Eduardo J. Padrón
President
Office of the President
300 N.E. Second Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132-2297
305-237-3316
epadron@mdc.edu
Message From the President
Monday, March 15, 2010
Miami International Film Festival celebrates success
The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) ended its 10-day marathon of film premieres, seminars and special events on Sunday, March 14. This year's festival was a true success story. Despite a smaller program, attendance figures were up by 17 percent from last year, and MIFF reported the most sold-out events in years. Some especially popular screenings included our Awards Night Film, the Academy-Award winning The Secret in Their Eyes, Sins of My Father, Nothing Personal and Milk of Sorrow.
MIFF received a phenomenal amount of local, national and international media coverage, and rave reviews from festival-goers regarding our diversity and depth of screenings. Students and faculty were especially pleased with the educational components offered at this year's festival, including the REEL Seminars.
Congratulations are in order to the winners of the coveted $25,000 Knight Foundation and Miami Dade College Grand Jury Prizes, announced on the evening of Saturday, March 13. Lola (France, Philippines) by Brillante Mendoza took top honors in the World Competition, To the Sea/Alamar (Mexico) by Pedro Gonzalez Rubio swept the Ibero-American Cinema Competition, and Sins of My Father/Pecados de mi padre (Argentina, Colombia) by Nicolas Entel captured the DOX Competition Award.
I would like to thank Tiziana Finzi, the festival's artistic director; Vivian Donnell Rodriguez, MDC's executive director of cultural affairs; and all of the MIFF staff and College volunteers for making the 2010 festival so remarkable.
Thank you.
Eduardo