48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge Coming Weekend of Oct 5th

Panthers prepare yourselves for our 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge!


Next weekend, any student interested in making or being a part of a short film (no experience necessary) will have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other like-minded students. On Saturday, October 5th, participants will be placed into groups and spend the day planning their films, including coming up with a story, writing a script, rehearsing lines, storyboarding, location scouting, and developing a shot list. The next day, groups will return ready to shoot their five minute shorts. Continue reading 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge Coming Weekend of Oct 5th

‘A Name Without a Place’ Review

Kenny Riches’s A Name Without a Place is about grief, a weird recluse millionaire, and porn. But this exciting premise is also the film’s problem — it tries to be too much. Gordon Grafton (Bryan Burton) is struggling with the loss of his twin brother and dealing with his overbearing, much older, aging starlet girlfriend (Elizabeth McGovern). As a result, he decides to take a solo trip to the Florida Keys and along the way meets aspiring porn star Emma Lee (Charlotte Best) before the two ultimately crash their car into an eccentric’s (Patrick Fugit) secret estate.

Continue reading ‘A Name Without a Place’ Review

GEMS 2019: Miami’s Fall Jewel + Staff Picks

GEMS 2019, the Miami Film Festival’s (MFF) fall showcase, will run from October 10th – 13th, 2019 at the Tower Theater Miami. GEMS was introduced in 2014 to extend MFF’s curatorial work to give South Florida access and to spotlight important fall releases. This year, audiences can view works by auteurs like Celine Sciamma, Bong Joon-Ho, Noah Baumbach, and François Ozon. GEMS will also highlight new voices, styles, and trends through filmmakers like Neus Ballus, Chinonye Chukwu, Alma Har’el, Carlo Mirabella-Davis and Ladj Ly.

Opening Night and Closing Night
The festival is set to kick off on opening night with legendary filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s highly anticipated Dolor y Gloría (Pain and Glory). The Tower Theater will be transformed into a gallery featuring Almodóvar’s classic film posters, images in vignettes and a post-screening gala party sponsored by Estrella Damm. Guests will enjoy the Estrella Damm photo station, offerings by master chef Ferran Adrià, fine wines at the Marqués de Riscal station, and a Spanish churro dessert station. As Spain’s official entry for the 2020 Academy Awards, this is a film you don’t want to miss.

Continue reading GEMS 2019: Miami’s Fall Jewel + Staff Picks

Five Questions With: Gabriel Rhenals

Gabriel Rhenals is a passionate Miami-based filmmaker whose first feature, For My Sister, will be screened at FIU on October 9th in GC 140 at 7PM. He’s worked on several award-winning short films and only a few years after our first Five Questions Interview with him, he’s returned to discuss his debut feature-length film. We talk with Gabriel about the process of shooting For My Sister, filming on a phone camera, and his interest in social issues.

Continue reading Five Questions With: Gabriel Rhenals

For My Sister Skillfully Navigates Mental Illness Stigma

For My Sister, the formally ambitious micro-budget debut feature from Miami-based filmmaker Gabriel Rhenals, tackles the stigma related to mental illness with aplomb. Rhenals (who wrote, directed, shot, and edited the picture) navigates emotionally dense terrain with a gentle hand and light touch, providing a film that is both socially useful and surprisingly fun.

Continue reading For My Sister Skillfully Navigates Mental Illness Stigma