The Cinematic Arts Program
Oolite Arts’ Cinematic Arts Program seeks to strengthen Miami’s growing indie film community by becoming the city’s hub for filmmakers, producers, and editors to connect, learn and exchange ideas. The Cinematic Arts program offers masterclasses, workshops, film screenings, and additional opportunities to help local filmmakers advance and perfect their craft.
“Ludi” by resident filmmaker Edson Jean is the first film to come out of the program, premiering on the opening night of the 2020 Miami Film Festival and at SXSW.
2021 Resident Project
The Cinematic Arts Resident was chosen by a national jury of film experts because of his extensive experience making short films, his authorship of projects that center on Miami stories, and because his proposed project embraces the ethos of micro-budget filmmaking: the idea that creative stories can be brought to the screen with a lean and inventive approach to production.
Hansel Porras Garcia
Porras Garcia will tell the story of a widowed Cuban exiled in Miami, who is about to become a grandmother for the first time on her 64th birthday, when she unexpectedly receives a visit of her childhood best friend, after 40 years without seeing each other. Learn more.
2021 Cinematic Arts Resident
Special Jury Mentions
Four filmmakers received Special Jury Mentions, and will receive $1,000 toward their film projects. They are Jayme Gershen, Franco Gonzalez, Javier Labrador and Brenna Haragan.
2021 Jury
Andrew Hevia
Janine Gold
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers
Keisha Rae Witherspoon
Steve Stanley
2020 Resident Projects
Faren Humes
Humes will use the residency to expand her much-celebrated short film “LIBERTY,” focused on Miami’s Liberty Square housing complex, into a feature narrative film. Learn more.
Edson Jean
Jean will tell a story, inspired by his mother’s first years in Miami, that centers on an underpaid nursing assistant’s effort to send money home to her family in Haiti while navigating Miami’s problematic, private care-taking world. Learn more.
2020 Cinematic Arts Residents
Special Jury Mentions
Four filmmakers received Special Jury Mentions, and will receive $1,000 toward their film projects. They are Carla Forte, Hansel Porras Garcia, Mark Pulaski and Danny Rosenberg.
2019 Resident Projects
Xavier Medina
Medina’s project will tell the story of a seven-year-old boy living in a Miami trailer park, a boy who is determined to somehow get to the beach and see the ocean for the first time. Learn more.
Monica Sorelle
Sorelle will create a film about a Haitian construction worker facing the harsh realities of gentrification as he is tasked with demolishing his own neighborhood. Learn more.
2019 Cinematic Arts Residents
The Cinematic Arts Residency
Now in its third year, this initiative will give one Miami filmmaker up to $50,000 to create a narrative micro-budget feature, along with a producer to oversee the project and a shared studio space for production. Akin to the farm to table movement, this unique program will enable local filmmakers to create, shoot and screen their films, without ever leaving Miami.
“Moonlight” co-producer Andrew Hevia and O Cinema’s Kareem Tabsch helped conceptualize the program, which is currently led by Cinematic Arts Manager Danielle Bender.
The Cinematic Arts Residency is supported in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Program Benefits
- Up to $50,000 for the creation of a narrative micro-budget feature
- A producer assigned to the production of the film
- Shared studio space for Cinematic Arts Residents at Oolite Arts on Miami Beach, with 24-hour access and Wi-Fi
- Free parking (based on availability)
- Use of Oolite’s facilities, including a flex lounge, workshop and the PRINTshop
- The opportunity to engage with Oolite’s network of curators, film programmers, artists, filmmakers, visiting faculty members and Oolite Arts Fellows, as well as to participate in studio visits, exhibitions, public programs and community outreach initiatives
- Access to Oolite’s international network of institutional film partners, as well as select film festivals and local art cinemas, as a way to help distribute the film
- Support for the film’s Miami premiere
- A one-week theatrical run at O Cinema
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Be a full-time Miami-Dade County resident
- Create a narrative project set and filmed in Miami
- Be at least 18 years of age, and a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident
- Have completed a short film in a key creative role (director/producer/writer/editor)
- Demonstrate the ability to plan and execute the project as a micro-budget (under $50,000) feature film. Residents will have help, but will serve as the creative lead for the project.
Residency Period
March 2021 – February 2022, with the possibility of extending into a second full year term.
Apply
Applications are now closed
Please contact Danielle Bender via email at [email protected]
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Oolite Arts strives to be a leader in the South Florida contemporary cultural scene as a creative learning center and internationally recognized as a world-class cultural center.