2023 Miami Gems Festival Preview:
The 10th anniversary edition of Miami’s Gems Film Festival will get underway in November, promising a four-day line-up of 26 films that feature diversity and highlight more than famous faces from the awards season circuit.
The festival, a fall offshoot of the Miami Film Festival hosted by Miami Dade College, will run from Nov. 2-5 this year. Along with screenings, such as opening film “Radical” and closer “The Holdovers,” events and ceremonies will recognize the work of cinematographers, directors, actors and producers.
“Gems is much more compact and curated. It’s about highlighting these award contenders of the fall movie season,” says Lauren Cohen, director of programming at the Miami Film Festival.
In its commitment to showcasing diverse voices and perspectives, festival organizers curate projects spanning a multitude of genres, languages, and cultures, from thought-provoking documentaries to heartwarming dramas. “We’re looking at doing more honors and more special events to really highlight its 10th anniversary,” Cohen tells Variety.
“Radical” star Eugenio Derbez, whose recent credits include “Acapulco” and “CODA,” will receive the fest’s impact award for his extraordinary contribution to the Latin American entertainment landscape. For Derbez, who portrays a Mexican border-town teacher in “Radical,” receiving the award came as unexpected news. “I never thought I was going to have the honor of being awarded, so I’m more than excited. When you grow up in Latin America, in Mexico, watching Hollywood films your entire life, you feel that that [possibility] is so far away from you,” Derbez says.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” which competed for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice Intl. Film Festival, will screen as well as Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Monster,” Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” and Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.” The latter co-production between Japan and Germany is Japan’s official submission to the 96th Academy Awards.
Director Patricia E. Gillespie’s documentary “They Called Him Mostly Harmless,” which explores the mystery of an unidentified hiker found dead, will also screen at Gems. “There were a number of women who were looking to identify this hiker known as ‘Mostly Harmless,’ and it was one of those [scenarios] where there was a projection of who this person was,” explains Ethan Goldman, a producer for the project.
Gillespie says that her “female eye” helped craft the documentary in a unique way. “It’s a story that would have been very easy to tell from a male point of view about a man. We were able to tell this story from a female point of view and include these important female voices at the center of it,” she says, noting the amateur internet sleuths who eventually discovered the hiker’s identity as well as his reasons for vanishing.
While Hollywood’s WGA strike has come to an end, the nearly five-month-long labor stoppage has made a lasting impact on festivals. Cohen believes it helped open doors for people in the industry whose work is usually overlooked, encouraging festival organizers to not be so hyper-focused on actors, currently on strike, and give more space to below-the-line professionals.
“We love actors, and we love having them there – but I do think there’s something nice about seeing recognition for film editors, costume designers, cinematographers and people who don’t always get that kind of limelight,” Cohen adds.
Since Gems serves as a way to highlight recognized films ahead of award season, Cohen carefully curates the line-up by attending festivals throughout the year.
“What I love about looking at the Gems lineup is it goes from crowd-pleasing works, like ‘Radical,’ where it has such an important message about educational equity in the Latino community, and then you go to see a film like ‘Saltburn’ from Emerald Fennell, which is just an intense, batshit crazy experience,” she says.
TIPSHEET
WHAT: 10th Annual Miami Film Festival Gems
WHEN: Nov. 2-5
WHERE: MDC’s Koubek Center and Silverspot Cinema
WEB: miamifilmfestival.com
