“It’s about building and sustaining the independent movie ecosystem in South Florida, said Founder Marco Mall, who recently partnered with mobile-first vertical streaming platform VURT<\/a> to help select filmmakers with distribution. <\/p>\n The festival also includes Mango Inn, which follows a mother navigating homelessness with her three children inside a West Palm Beach storage unit.<\/p>\n Presented by Florida Film House International, the three-day festival<\/a> also features hands-on workshops led by industry professionals, covering everything from cinematography to the businesses of distribution.<\/p>\n Mall told WLRN the in-person cinema experience is drawing an increasingly diverse crowd. <\/p>\n \u200a”A lot of people think the Urban Film Festival’s a Black film festival. And it, it does have a lot of Black content, but it’s inner city anywhere in the world,” Mall said. <\/p>\n “So you get these beautiful Caribbean films the Black diaspora of Haiti and Jamaica, and you also get the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans,” he added. <\/p>\n “You get all these amazing films and all these amazing filmmakers to come together and just celebrate cinema.”<\/p>\n The Urban Film Festival runs from September 4-6.<\/p>\n Last year, the festival \u2014 in partnership with Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Miami Downtown Development Authority, and Miami-Dade County \u2014 had \u200aits biggest year yet with “over 2,200 people registered at Silverspot Cinemas and over 5,000 attendees across the whole weekend,” Mall said. <\/p>\n Mall expects those numbers to continue rising since “momentum is growing organically.” <\/p>\n “And people do love and desire to see these type of films.”<\/p>\n IF YOU GO:<\/p>\n Friday, Aug. 29: Youth Empowerment celebration with the 1st Take Youth Film Program (hosted by Romeo Miller & Allen Maldonado) and the Welcome to Miami Celebration Party at Red Rooster. <\/p>\n Saturday, Aug. 30: Free masterclasses at Silverspot Cinema covering writing, producing, technology & AI, cinematography, acting, and directing \u2014 plus panel discussions with international sales reps and award-winning filmmakers. <\/p>\n Sunday, Aug. 31: Best of Urban Film Festival screenings, the Awards Ceremony at the Lyric Theater, and the Official After Party at Red Rooster.<\/p>\n Learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788419181_581_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n