Swap the traditional end-of-summer barbecue for the silver screen: the 11th annual Urban Film Festival arrives this Labor Day Weekend to showcase cinema's next generation alongside established cinematic voices.
Nearly 200 independent films — including the horror flick Night Shift: Last Dance, directed by Jullian Boothe and co-directed by Luc Stephen, and the Hialeah-based comedy Spanish Fly, directed by Don Dinero — will light up theater screens across historic Overtown and downtown Miami.
"It's about building and sustaining the independent movie ecosystem in South Florida, said Founder Marco Mall, who recently partnered with mobile-first vertical streaming platform VURT to help select filmmakers with distribution.
Presented by Florida Film House International, the three-day festival also features hands-on workshops led by industry professionals, covering everything from cinematography to the businesses of distribution.
Mall told WLRN the in-person cinema experience is drawing an increasingly diverse crowd.
"A lot of people think the Urban Film Festival's a Black film festival. And it, it does have a lot of Black content, but it's inner city anywhere in the world," Mall said.
"So you get these beautiful Caribbean films the Black diaspora of Haiti and Jamaica, and you also get the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans," he added.
"You get all these amazing films and all these amazing filmmakers to come together and just celebrate cinema."
The Urban Film Festival runs from September 4-6.
Last year, the festival — in partnership with Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Miami Downtown Development Authority, and Miami-Dade County — had its biggest year yet with "over 2,200 people registered at Silverspot Cinemas and over 5,000 attendees across the whole weekend," Mall said.
Mall expects those numbers to continue rising since "momentum is growing organically."
"And people do love and desire to see these type of films."
IF YOU GO:
Friday, Aug. 29: Youth Empowerment celebration with the 1st Take Youth Film Program (hosted by Romeo Miller & Allen Maldonado) and the Welcome to Miami Celebration Party at Red Rooster.
Saturday, Aug. 30: Free masterclasses at Silverspot Cinema covering writing, producing, technology & AI, cinematography, acting, and directing — plus panel discussions with international sales reps and award-winning filmmakers.
Sunday, Aug. 31: Best of Urban Film Festival screenings, the Awards Ceremony at the Lyric Theater, and the Official After Party at Red Rooster.
Learn more here.
