The Borscht

Borscht is a nonprofit with the simple mission to redefine cinema in Miami. Local filmmakers created Borscht in response to the lack of regional infrastructure and support, empowering artists to tell fresh Miami stories. Since first receiving a grant from the Knight Foundation five years ago, Borscht has... “legitimized the once-absurd premise of filmmaking in Miami..." "spur[ring] a filmmaking boom in South Florida...” ...by developing, overseeing, and commissioning the creation of dozens of short films, often by first-time filmmakers from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. During this time, Borscht's unlikely and unprecedented run has consisted of 600+ festival screenings worldwide (including 17 projects across 8 consecutive years at Sundance), 40+ jury and audience awards, millions of online views, and dozens of art exhibitions in galleries and museums like the Guggenheim and MoMA. Meanwhile on the home front, Borscht was simultaneously building one of the “25 coolest film festivals in the world,” “the weirdest film festival on the planet," and “Miami's best film festival" from the ground up. A biannual gonzo celebration of the commissioned work, the Borscht Film Festival is "a crazy experience like nothing else" and a “reinvention of the concept of the film festival" that has become "part of the city's cultural character" and "one of the biggest forces behind Miami's renaissance." In 2014 Borscht was awarded South Florida Film Critics Circle's Golden Orange Award for “fresh, vital...tireless championing of independent filmmaking" in Florida. Retrospectives include Contemporary Art Center (New Orleans), Glasgow Short Film Festival, CERN (Geneva) and IFP (New York), with another scheduled later this year at LACMA. In a short period of time, Borscht has already taken strides to “redefine cinema in Miami" and "the world is taking notice"– even wondering if “the next great hope of American film is hiding in Florida."