What’s your love letter to Little Haiti?
About the Program
In an ongoing commitment to support Miami’s filmmaking ecosystem Oolite Arts is back for year two of Local Love Letters! This initiative will provide $5,000 to 10 filmmakers to create 3- to 5-minute short films featuring Little Haiti as the backdrop. While open format in terms of content, we’re challenging filmmakers to use their favorite spots in Little Haiti as the locations for their short films. The filmmakers will have up to two months to complete their films, which will screen at a community event later in 2023.
Apply
Applications are now closed
Contact
If you have questions, please contact Cinematic Arts Manager Hansel Porras Garcia at [email protected]
Acknowledgements
Sponsor
Thank you to the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation for having generously provided funding for this program.
Winners
Filmmakers award: $5,000
JR Aristide: The Mind’s Eye
A young gifted sketch artist auditions for a talent show in Little Haiti
Joshua Jean-Baptiste: Down to Zero
A man’s swagger is cut short by Brutus, his childhood barber, who delivers a harsh truth about his hairline, sending him on an introspective journey about acceptance and ego
Angelica Bourland: Kaila
Kaila is abruptly moved out of her home in Haiti to go live with her aunt in Miami, who she has never met before.
Karla Caprali: Bonswa Mesye O
An animated short brings to life the enchanting verses of Oscar Fuentes, the Biscayne Poet, through the eyes of Mister “O”
Matt Deblinger: Churchill’s
The story of the historic Churchill’s Pub, which was a sanctuary for local musicians and a symbol of cultural resilience.
Alicia G. Edwards: Citronelle
Over a cup of steaming lemongrass tea, Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat reflects on tradition, love, and motherhood
Diana Larrea: Querido Pequeño Haiti
A farewell letter to a vanishing neighborhood, from the viewpoint of the immigrant communities who long to find home there
Princess Usanga: Hooky
A Haitian grandmother’s intuition thwarts the plans of two high school girls skipping school in 1995
Xavi Serrano: En la pequeña Haiti
A Cuban woman ventures out into Little Haiti in order to find the man in one of her son’s paintings
Nadia Wolff: Chante Lapenn
An experimental portrait of grief exploring the emotional weight of social displacement in Little Haiti as a consequence of gentrification and rising living costs in Miami
Local Love Letters: Miami Beach
Oolite Arts and the City of Miami Beach teamed up to launch Local Love Letters, an open call short film contest that will provide filmmakers with $5,000 to create short films set in their favorite Miami Beach locations.
