MIAMI SHORT FILM FESTIVAL $12K AWARD ANNOUNCED
BIG DREAMS IN SHORT FILMS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: William Vela
Tel: 305/854-2229
E-mail: william@miamishortfilmfestival.com
MIAMI SHORT FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES $12,000 AWARD WINNER
Miami, FL– The Miami Short Film Festival (MsFF), wrapped up its sixth year on Saturday, December 1st, at the Miami Science Museum & Planetarium, by presenting the $12,000 Best of Festival award to Rob Meyer, of New York, for his film “Aquarium,” which follows the story of David, a 15 year-old kid who escapes the boredom of the Boston suburbs to the exotic world of breeding aquarium fish. “Aquarium” was just announced as an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival.
The Miami Short Film Festival Best of Festival Award is presented to one of the six Best of Category winners, which include Narrative, Experimental, Animation, Documentary, Foreign, and Local. The Best of Category winners and The Best of Festival winner were selected by an esteemed panel of judges: Academy Award Winner, David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada), Steven H. Krams, president of International Cinema Equipment, Robert Parente, director of the Miami Mayor’s Office of Film & Cultural Affairs, Sam Grogg, Dean of UM School of Communication, and Lilia Garcia, Administrative Director of the Division of Life Skills of Miami-Dade Public Schools.
The Miami Short Film Festival Best of Category winners are: Best Local: “A Monkton Family Christmas” directed by Angel Barroeta, a prolific director of photography in Miami, who shot the film as part of the 48 Hour Film Project; Best Foreign: “Pismo” directed by Matvei Zhivov, of Toronto, who is now directing a television feature for Channel 1 in Russia, where he was raised; Best Documentary: “La Lucha/The Fight directed by Alex Festinese and Madia Levi; Best Animation: “Loom” directed by Steve Kravitz, who originally submitted the film through OurStage.com, a sponsor of the MsFF, which had viewers vote for their favorite films which were then accepted to the festival through a collaborative project; Best Experimental: “DJ:LA” directed by Jerry Chan a directing fellow with Film Independent’s Project:Involve, where writer-director Zach Helm (”Stranger Than Fiction,” “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”) is his mentor; Best Narrative: “Aquarium” directed by Rob Meyer, who shot the film as his NYU Graduate Film School thesis.
Each of the Best of Category winners, in addition to their trophy, received a prize provided by festival sponsors including, $1,000 of Kodak Film, $2000 of post-production services provided by Cineworks, casting services provided by Universal Casting, and dvd duplication services provided by Accord Film and Video.
The 6th annual festival kicked off on Monday, November 26, 2007, with a sold out grand-opening event at the Miami Science Museum & Planetarium. The following evening, and second sold out event, featured all locally produced films, including Angel Barroeta’s Best Local “A Monkton Family Christmas.” The Miami Mayor’s Office of Film & Cultural Affairs sponsored the event with Robert Parente as host.
The festival has lived up to its tag line “Big Dreams in Short Films” and has been embraced by the Miami community at large and allowed to flourish. Partnerships with entities such as UM School of Communications and Yahoo! Telemundo have only strengthened the festival’s visibility and viability.
Founded by CEO William Vela in 2001, MsFF, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is produced by Miami-based Velart Productions, presented by the University of Miami School of Communication and sponsored by Yahoo! Telemundo, Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs, Miami-Dade College, City of Miami Mayor’s Office of Film Arts & Entertainment, Ourstage, The New Times, The Miami Herald, WLRN and more.
For more information and specific programming contact the MsFF office at info@miamishortfilmfestival.com or 305.854.2229.