When Miami Gardens resident Faren Humes was working as a location manager for the Academy Award-winning film “Moonlight,” she learned all about Liberty Square.
Now, the independent filmmaker is expanding her own film project, “Liberty,” based on the lives of residents at the public housing complex in Liberty City.
Filmmaker Edson Jean, whose work has appeared on HBO and Complex Networks, is developing another film, inspired by his mother’s first years in Miami, that centers on an underpaid nursing assistant’s efforts to help her family in Haiti.
Both filmmakers have been awarded $50,000 each as part of Oolite Arts’ Cinematic Arts Residency program. The funds will help them develop and screen micro-budget feature films — all in Miami.