2010-2011 Programs

Romance in a Can film festival promotes the work of independent filmmakers from the European film market. Its strategy is to attract a US and Hispanic audience interested in European culture and life styles by experiencing the art of filmmaking. In parallel, Red Chemistry holds a short film competition to encourage the work of local and international film students. Local film students work with the director at Miami Beach High School to stage the competition and the festival (last year, president of the jury was David Frankel).

Ciné-Magique is a three-day film festival for children entering its third year. The themed festival focuses on Francophone culture. The series provides access for Miami-Dade County school children that are native speakers or enrolled in French language programs. It also markets the screenings to families in the Calle Ocho neighborhood of host Alliance Française and the community at large. Art workshops are open to the public; a question-answer session led by teachers takes place after each screening for the children. Films are always subtitled in English.

European Short film competition and student film competition: The ongoing short film competition takes place during the Romance in a Can film festival in Miami, Puerto Rico and Bogota. It gathers a European film selection of more than 200 shorts which are sorted and awarded by Miami Beach High School. In Puerto Rico, Bogota, and Miami, Universities are firmly supporting the project and help build a local film competition between film students. Awards and cash prizes are given each year by a jury of professional from the movie industry. Discussions are tailored to each theme, with issues that revolve around women, Europe and the human race.

Recent Accomplishments

2009-2010

• Romance in a Can featured 25 foreign-made films, from countries including Slovenia, The Netherlands and Kurdistan, screened at eight venues. Film directors Marc Esposito of France, Lech Majewski of Poland, Amir Manor of Israel and David Frankel from the U.S presented their works as guest artists. Screenings took place all over Miami and the beaches.
• A short film competition between film students took place locally at Miami Beach High School and awarded local and European film students in 2008. Miami Beach High School will get involved again in 2010. The University of Puerto Rico and Cine-Fondacion are now taking care of the competition in Puerto Rico.
• Sleepless Night on November 7 film series in collaboration with "the City of Miami Beach” at the Byron Carlyle Theater will gather a selection from France, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
• Third Ciné-Magique French children’s film festival scheduled for December at Alliance Française: 750 children during three days of screenings in French.