FFI’s Cinematographers in Education and Media Arts programs take place in local schools and community centers, providing an empowering hands-on experience for students, offering them the opportunity to make their own films. CINEMA is a series of workshops that empower students with all the knowledge they need to produce a short film. Focused workshops provide an in-depth look at: script writing, location shooting, cinematography, acting on screen, lighting, directing, editing, sound, wardrobe, makeup and marketing. We encourage participants to explore the creative process of cinema as a means to increase self-esteem and develop decision-making skills necessary in any profession.
Since 1992, FFI has produced 171 short student films which have received 193 exciting awards in filmmaking including: INTERNET at the 2022 Arlington Int’l Film Festival, 2021 ASTORIA at the Hollywood Golden Age Film Festival, 2020 SHE’S A RAINBOW and NEXT OF KIN, 2018 TUNED IN, 2017 THE CANDIDATE, 2016 MATCH.KOM at the BEST Shorts Competition, 2015 UNDERGROUND ARTIST AND MATCH.KOM- and both of these films have won the Honorable Mention Narrative at the 2015 FLIFF, 2014 THE PURR won 1st Place at the Amelia Island Film Festival Student Film Festival Competition, MAD WORLD, BEST Shorts Competition, SILENCE, The IndieFEST Film Awards- Award of Merit: disability issues and JARRED, FLIFF Bronze Award for High School Filmmakers. In 2012, I SELL CHOCOLATES at the BEST Shorts Competition; THE PURR, the Sierra Award at the Yosemite Film Festival; and THE VAULT at the FLIFF, Certificate of Merit. In 2011, THE FINAL CHAPTER received the John Muir Gold Award and was also an Official Entry at The Education Channel (IFF); SECOND CHANCE screened at the Miami Short Film Festival. FINAL ENCORE was an Official Entry at the 2010 The Education Channel (IFF) and won the Certificate of Merit, Writing at the 2010 FLIFF. In 2009 FINAL ENCORE won the John Muir Gold Award at the 2009 Yosemite Film Festival, and the film was screened at the 2009 Miami Short Film Festival, Tomorrow’s Filmmaker’s Today. BRAIN JUICE and BAD BISHOPS both have won the Honorable Mention Narrative at the 2009 FLIFF. Awards for our student-made films have been given at the local, state, and national levels. The student films have been screened at 36 international, 73 national, 41 regional and 39 local student film festivals and on HBO, Kid Flicks.
FFI has worked in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), offering our CINEMA program to students in Miami-Dade County. In addition to the schools, CINEMA has also been offered at the Miami Children’s Museum, Miami Job Corps, AGAPE Family Services, Little Haiti Cultural Center, City of Miami Mayor’s Heart of the Parks, Coral Gables Art Cinema and some schools in Broward County.
