The Miami Film Festival's fall edition, GEMS, starts Thursday, Oct. 29, and runs through Thursday, Nov. 5. The 13th GEMS carries 50 titles, which the festival says makes it the largest GEMS lineup it has programmed, and it pairs awards-season premieres with filmmaker appearances, conversations and tributes.

GEMS began in 2014 as a fall showcase at Miami Dade College's Tower Theater, under the name MIFFecito, with 10 red-carpet premieres over seven days. It took the GEMS name in 2015. The full Miami Film Festival returns in the spring, April 1 to 11, 2027.

Opening and closing nights

Opening night on Oct. 29 is A24's The Debut, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Julianne Moore plays Mona Friedman, a quiet housewife who lands a small part at a community theater, takes method acting to an extreme and goes to war with the show's director, played by Paul Giamatti. The musical comedy also features Halle Bailey, Bernadette Peters and Eisenberg himself, who wrote its music and lyrics.

The festival closes Nov. 5 with A24's Club Kid, the first feature Jordan Firstman has directed. Firstman also wrote it and stars as Peter, a New York club promoter whose life changes when a 10-year-old son he never knew about arrives. Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva and Kirby Howell-Baptiste co-star. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Centerpieces and Oscar submissions

The festival's centerpiece titles are Being Heumann, Behemoth!, Bunker, Elsinore, Paper Tiger and Wild Horse Nine. GEMS also gives a slot to films that countries have submitted for the international feature Academy Award, among them Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden, Lukas Dhont's Coward and Andrey Zvyagintsev's Minotaur. The programmers list Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh, James Gray, Pedro Almodóvar, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Mike Leigh, Siân Heder and Brad Bird among the directors with work in the lineup.

Tributes and guests

Variety will present John Turturro with its Creative Vanguard Award during a moderated conversation about his career and his new film, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, which screens at the festival.

Kyle MacLachlan, known for Blue Velvet, Dune, Twin Peaks, Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives, receives the festival's Precious Gem Award at a special event held with Books & Books to mark the release of his first memoir, Fictional Self.

For the 25th anniversary of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the festival will screen the rock musical and present an Impact Award to John Cameron Mitchell, its writer, director and star, followed by a Q&A. Mouse, from directors Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson, the team behind Ghostlight, screens with its filmmakers receiving the Art of Light Award; it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. The Spanish filmmaking duo Los Javis are also being honored this year.

Where it screens

The Miami Film Festival's screening venues include the Bill Cosford Cinema (5030 Brunson Drive) and the Coral Gables Art Cinema (260 Aragon Avenue) in Coral Gables, the Koubek Center (2705 SW 3rd Street) in Miami, O Cinema (1130 Washington Avenue) in Miami Beach, Silverspot Cinema (300 SE 3rd Street) and MDC Wolfson (300 NE 2nd Avenue) downtown, and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Each film's page on the festival site lists its own venue and time.

The Tower Theater, where GEMS started, is changing hands: Miami Dade College has said it will assume responsibility for the theater on Nov. 1, working with the City of Miami on the transition, and is planning work on its projection and screening technology, electrical systems, air conditioning and roof.

How to go

What: Miami Film Festival GEMS, 13th edition
When: Thursday, Oct. 29, through Thursday, Nov. 5
Where: Festival venues in Miami, Coral Gables and Miami Beach
Tickets: Individual tickets and passes through the festival's website, where the full program is browsable by date.

Sources