The Miami Film Festival has spent some years expanding its programming through its Gems series, which presents a number of fall festival darlings and award contenders. The festival has finally announced its 2019 lineup. The festival will kick off with Pedro Almodóvar’s highly anticipated Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory).
Five films in the lineup are the first selections of the season to compete for the festival’s top honor, the $40,000 Knight Marimbas Award. The competition includes Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winner Parasite (the festival’s closer), François Ozon’s By the Grace of God, Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency, Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Neus Ballús’ Staff Only.
A centerpiece of the festival will be Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. Three additional films will receive Spotlight screenings at Gems: Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, written by and starring Shia LaBeouf and loosely based on his own experiences; Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn, which he wrote and stars in; and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth, his first feature outside Japan, starring Catherine Deneuve, Ethan Hawke, and Juliette Binoche.
The Truth will be accompanied by David Gaddie’s short film Beautiful Dreamer because both were inspired by the Chinese-American author Ken Liu. His short story “Memories of My Mother” is featured prominently in Kore-eda’s film and was adapted for Gaddie’s short. The festival is dedicating the screening to Liu.
Stay tuned for more about this event!
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