For Samuel Albis and Alessandra Gherardi, this year’s Miami International Film Festival will forever hold a special place in their hearts, because making its world premiere is their first-ever film, Chub. This collaborative effort from the husband and wife duo marks her first screenplay and his directorial debut – and…
Like any good left-leaning, open minded, modern American, when it was announced that the Confucius Institute at Miami-Dade College would be pairing up with the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), I broke out my changshan, checked to make sure my chi was in balance, and made reservations at my favorite…
In 2006, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, a project founded in Cambridge and co-supported by the Miami-based One Laptop per Child Association, implemented a long-in-the-works project to get laptop computers to children in developing countries. The possible culture shock of people in locations without running water but possible…
Remember turning 31 years old? If you’re old enough, maybe you partied hard enough that you don’t recall. If you’re too young, it’s surely not a number you’re very concerned about achieving. For the Miami International Film Festival, the 31st anniversary is shaping up to be a year to remember…
Ten years after the release of the Oscar-nominated Brazilian slum drama City of God, directors Cavi Borges and Luciano Vidigal catch up with the film’s cast in the documentary City of God — 10 Years Later. There are uplifting stories, such as that of Alice Braga, who has gone on…
Club Sandwich goes places that will feel very real to any survivor of the gauntlet of puberty. It has no shame exploring — and lingering on — some of the most common, if not sordid, moments many remember but few ever wish to recall. Be warned: The awkwardness quotient has…
Soft guitar chords and a view of calm waters against pale-green land instantly set the tone of Mateo. In a small town near the Magdalena River in Colombia, screenwriters Adriana Arjona and Maria Gamboa depict the world’s oldest struggle — good versus evil — in what can be best described…
In 2006, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, a project founded in Cambridge and cosupported by the Miami-based One Laptop per Child Association, implemented a project to give laptop computers to children in developing countries. The culture shock of people in locations without running water but possible internet connectivity…
This year’s MIFF offers more than 40 shorts, and with the notable exception of Cherry Pop: The World’s Fanciest Cat (directed by Miami’s own Kareem Tabsch), most of them are not about really fancy felines. They’re also about synchronized swimming, fugitive Mennonites, and Palestinian refugees, because, y’know, diversity. For those…
Man, woman, gay, straight, bi: There’s something for everyone in 300: Rise of an Empire, the XXL sequel to the also-larger-than-life Greeks-in-shinguards extravaganza 300. In that picture, directed by Zack Snyder and based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the three-day Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., the Spartans and…
First, the pleasant surprises. In puffing up the slight, absurd Mr. Peabody and Sherman shorts from Jay Ward’s The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show into an 82-minute 3D save-the-timestream child-distractor, director Rob Minkoff and his many writers have preserved a few of the hallmarks distinguishing the Dada, deadpan, almost primitive original,…
Does Miami Beach even realize how lucky we are to have the Miami Beach Cinematheque right in it’s backyard? The central nervous system of Miami’s art house film obsession has flowed through the velvet carpets on their walls, and placed itself firmly in their comfortably padded chairs for the past…
(Spoiler alert: The following piece discusses up to the February 16 episode of Looking.)HBO’s Looking has had a tough time winning over its intended fans. Upon its premiere, Gawker’s Rich Juzwiak yawningly summed up the political achievement of creator Michael Lannan’s wonderful half-hour dramedy about three homosexual men in San…
Not more than 6-months after Diana Nyad crossed the 110-mile open waters between Cuba and Key West, known as the Straits of Florida. Now, she takes on a challenge that is bound to be more aggravating, treacherous, and full of shark-infested waters than any challenge she’s yet faced. What could…
The word “dinosaur” translates to “terrible lizard,” and no lizard is more terrible than mothereffing Godzilla. Of course, by “terrible” we mean “completely awesome.” Awoken by nuclear bombs, Godzilla is a giant (s)he-beast (the gender switches, depending on the flick) who breathes radioactive fire and wallops alien invaders, plus half…
The digital age is upon us, and it’s not going anywhere. Humanity has either been freed by its own intelligent design or reduced to full-time screen watchers, depending on how you choose to look at it. Even now, you’re on your computer or smart mobile device, and chances are, you’re…
Whittling down a film festival of close to 100 films to only 10 seems rather cruel. But, let’s face it, this is Miami, and who really wants to spend 10 days in dark theaters all day long? If you have to choose a smattering of movies to catch at the…
Remember turning 31 years old? If you’re old enough, maybe you partied hard enough that you don’t recall. If you’re too young, it’s surely not a number you’re very concerned about achieving. For the Miami International Film Festival, the 31st anniversary is shaping up to be a year to remember…
When you think of Miami in the movies, what comes to mind? “Say hello to my little friend” perhaps, or possibly “shit just got real.” “I feel like all we have right now is Scarface, Bad Boys, and all those things,” said young filmmaker Monica Sorelle. “It’s a lot of…
That Bible miniseries, originally aired on the History Channel, won notoriety by casting an actor who resembles Barack Obama in the crowd-pleasing role of Satan. The producers — Roma Downey, who plays Mary here, and Mark Burnett, who pioneered the watch-skinny-people-suffer genre with Survivor — insisted that this was a…
Miami New Times’ Mastermind Awards honors the city’s most inspiring creatives. This year, we received more than 100 submissions, which our staff narrowed to an elite group of 30, and finally, nine. We’ll be profiling those finalists in the days to come. This year’s three Mastermind Award winners will be…
In 1998, Douglas Adams published a sweet, funny essay called “Riding the Rays,” about an excursion to Hayman Island to try a kind of underwater Jet Ski called a Sub Bug because it afforded an opportunity to swim with manta rays. And manta rays are cool. He wrote of his…
