Miami Film Festival presents
The Louies

The Louies will provide $100,000 shared between six Miami-based filmmakers for creating six documentaries about the unique & culturally significant South Florida region we call home.

Miami is rich in stories waiting to be told. As a city, the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation and the Miami Film Festival believe deeply that Miami deserves more films capturing the history and culture of South Florida – the ingredients that make our region special. The Louies will ensure documentaries about South Florida are created, are seen by a wider audience, and benefit the ever-evolving culture here in South Florida.

The Louies are presented by the Miami Film Festival, whose mission is to provide a platform for local filmmakers, and sponsored by the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation, founded by the family that launched Miami’s first TV station, WTVJ. The foundation also created the Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College, which includes 35,000 hours of South Florida history from 1900 to today.  

Selected filmmakers will be invited to use the Wolfson archives at no cost, and the jury will consider the archives’ use as a factor in the selection process.

Applications will reopen later this year for n the next season of funding.

The Awards

The Louies will be awarded to Miami-based filmmakers in one of three categories:

• Feature-length documentary: One filmmaker will receive $50,000 to create a documentary of 50 minutes or more.
• Short documentaries: Three filmmakers will receive $10,000 each to create a short film of eight to 12 minutes.
• Finishing funds: Two filmmakers will receive $10,000 each to complete a feature-length documentary in the post-production phase.

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