May 19, 2020

2021 Festival Submissions Now Open!

The Miami Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) is one of the largest and longest-running festivals of its kind and the world's preeminent Jewish film festival. MJFF is a leader in the curation and presentation of new film and media exploring universal themes of identity, history, and culture. Presenting its 24th edition from April 15-29, 2021, the Festival showcases the work of the world's best emerging and established filmmakers and offers cash awards totaling more than $40,000 in juried competition categories. Miami Jewish Film Festival was declared in 2020 as “One of the 50 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee” by Moviemaker Magazine.

The 2020 Miami Jewish Film Festival attracted more than 31,000 filmgoers and 100 filmmakers, producers, talent, and industry professionals to its two-week event of inspiring films, events, panels, and parties that were hosted at 14 major venues throughout Miami. In all, the Festival presented more than 100 feature narratives, documentaries, and short films of all genres, from more than 25 different countries, making it the largest film festival of its kind in the world.

MJFF presents dramatic and documentary features, experimental, and animated features and shorts about Jewish history, culture, and identity as well as films that reflect life through a Jewish lens. The programming staff takes a broad view of what makes a film Jewish and have been known to curate films that are Jew(ish) as well as films about issues that are relevant to Jewish communities and resonate with other cultural communities across the globe. Works in all forms and genres are considered.

The Festival receives significant industry recognition; each year several films premiering at the Festival are acquired for US distribution. Recent distributors who have acquired films directly from the Festival include Kino Lorber (The Last Resort), Samuel Goldwyn Films (Saul & Ruby, To Life!, Sobibor), Netflix (Curtiz), Strand Releasing (The Other Story), Menemsha Films (1945, In Search of Israeli Cuisine, Leona), Film Movement (God of the Piano), Breaking Glass Pictures (Children of the Inquisition), Passion River Films (The Barn), and Go2Films (Sefarad), among many others.

The Miami Jewish Film Festival has been named "One of the Best Jewish Film Festival's in the US" by The Forward, "One of South Florida's Best Film Festivals" by The Miami New Times, and selected "Best of Miami" by Miami's Community Newspapers.

Awards & Prizes

GRAND JURY PRIZE - $18,000
Miami Jewish Film Festival's top award, presenting $18,000 USD prize to the jury-selected feature film (60 minutes or longer) that is open to any filmmaker whose work – feature narrative or documentary – presents either a substantial portion of its content as Jewish interest or is produced in Israel.

NEXT WAVE JURY PRIZE - $5,000
A juried prize selected by 21-35-year-olds presenting $5,000 USD to a film of any genre that is a directorial debut.

SHORT FILM COMPETITION JURY PRIZE - $500
Winner receives a non-exclusive US distribution release of their film through Film Movement, as well as a $500.00 USD prize.

CRITICS JURY PRIZE
Presented to a film of any genre voted on by all accredited film critics covering the annual Festival, for the film they consider the best of that year’s selection.

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FILM
Presented to the filmmakers of the Festival audience’s choice of best narrative feature (60 min or more).

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Presented to the filmmakers of the Festival audience’s choice of best documentary feature (60 min or more).

DOCUMENTARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - $18,000
The award offers a cash prize of $18,000 USD to the jury-selected documentary feature film (60 minutes or longer) that is open to any filmmaker whose work presents either a substantial portion of its content as Jewish interest or is produced in Israel.

Submission Guidelines
Deadline to submit feature or short films is January 3, 2021. MJFF is open to U.S. and international entries. English language or English subtitles only. To qualify for consideration, all submissions must have some cultural or historical relevance to the Jewish experience or life in Israel. MJFF retains sole discretion to accept or decline submissions for any reason. Submission of a film does not guarantee exhibition in the festival. The decision of the MJFF Film Screening Committee is final.