • Łukasz Kamiński

    I am very happy and honored to have been a part of the festival with my film „There once was-There is no more-There is“. Although I was unable to attend the festival, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Miami Jewish Film Festival team. You rock! :)

    February 2025
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  • Sofie Rimler

    The Miami Jewish Film Festival is a dream of a festival! Thank you to the entire festival team for making our festival experience so special. We were honored to take home the Audience Award for Best Short Film for CUT OFF (2025)! We look forward to next year's program.

    February 2025
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