43rd Annual Miami Film Festival

A darkly comic body-horror about love that refuses to die, A Hand to Hold explores how toxic relationships linger—long after death.

A broke birthday party clown finds out his mother is on her deathbed in the middle of the gig from hell and must do whatever it takes to afford a flight home—all while slowly losing his grip on reality.

Unemployed Ava has planned a fun bachelorette party weekend in Miami for her picture-perfect best friend, Kendall. But when Kendall’s party and Ava’s job prospects come in conflict with each other, Ava tests just how far she is willing to go for her friend to have a good time.

A chef cycles through San Francisco, weaving through memories of his immigration and dreams of sharing traditional Venezuelan cuisine.

Local artists converge on Miami Beach during Art Week, forging a grassroots creative gathering that prioritizes community over spectacle.

When the children of a quaint Parisian village are terrorized by a sinister threat, a remarkable dog emerges as the unlikely hero, until a shocking revelation changes the town forever. Inspired by real events.

In the middle of rush hour traffic in Lima, a young student refuses to give up his seat to an elderly woman, sparking unexpected chaos among the passengers.

Love turns memory into meaning.

After committing an act of revenge, Katya experiences the first symptoms of her transformation.

When a 16-year-old Jewish actor faces off with her mother and Jewish plastic surgeon on the day of her surgery, she learns unsettling truths about the consequences of assimilation.

The staff at an old school Cuban diner are forced to decide between their political rhetoric and their conscience when ICE comes to arrest the undocumented Venezuelan busboy.

Through citizens’ voices and stark images of survival, the documentary portrays Cuba’s despair under dictatorship, where only freedom offers hope.

When scorching temperatures cause a collapse in society, a nameless man must betray his moral code in order to find ice cream and save himself from the heat.

Florida artist Evelyn Marx tells of her creative thought processes and techniques as she works on fabricollage in her studio. Eleven of her creations are explored and interrelated.

The disco phenomenon in America is documented in this cinema verité style. Using a popular disco in Columbus, Ohio, as a typical example, the film moves from a disco dance class to people dressing up for an evening to the final energies of people in the thrall of hypnotic music. This wildly acclaimed documentary aired on PBS and RAI, (Italy) television networks and was screened at numerous film festivals like the Athens International Film Festival where it won Best Social Documentary. The story is cheeky and sexy and a fascinating chronicle of the time. The narrative is structured between the gay and straight perspective of this cultural and social episode in the late 1970’s.

Inspired by a true story. Grace has double booked her night yet again, how far will she go to avoid confrontation?

Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Florida has been left in limbo where reproductive rights and pregnancies are concerned. This documentary explores how pro-life and pro-choice individuals have been left to care for such basic needs, and how maybe the abortion itself is not the real problem in the state.

The Florida Everglades, a unique ecological region which is totally dependent upon water, is shown with special attention to the animals and unusual flora. The area is also the scene of an unresolved struggle between the needs of man and the needs of nature. The film pleads for its preservation.

Made by a Miami filmmaker Larry Kleinman, this is a startling suspense drama on the future and ecology. A story about two boys who are on their way to see a tree in a museum, showing that their behavior is indicative of their environment. Set in the near future which is insulated from the polluted outside world and which is run by computers.

A million flowers. A thousand urban forests. One mission to bring back Florida’s Ghost Orchid from the brink of extinction.

Miami, Tokyo, expensive fish eggs & father-son turmoil… in a blender.

Empowered by new legislation, at age 81, Hilda Onley seeks justice for the sexual abuse she endured as a teen in 1958 at the New York State Training School for Girls. This is the story of Hilda’s fight, after 65 years of silence, to hold the system that failed her accountable.

Set in the post (ish) pandemic summer of 2021, two friends are sent spinning when a scar from a past relationship and an unwelcome stranger converge in a Brooklyn pilates class that is more pain than gain. 

An intimate portrait of honky-tonk icon Dale Watson and his wife Celine Lee, using their music to explore a life rooted in Americana.

On a hot Florida day, Marcus is pulled into a room full of new faces and quickly realizes he has no choice but to fit in.

After a night of drinking, two friends find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere – until a quiet gas station changes the course of their night…

After 50 years of marriage, John must care for his wife while learning to live alongside her vivid hallucinations.

Lunch is a tender portrait of childhood loneliness and the longing for a parent’s love, told through the small, everyday rituals of a school lunch.

An animated Superman adventure made in Miami. A scientist’s experiment with a magnetic telescope causes a huge comet to fall to the earth. Even Superman has a hard time with this crisis!

After her youngest child leaves for college, a single mother looks ahead to what’s next.

After generations of boat strikes, a manatee finds herself fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge.

Back home in Miami after either quitting or being let go (it’s complicated) from her New York teaching job, Nora a late-30s aspiring comedy writer, is roped into her family’s one-and-a-half-star party business – where she must choose between drowning from shame inside a dancing grape costume or finally growing the roots she’s been resisting.

After three cheerleaders die in a car crash on their way to a big cheer competition in Orlando, they make a deal with the devil to collect human souls in exchange for a second chance at life, and most importantly, to make it to the competition on time.

All this man wants is for someone—anyone—to simply acknowledge the quiet splendor of his $3,500 jacket.

Nail Tech: Portrait of an Artist (2025) explores the life and cultural impact of Miami Florida-based nail artist Kro Vargas, whose trend-setting designs have graced the pages of Vogue and the fingertips of major musical artists like Ice Spice and Ivy Queen. The film also explores the friendships and salons that have shaped Vargas’s career, like Optima Lite and Spring with Friends. The documentary highlights how nail art is a meaningful form of cultural expression. Telling the story of nail techs is telling a history of style, migration, and women’s entrepreneurship in Miami.

Luanda and Vladimir must carry their father’s dead body out of the house -a daunting task, given that everything they know is contained within those four walls.
“Everything” truly means everything, from the most ordinary objects to memories and hope.

A girl’s long-distance romance with an older Norwegian man promises to pull her and her mother out of their austere life in Cuba, but her dreams are shaken when she realizes he isn’t as idyllic as he seems.​

A small Oregon town, an exploding whale, and the man who made the story famous.

After 37 years turning drive-thru orders into personal connections, Sighle Williams expects a quiet farewell from a Florida burger joint—but her town has other plans.

While stuck at her sister’s baby shower a thirty-something woman is forced to decide whether she wants to have kids or not after unexpectedly giving birth to her reproductive organs.

A trauma victim joins a Utopian farming community only to find she’s bitten off more than she can chew.

A young Cuban in exile rebuilds his identity between Madrid, Miami, and the memory of a lost Cuba before the Revolution.

A story inspired by a letter written by Ruwen, the Director’s grandfather. A family wound that will attempt to heal collectively through film.

In the sweltering wake of Hurricane Irma, a young woman strikes up a connection with her older neighbor, stirring up revelations that will last long after the floods have receded.

On a cold, peculiar morning, Michelle wakes to find her dog missing with no explanation. Her friends Amil and Jay try to look for the dog in an attempt to calm her, while simultaneously navigating the uneasy feeling that something vile may be manipulating them.

A group of high school frenemies plotting a massive car-heist, must convince an uppity salesman at a supercar dealership to let one of the girls test-drive a supercar.

More of a comment than a question…

A young woman’s exploration of BDSM takes a dangerous turn when she’s abducted, forcing her to confront the boundaries between desire, consent and control.

Amid Miami’s ever changing skyline, Test of Time uncovers the untold stories of the city’s longest standing restaurants and bars, exploring their resilience, legacy, and the family traditions that have kept them alive for over 30 years. In this episode, we follow the Pasquarella family and their beloved institution, Frankie’s Pizza, as they navigate decades of challenges, proving that true community staples are built to last.

On Monday nights at a historic Miami roller rink, skaters gather beneath neon lights and the music that raised them, returning to a wooden floor that holds the memory of a city that is constantly changing.

A haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds.

Beekeepers are the main reason why we still have honeybees. Here is why we should support them, and help local pollinators like bees and butterflies.

This is not just a console, but a story of love, honor, memory, and the enduring power of sound.

In a lonely, gray city, a boy says goodbye to his friends as he prepares to leave the country with his parents, but he engages in one last game that takes an unexpected turn.

When 11 year old Juliet stubs her toe on a loose floorboard, she unwittingly sets off a series of mysterious events.

A famed Detective arrives to a remote mansion to find a Murderer standing over the body of someone he just killed, and desperately tries to get him to confess his motive.

The SS Valbanera was so close to Havana, but port master turned the ship away because of an approaching hurricane. The year was 1919 and the ship was no match for Mother Nature. The ship sank, and everyone onboard died. The so-called “Poor Man’s Titanic” was lost to history…until now.

A blind violinist ascends to first chair at the Rome Symphony, just as a black-gloved killer begins stalking the orchestra. The only witness to the murders is her loyal seeing-eye dog.

Cologne, Germany.1938. Empathy, hope, courage and compassion can be found where least expected. Based on a true story.

In Hanoi, Vietnam, tattoo artist Tran Ngoc transforms scars into art, challenging taboos in a society where tattoos are often stigmatized. Through deeply personal stories, this powerful film explores how ink becomes a tool for healing, reclamation, and self-love.

Hoping to gain a sense of security, a group of queers head upstate to learn how to shoot a gun, but when the first shot goes off, the day of mishaps and mayhem devolves into something much darker.

When a collaboration between two influencers unexpectedly turns romantic, Samantha Carr’s perfect night takes a downturn, forcing her to navigate today’s toughest choice: what’s more important – love or Likes?

On the eve of their Nutcracker debut, two young ballerinas discover a mysterious curse and embark on a magical quest to shed two emotional tears, uncovering what it truly means to become an artist.

Deeply rooted in the soil of his family’s mango tree, a man reflects on the rise and fall of the agriculture industry in Goulds during the early 1900s, a story of a thriving African American community, and forces that shifted it.

An old hermit in the Colombian mountains must decide between returning to care for his ailing mother or remaining bound to the past and the mountain that defines him.

A woman plans a quiet hiking trip to reconnect with her brother, only to be blindsided when he brings his entitled fiancée and her chaotic friends—turning the getaway into a nightmare as tensions spike, bodies start dropping, and she races to uncover the killer before she becomes the next target.