Hispanic actor, director and producer John Leguizamo will be recognized with the Miami Film Festival’s Impact Award during its 40th edition, which will be held from March 3 to 12 and in which prizes will also be awarded to actors Nicolas Cage and Diego Luna and composer Nicholas Britell.
Leguizamo, of Colombian and Puerto Rican descent, will travel to Miami to receive the award on March 11.
The 2023 edition of this festival organized by Miami Dade College (MDC) will present more than 140 productions of various genres from 30 countries, including features, shorts and documentaries, and includes more than a dozen premieres world premieres, three North American premieres and seven in the United States.
American actor Nicolas Cage will also travel to Miami to receive his award, the Legend & Groundbreaker, given to him by Variety magazine for his career.
Likewise, the Mexican Diego Luna and the American composer Nicholas Britell, in charge of the music of the award-winning film “Moonlight”, will attend the festival in person to receive their respective special prizes: Variety Virtuoso Award and Art of Light Composer Award. , presented by Scorpion Group.
The Festival will open with “Somewhere in Queens”, directed by comedian and actor Ray Romano, who will be present at the screening, and will close with “The Lost King”, directed by Stephen Frears.
The American “Knight”, by Stephen Williams; “Carmen”, by Frenchman Benjamin Millepied, and the documentary “Judy Blume Forever”, by Americans Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, are some of the highlights of the extensive program.
In the most important competitive category, the Knight Marimba prize, endowed with 25,000 dollars, the Spanish “As Bestas”, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen; the French “The Gravity” by Cédric Ido; the American “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” by Daniel Goldhaber, the Iranian “Leila’s Brothers” by Saeed Roustaee, the Dutch “Piece of My Heart” by Dana Nechushtan.
Also “Revoir Paris” (France), by Alice Winocour; “Riceboy Sleeps” (Canada), by Anthony Shim; “Sanctuary” (USA), by Zachary Wigon; “Subtraction” (Iran/France), by Mani Haghighi; “Tori and Lokita” (Belgium/France), by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and “Valeria Is Getting Married” (Israel/Ukraine), by Michal Vinik.
Likewise, the co-productions “Vicenta B.”, by the Cuban Carlos Lechuga, and “The happiest man in the world”, by the Macedonian Teona Strugar Mitevska.
This year, the Festival adds to its many accolades in various categories the Goya Quick Bites Short Film Award, courtesy of the food company Goya, which will be awarded to the director of a short film of any genre selected by the jury who best shows the intersection between meals and community.