Three filmmakers with ties to Miami and its Cuban-American community will be spotlighted through the new fund’s first grant cycle
Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival, in partnership with ArtesMiami, today announced the inaugural winners of the Miami Film Fund, a new initiative awarding a combined $15,000 to filmmakers with ties to Miami. The three grants of $5,000 each mark the first cycle of a fund created to celebrate and elevate cinematic storytelling connected to the Miami community.
The winning projects, currently in production or post-production, span documentary and narrative filmmaking reflecting stories of immigrant resilience, cultural identity, and the shifting landscape of Miami itself. Winners will have their completed films showcased as official selections at an upcoming edition of the Miami Film Festival.
This initiative represents an expansion of the ongoing partnership between ArtesMiami and Miami Film Festival. ArtesMiami sponsored the 2026 Made in MIA Short Film Award and additionally supports the year-round Cuban Cinema Series programming.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the first winners of the Miami Film Fund and the films they are creating,” said James Woolley, Miami Film Festival’s executive director. “This fund reflects our ongoing commitment to championing filmmakers at every stage of their careers and ensuring Miami remains a world-class hub for filmmaking.”
“These three projects represent exactly the kind of bold, authentic storytelling we hoped to support when we created the Miami Film Fund,” said Aida Levitan, Ph.D., president and founder of ArtesMiami. “This is just the beginning. We want the entire community to embrace the fund and help us grow it so we can support even more filmmakers.”
The 2026 Miami Film Fund winners are:
Cuban-American Filmmaker or Subject ($5,000)
Chiara Clemente – IZZY
A feature-length documentary that follows Isabel and Ruben Toledo, who arrived in the United States as children on the 1960s Freedom Flights from Cuba. The film traces how their meeting in high school sparked a lifelong artistic collaboration that propelled them into the heart of New York’s downtown scene in the 1980s, celebrating artistic freedom and immigrant resilience.
Miami-Filmed Production ($5,000)
Emma Cuba – Water Water Everywhere
A feature film about a city sinking below sea level even as it keeps growing. As Abuela struggles to recognize the world around her, she asks her granddaughter, Mara, for one final trip together into the Everglades, where the Florida landscape reveals its mythical, meditative, and absurd realities.
Miami Filmmaker ($5,000)
Sana Haq – Locked Out
A feature documentary following Joe, who returns to Overtown after 20 years in prison to find his community threatened by gentrification. As he documents the effects of Miami’s real estate politics, he realizes that protecting his neighborhood means first fighting to restore his own right to vote.
Miami Film Fund builds on the festival’s broader commitment to championing storytelling connected to Miami and South Florida. It joins The Louies, which awards $100,000 annually in production funding to six Miami-based filmmakers through the Festival’s partnership with the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation.
