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 14, 2011
Miami International Film Festival Celebrates Robust Success
Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) ended its 10-day marathon of film premieres, special events and seminars yesterday, and this year's festival was a remarkable success.
Ticket sales were robust and MIFF reported a large number of sold-out films, including Magic City Memoirs, Flamenco, Flamenco, Beyond, Potiche and In a Better World, among others. Several world-renowned film directors, such as François Ozon, Denis Villeneuve and Susanne Bier, made their first trip to Miami just to attend the film festival.
MIFF also received an impressive amount of local, national and international media coverage, and rave reviews from festival-goers regarding our community spirit and diversity of offerings. 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 Knight Foundation Grand Jury Prizes, announced on the evening of Saturday, March 12. Marimbas From Hell/Las marimbas del infierno (Guatemala, France, Mexico) by Julio Hernández Cordón took top honors in the Ibero-American Competition, The Piano in a Factory/Gang de qin (China) by Zhang Meng swept the World Competition, and The Interrupters (USA) by Steve James captured the DOX Competition Award.
I would like to thank Jaie Laplante, the festival's executive director, and all of the MIFF staff and volunteers for making the 2011 festival so successful.
Thank you.
Eduardo