From February 20 via March 1, 2026, the Fort Lauderdale Worldwide Movie Competition returns for its fortieth yr, reworking theaters throughout Broward County into phases for unbiased movie, worldwide premieres, and the type of intimate storytelling that rewards consideration. For a metropolis extra typically outlined by waterfront glamour and new-build skylines, FLIFF presents one thing extra enduring: a seat at the hours of darkness and a purpose to remain there.
Based in 1986, the competition has developed into one of many nation’s longest-running cinematic gatherings, anchoring a lot of its programming on the Broward Heart for the Performing Arts and beloved arthouse venues all through the area. Through the years, it has cultivated a fame for pairing international voices with homegrown expertise — and this yr’s South Florida shorts underscore precisely why that issues.
Among the many most anticipated native entries is (Nearly) A Star, a 16-minute English-language drama set in Broward County. Directed by Keilah Ayum and written and produced by Macy Jahoda, the movie follows a younger dancer pressured to decide on between her creative ambition and the roof over her head. It’s a decent, emotionally charged portrait of artistic pursuit colliding with financial actuality — a theme that resonates far past the rehearsal studio. Jahoda additionally stars, alongside Sharon Stephen, in what guarantees to be a efficiency rooted in vulnerability moderately than spectacle.
Then there’s License, a seven-minute Boca Raton comedy that proves brevity can sharpen a punchline. Written, directed, and produced by Harris Sebastian, the movie facilities on George — a self-described “brief king” — whose minor site visitors cease spirals into absurdity when a police officer discovers he’s lied about his peak on his driver’s license. Pedro Caballero performs George reverse Sebastian’s Officer Callahan, with Carissa Castillo-Richard because the aptly named Cat Girl. The premise is delightfully easy; the escalation, reportedly something however.
Within the documentary class, Foreverglading — winner of the competition’s South Florida Showcase — presents a special type of intimacy. The nine-minute portrait follows mural artist Rey Jaffet as he collaborates with the Miccosukee tribe and native skate communities to create a mural on a reservation skatepark within the Everglades. Set towards one among Florida’s most politically and environmentally charged landscapes, the movie explores the intersection of artwork, tradition, and conservation. It’s as a lot about place as it’s about paint.
And for individuals who admire their satire served dry, Salt! delivers eight minutes of escalating chaos inside a superb eating institution. When a diner named Vinny asks for salt, what begins as a easy request rapidly balloons into a world incident. Directed by Shay Thurmon and written and produced by Jonathan Schwartz, the comedy stars Wendy Melkonian, Vinny Verelli, and Bernard Fieré. If the logline is any indication, it’s a pointy send-up of culinary preciousness and the delicate theater of hospitality.
Collectively, these shorts seize what FLIFF has all the time completed effectively: elevate the native with out shrinking its ambition. The competition’s programming stretches from worldwide options to pupil movies, from documentaries that interrogate tradition and politics to comedies that expose the absurdities of on a regular basis life. But it’s the regional showcase that always lingers longest, revealing the artistic present working simply beneath the floor of South Florida.
FLIFF’s return annually feels much less like a red-carpet spectacle and extra like a civic ritual. Filmmakers linger after Q&As. Audiences debate interpretations over late dinners on Las Olas. Strangers emerge from theaters bonded, briefly, by a shared emotional expertise. In a cultural second dominated by streaming queues and distracted viewing, the act of sitting nonetheless collectively feels quietly radical.
As Fort Lauderdale continues to redefine itself — sharpening its arts scene as confidently as its skyline — FLIFF stands as each witness and catalyst. Forty years in, it stays proof that critical cinema can thrive by the ocean, and that a few of the most compelling tales are unfolding not in Hollywood, however proper right here in Broward County.
The lights will dim quickly. Fort Lauderdale, as soon as once more, is prepared for its close-up. fliff.com
