May 18, 2020

2021 MJFF Will Offer More Than $40,000 In Cash Awards

The Miami Jewish Film Festival is proud to announce its 24th Annual Edition will feature new competition categories offering cash awards totaling more than $40,000, including its inaugural $18,000 Documentary Achievement Award.

The recent 2020 Miami Jewish Film Festival marked the most successful Festival edition in its history, setting box office and attendance records for the seventh year in a row. MJFF hosted more than 31,000 moviegoers and featured more than 100 international filmmakers, performers and educators at 14 theaters across Greater Miami. MJFF looks to build on this success for its 24th edition and has announced new competition categories offering cash awards totaling more than $40,000. Submissions for the 2021 Miami Jewish Film Festival are now open exclusively through Film Freeway.

In addition to its $18,000 Grand Jury Prize sponsored by Crescent Heights and $5,000 Next Wave Prize sponsored by Diane & Alan Lieberman, MJFF will present its inaugural Documentary Achievement Award offering an $18,000 prize to the best documentary film in this new juried category. The Documentary Achievement Award is the first such award offered by a Jewish film festival in the world and is sponsored by the Benjamin Nahum and Tamar Roodner Charitable Trust.

In announcing the new Documentary Achievement Award, Benjamin Nahum said the following: “Tammie and I couldn’t be happier to play a small part in making the Miami Jewish Film Festival a truly unique experience. We are sure that we speak for many of you  when we say that the many talented filmmakers, through their powerful stories and documentaries, always manage to touch and rekindle our Jewish souls and unite us in our common journey.”

The newly launched Documentary Achievement Award will allow for a new number of international documentary films to compete for the prestigious award and is open to any filmmaker whose work presents either a substantial portion of its content as Jewish interest or is produced in Israel. A jury of international film professionals and scholars will judge the competition sidebar, the members of which will be announced at a later date.

Launching the Documentary Achievement Award is an important milestone in Miami Jewish Film Festival’s continued evolution as an organization that supports filmmakers. At this unprecedented time of need for so many independent artists, film festivals provide an even more vital support system in ensuring that outstanding, meaningful, and entertaining documentaries continue to get made and celebrated. We are grateful to the Benjamin Nahum and Tamar Roodner Charitable Trust for allowing us to take that support to the next level through our inaugural Documentary Achievement Award.

MJFF’s competition categories will showcase the best in global filmmaking and celebrate filmmakers who present unique and distinctive voices. The Festival believes in the power of visual storytelling to share perspectives, inspire empathy, and drive culture forward.

MJFF will continue to present its coveted Critics Prize, which is awarded by accredited film critics covering the annual Festival. Also returning this year is the Short Film Competition presented by Film Movement, a prestigious US distributor, which awards a cash prize to the best short and a distribution deal.

Considered one of the largest Jewish film festivals in the world, MJFF nurtures and builds connections within and beyond the Jewish community, promotes an evolving definition of what constitutes Jewish film and media, and introduces new voices and emerging talent.