“We are thrilled to continue my family’s legacy of education and preservation of history,” Randi Wolfson Adamo, trustee of the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation. “It was vital to my grandmother that we keep and maintain the archives and remember our past to educate future generations. Otherwise, we’re doomed to repeat things in history that aren’t worth repeating. The Louies will ensure that South Florida’s stories are told, remembered and cherished.” 

About the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation

Louis Wolfson II led the TV and cable division of Wometco Enterprises, a company started by his father, Col. Mitchell Wolfson Sr., after returning from World War II, where he witnessed the destructive power of mass propaganda in Nazi Germany. Wometco launched WTVJ in South Florida at a time when the price of televisions were too high for most families, and watched it grow as the medium universally penetrated homes.  

After Louis Wolfson II’s death, his wife, Lynn, sought to preserve Miami’s history from WTVJ’s inventory and worked with Miami Dade College to create the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives. TV stations across South Florida and Fort Myers have donated footage, enriching the collection. In its 35,000 hours of history and 23 million feet of film, the archives record the history and culture of Florida, from the bathing beauties of the 1920s to the expansion and civil rights crusaders of the 1950s, Cuban exiles arriving in the 1960s, disco dancers of the 1970s and much more. 

Recipients of The Louies will have access to the  Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at no cost, and the jury will consider the archive’s use as a factor in the selection process. The Archives’ state-of-the-art, 10,000-square-foot facility at MDC Wolfson Campus is equipped with an air evacuation system and maintained at 50 degrees to preserve the footage, which has been digitized to protect these valuable resources.

The First Louies

Initially launched in 1989 as an award to a Florida filmmaking project using the Archives, The Louies have been completely reimagined and are now dedicated to supporting documentary filmmakers, ensuring South Florida’s stories continue to be told.