Miami Short Film Festival Reveals 25th Edition Lineup
The Miami Short Film Festival has announced the official program for its 25th edition, scheduled for November 13–15, 2026. Screenings and events will take place at O Cinema South Beach, Silverspot Cinema in Downtown Miami, and the historic Deering Estate. The festival marks a quarter century of presenting short films to South Florida audiences.
Marking twenty-five years of supporting short-form cinema, the event will present thirty-eight films drawn from international submissions. The works are grouped into nine curated programs that examine memory, grief, identity, time, transformation, faith, family, belonging, rebellion and shifting perceptions of reality.
The festival opens on Friday, November 13 at 8:00 p.m. at O Cinema South Beach with a Welcome Cocktail Reception and Red-Carpet Walk. Filmmakers, guests and industry professionals are invited to attend. The evening program, Echoes We Carry, centers on memory and its lasting influence, following stories of grief, reconciliation, love and redemption that trace invisible connections to lost loved ones and past choices.
On Saturday, November 14, the festival continues at Silverspot Cinema in Downtown Miami. Beginning at 3:00 p.m., A World After gathers films that explore the ongoing effects of loss, trauma, war and memory, including narratives dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, childhood trauma and the aftermath of conflict as characters seek resilience and connection.
At 6:00 p.m. the program Time Will Tell considers love, memory, identity, cultural heritage and the passage of time, moving from daily pressures to cosmic scales. The 8:00 p.m. slot features Between Light and Reality, a selection of documentary and experimental works that probe the boundary between observation and imagination through distinctive cinematic language.
Also on Saturday at 7:00 p.m., the Deering Estate hosts States of Becoming, a program of intimate stories about personal transformation and the forces that prompt change. On Sunday, November 15 at 3:00 p.m. at Silverspot Cinema, A Local Vision showcases emerging filmmakers connected to Miami whose work resonates both locally and farther afield.
Sunday evening at Silverspot begins at 6:00 p.m. with The Invisible Within, which turns to questions of identity, faith, fear, illness and the search for meaning amid uncontrollable circumstances. The 8:00 p.m. closing program, The Edge of Innocence, follows the turbulent transition from childhood to adulthood through tales of family, conflict, prejudice, violence and awakening. At the Deering Estate, Wild at Heart screens at 7:00 p.m., presenting films that celebrate rebellion, community and characters who resist imposed boundaries.
The selected works represent filmmakers from the United States, Spain, France, Canada, South Korea, Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Chile, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Israel, Lebanon, Norway, Serbia and additional countries. Formats include narrative, documentary, animation, experimental cinema and music videos.
The programming highlights intersections between the personal and the universal, placing stories of family and heritage alongside accounts of war and displacement. Themes of faith and identity appear next to explorations of science fiction and artificial intelligence, while intimate experiences are paired with surreal and experimental forms.
As it marks its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Miami Short Film Festival affirms that short films can hold entire worlds within minutes of screen time. The edition looks both backward at the medium’s power to preserve memory and forward toward new voices and imagined futures.
