Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes Wins Gigi Guermont Audience Award at Miami Film Festival GEMS 2019

Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Film Festival (MFF) announced today that Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes is the winner of the MIAMI GEMS 2019 Gigi Guermont Audience Award, as MFF’s annual fall extension wrapped on Sunday night with record box office and with attendance at 98% capacity across the entire event.  The festival took place Oct. 10-13. More...

Miami-Dade County announces its second tier for the film incentive program

In keeping with its mission to maintain Miami-Dade County as a top production destination, the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources’ Office of Film and Entertainment is launching a new tier to the current local TV/film and digital entertainment production incentive program, an independent filmmaker tier. This second tier is attractive to independent filmmakers and larger budget television commercials. It would allow productions spending between 500K and $1 million in the county to qualify for a maximum grant of $50,000.

Productions will have to meet certain requirements to benefit from this program.

Among those are the following:

• The production must spend at least $ 500,000 in Miami-Dade County on payroll (for Miami-Dade County residents only) and other expenditures.
• At least 70% of the entire production project must be produced in Miami-Dade County. 
• Each production project is required to hire a minimum of 20 main cast and crew (employees) that are Miami-Dade County residents and must include at least one student/recent graduate who is enrolled at or recently graduated from a local college or university. 
• At least 70 percent of vendors utilized on the production project must be Miami-Dade County-based registered businesses.
• Allows for two projects per company per year.

Other additional changes to the program include reduced eligibility requirements for the first tier where productions spend at least $1 million to receive a $100,000 grant.

“The feedback we’ve received about our local incentive program tells us that it’s valuable and successful,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez. “These updates to the program offer greater opportunities to bring more productions to Miami-Dade County, to the benefit of our local economy.”

 “The modifications will allow more flexibility for productions to meet less stringent eligibility requirements,” said Sandy Lighterman, director of the Office of Film and Entertainment. “Additionally, creating a second tier will attract indie filmmakers who have lower budgets.”

Miami-Dade County is an ideal destination for film and entertainment projects. From diverse locations, experienced crews and local talent base to superior infrastructure, it boasts of a dynamic, flourishing production industry that employs approximately 10,000 full and part-time workers and has an annual impact of over $1 billion to the local economy.

For more information on the TV/film and digital entertainment production incentive program, click here.