Long ago out-of-towners permanently penned in Art Basel and Winter Music Conference for their biannual Miami pilgrimages, but it may be time to add one more event to the calendar. This weekend will welcome the 7th incarnation of the Borscht Film Festival, the most innovative and eclectic cinema event the Magic City has ever screened.
Borscht is ready for big things this year, premiering 12 commissioned short films this Saturday, April 23 at the Arscht Center in downtown Miami. The films are collaborations created by under-thirty South Florida filmmakers (including Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva) who teamed up with local musicians (including ANR, MillionYoung) with only one criteria: that the films be about Miami.
This has yielded a wide field of subjects including a fictional film about (and starring) Uncle Luke, mayoral candidate and former 2 Live Crew member; another that’s described as “a bizarre love story in which a man battles an inter-dimensional creature to save his dinner date”; one about puppies battling zombies; and last, but not least, a brief history of the struggle between man and nature in South Florida over the last 7 million years.
If that’s not enough (and how could that not be enough?), there will be a few additional shorts mixed in and an outdoor after party at Villa 221 with live music from some of the bands that collaborated on the films. So if you’re in South Florida this weekend, catch some flicks and afterward take the opportunity to unwind under the palms and reflect on what may turn out to be the wild new wave of Miami cinema. —Patrick Albertson
7th Annual Borscht Film Festival
Saturday, April 23
7:30 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Tickets
