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Oolite Arts has announced an open call to local independent filmmakers for the 2024 Cinematic Arts Residency — an annual program awarding $50,000 to one artist to produce a narrative micro-budget feature set in Miami.
The selected filmmaker will join a program that has successfully launched four award-winning films at major independent festivals across the country, bringing the city’s one-of-a-kind, often overlooked stories to the international film world’s consciousness.
Conceptualized in 2019 by Moonlight co-producer Andrew Hevia and O Cinema’s co-founder and filmmaker Kareem Tabsch, Oolite’s program aims to propel the city’s filmmakers from creating award-winning shorts to feature films.
Pairing a “micro-budget mindset” with Miami’s diverse cultural ecosystem, the program offers filmmakers a tailored suite of resources to produce and promote their projects, affording them complete agency, funding, advisors, and a producer. The result is a program unique to Miami — a city of vibrant and diverse cultural ecosystem — as well as a model for communities across the country.
“Miami is an incredibly diverse city with a thousand different points of views and cultural backgrounds but, primarily, it’s a city of storytellers,” Hevia said. “We wanted Miami stories to be told everywhere and saw this program as filling a need. Though our filmmakers have done well producing award-winning shorts, they don’t typically make the jump to feature films. Focused on micro-budget features, we provide them this essential steppingstone with the trust that their stories will be told completely through their lens.”
In its sixth year, the program developed by president and CEO Dennis Scholl is currently led by 2021 resident Hansel Porras Garcia and serves as a launchpad for South Florida’s dynamic, yet largely untapped, cinematic community, providing residents an invaluable opportunity to broadcast Miami’s stories to audiences at a global scale.
“Oolite Arts has advanced Miami’s artistic community by directly responding to the needs of artists and offering invaluable local opportunities, such as the Cinematic Arts Residency,” Garcia said. “Its programs have created a welcoming atmosphere for Miami’s artistic community, in such a purposeful way that could only be powered by the city’s singular energy.
“As a resident, I was able to tell a story that allowed me to share the experiences of my community. Now, as the program’s manager, I can welcome, help and guide more of our local filmmakers while continuing to foster my own practice,” Garcia added.
“We want to provide our local filmmakers the first step in an artistic practice that starts in, is supported by, and is shared with their community,” Tabsch said. “What Oolite Arts has done is create an opportunity for traditionally marginalized voices to be their most authentic selves by telling their authentic Miami stories.”
Since its establishment, the residency has already resulted in tremendous success for its previous residents, like Edson Jean, Monica Sorelle, and Xavier Medina. This year, 2019 resident Sorelle’s film, Mountains, won a Special Jury Mention at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, the Best Feature Narrative award at the same year’s BlackStar Film Festival, and is an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival.
In addition to an allotted $50,000 budget, residents also receive bespoke access to award-winning producers, shared studio space, and Oolite’s network of film partners, select festivals and local art cinemas, as well as curators, programmers, artists, filmmakers, visiting faculty members and fellows. Oolite also supports residents in debuting their work with a one-week theatrical run at O Cinema.
“This program equips you with all of the freedom to make what you want from it, but on a small-scale budget, and without it the results would be vastly different,” said Edson Jean, 2020 Cinematic Arts Resident. “That’s a testament to the success of the model. Your eyes are open to the ambitions of the story you’re telling and how you can realistically make it happen.”
Oolite Arts has been championing artists since its founding in 1984, offering both artist residencies and holistic programming that elevates artists’ work at all stages of their careers.
Applications for the 2024 Cinematic Arts Residency are open through Oct. 6. Applicants must be full-time Miami-Dade County residents seeking to create a narrative micro-budget project set and filmed in Miami. The program accompanies Oolite Arts’ Studio Arts, Digital Arts, and Home and Away travel residencies. Oolite Arts offers the program at its headquarters at 924 Lincoln Rd., while the non-profit’s new campus is being built in Little River.
For more information on the applications and past recipients, visit oolitearts.org/cinematicarts.
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