When director Ermol Clearfoster Sheppard III was notified he won a Louies Award, he shouted a happy expletive, kissed his cat, called his mom, and went out and bought a $12 latte. Matt Deblinger, co-producer and director of \u201cUncle Luke vs. America,\u201d said he celebrated by listening to 2 Live Crew\u2019s \u201cBanned in the USA\u201d and \u201cgot fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kareem Tabsch says he views his Louies Award like \u201ca badge of honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three local filmmakers are part of a group of six that were selected as recipients of The Louies presented by the Miami Film Festival and sponsored by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation. The Louies, now in its second year, provides funding for new films that focus on South Florida\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n
The awards total $100,000.<\/p>\n
Tabsch received the largest prize, $50,000 for his feature-length documentary, \u201cSave Our Children,\u201d which revisits Anita Bryant\u2019s 1977 Miami crusade. The singer, television personality and former beauty queen launched a campaign to overturn a Miami-Dade County ordinance that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation for employment and housing. Her misinformation claims cast gay and lesbian people as threats to children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69823e83eb8b4.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Kareem Tabsch\u2019s \u201cSave Our Children\u201d about Anita Bryant\u2019s anti-gay crusade in the late 1970s received the biggest prize, $50,000 in the Feature Length Documentary category.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of The Louie Awards\/Miami Film Festival)<\/p>\n
Tabsch, who co-founded and co-directs O Cinema in Miami Beach, co-directed the 2018 film \u201cThe Last Resort\u201d with Dennis Scholl as well as the 2024 documentary \u201cNaked Ambition\u201d with Scholl. His film, \u201cMucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado\u201d was named by The New York Times as one of the 20 Essential Latino Films in 2020.<\/p>\n
According to the filmmaker, his most recent work connects the past with the present.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a film as much about that moment five decades ago as it is about today . . . how today\u2019s attacks are rooted in a 50-year-old playbook. It\u2019s at once a history lesson and a call to arms to inspire the next generation to get involved in changing the world we live in,\u201d he explains, calling the funding from The Louies \u201ca shot in the arm in moving the film forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the award money, each filmmaker receives unlimited access to the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe access to the incredible Wolfson Archives is a game changer,\u201d Tabsch says, adding that \u201ca huge aspect of our story is documented in the Wolfson archives. . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheppard, who is directing \u201cFirst Come, First Serve,\u201d with lead producer Forrest Canaday, describes the film\u2014which tells the story of the Swap Shop flea market through three intertwining narratives\u2014as a \u201ccommunity engagement project.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69823bfac4722.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Louies Award winner \u201cFirst Come, First Serve\u201d tells the story of the Swap Shops flea market through three intertwining narratives. Forrest Canaday, lead producer and Ermol Clearfoster Sheppard II, director, received a $10,000 award in the Finishing Funds category.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of The Louies\/Miami Film Festival)<\/p>\n
The Louies award granted $10,000 to the filmmakers in the Finishing Funds category.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say the core message of our documentary is exemplified through the story of the main participant (and producer) Marie Franco. She spent her formative years at the Swap Shop while her mother was working as a vendor there, then dedicated her artistic practice to painting portraits of the people in that community.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to helping fund the post production process, the money will also give a boost to the filmmakers\u2019 vision of \u201cimmersive installations\u201d the will be presented in tandem with the documentary.<\/p>\n
Also receiving a $10,000 Finishing Funds award is Carlos Gutierrez whose documentary \u201cBay of Pigs\u201d focuses on the men of Brigade 2506 who returned to Miami after the Kennedy-era failed invasion of Cuba.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69823f4754bea.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Carlos Gutierrez\u2019s \u201cThe Bay of Pigs Project\u201d offers a deeply personal look at the men who returned to Miami after the Kennedy-era failed invasion of Cuba to rebuild their lives, raise families and forge a new community.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of The Louie Awards\/Miami Film Festival)<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory isn\u2019t just dates and politics \u2014 it\u2019s people.\u00a0\u2018Bay of Pigs\u2019\u00a0is about what happens when ordinary individuals are pulled into extraordinary events, and how the consequences follow them for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as winning the award, Gutierrez says, \u201c\u2019The Bay of Pigs\u2019 is such a personal, generational story in Miami, and it\u2019s also heavy. So hearing that The Louies wanted to stand behind it felt like someone saying, \u2018This history matters, and these voices matter.\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bay of Pigs\u201d is the kind of film that Randi Wolfson Adamo, trustee of the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation, said the awards are meant to help thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Florida is full of powerful stories and passionate storytellers, and The Louies give us a chance to help those voices be heard,\u201d says Wolfson Adamo.<\/p>\n
Matt Deblinger, director of \u201cUncle Luke vs. America,\u201d won in the short documentary category, which carries a $10,000 prize. The film, co-produced by Deblinger and Diliana Alexander, focuses on Miami becoming a 1990s\u00a0free\u2011speech battleground. Deblinger described his film as a crossover between legal advocacy and nonfiction storytelling as it covers how Luther \u201cUncle Luke\u201d Campbell\u2019s explicit tracks ignited obscenity charges and culminated in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on creative freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreedom of expression isn\u2019t automatic. It\u2019s shaped in our courts, developed through case law, and always at risk of being challenged. All it takes is one case against one artist to redefine creative rights across the country, for better or worse, for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69823c434757a.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jessica Huppert Berman\u2019s short documentary \u201cTwin Suns: The Scull Sisters Story\u201d profiles Miami\u2019s iconic Cuban artist sisters.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of The Louie Awards\/Miami Film Festival)<\/p>\n
Jessica Hupper Berman also received $10,000 toward work on her short documentary. \u201cTwin Suns: The Scull Sisters Story\u201d profiles identical twins and Cuban artists whose colorful, three\u2011dimensional paintings became beloved fixtures in Cuban restaurants in Miami before they all but disappeared from public spaces, severing what had been established as an artistic bridge between Havana and Miami.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grant will allow me to elevate the film\u2019s visual language, which feels essential for a project rooted in painting. It will also support music and art licensing that deepen the film\u2019s emotional and historical resonance,\u201d says Hupper Berman, who added that her documentary \u201casks how cultural memory is formed, and what it means to preserve it \u2013 not as nostalgia but as an act of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monica Sorelle, whose 2023 film \u201cMountains\u201d with\u00a0producer and co-writer Robert Colom was created with help from a $50,000 micro-budget grant through the Oolite Arts Cinematic Arts Residency, received a $10,000 short documentary award from this year\u2019s The Louies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69823f003e780.image.png\")
<\/p>\n
Monica Sorelle\u2019s \u201cUntitled Everglades Triptych\u201d examines Black and Indigenous histories in and around the Everglades through distinct but parallel stories of migration, refuge and displacement.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of The Louie Awards\/Miami Film Festival)<\/p>\n
The Haitian-American filmmaker examines Black and Indigenous histories in and around the Everglades in \u201cUntitled Everglades Triptych.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honorable mentions went to Jon David Kane, Alicia Edwards and Oana Martisca.<\/p>\n
Three Louies winners from 2025 \u2013 Jayme Kaye Gershen (\u201cThe Floor Remembers\u201d), Symone Titania Major (\u201cUnder the Mango Tree\u201d), and Rachelle Salnave (\u201cDual Citizen\u201d) \u2013 will premiere their films at the upcoming Miami Film Festival, which runs April 9 through 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
ArtburstMiami.com<\/a> is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don\u2019t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When director Ermol Clearfoster Sheppard III was notified he won a Louies Award, he shouted a happy expletive,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[69218,69202,69209,69215,69210,69221,69213,69223,69198,69219,69207,69206,69222,69224,69200,69217,69197,69205,69211,123,69196,69216,125,124,69214,69204,69203,69201,69220,69208,69195,69212,69199],"class_list":["post-142723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-000-funding","tag-anita-bryant-miami-crusade","tag-bay-of-pigs-documentary-miami","tag-black-and-indigenous-histories-everglades","tag-brigade-2506-kennedy-era","tag-creative-freedom-supreme-court","tag-cuban-artists-miami","tag-cultural-memory-preservation","tag-ermol-clearfoster-sheppard-iii","tag-finishing-funds-documentary-awards","tag-first-come-first-serve-documentary","tag-florida-moving-image-archives","tag-free-speech-miami-1990s","tag-immersive-film-installations-miami","tag-kareem-tabsch","tag-louies-100","tag-louies-2026-winners","tag-lynn-and-louis-wolfson-ii-family-foundation","tag-matt-deblinger-short-documentary","tag-miami","tag-miami-film-festival","tag-miami-filmmakers-grants","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-monica-sorelle-untitled-everglades-triptych","tag-mucho-mucho-amor-walter-mercado","tag-o-cinema-miami-beach","tag-save-our-children-documentary","tag-south-florida-storytelling","tag-swap-shop-flea-market-film","tag-the-louies-awards","tag-twin-suns-the-scull-sisters-story","tag-uncle-luke-vs-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}