“Chico & Rita” to Open Internationally-Oriented 2011 Miami Film Festival

Fernando Trueba’s animated musical “Chico & Rita” will open the 28th Miami International Film Festival. This year’s festival will have four world and international premieres along with fifteen North American and U.S. Premieres.The films are all divided across MIFF’s three principal categories: the Ibero-American competition, the “Doc-You-Up” Program and the DOX Competition and the World Competition.

Highlights from the competition include a strong core of documentary films. Oscar winners James Marsh (“Man on Wire”) and Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”) will present their respective new films, “Project Nim” and “Magic Trip.” Miami audiences will also get a chance to see new work from Oscar-nominees Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) and Marshall Curry (“If a Tree Falls”). James’s “The Interrupters” and Curry’s “If a Tree Falls” add to the strength of a documentary section that will also offer a seminar from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Fiction films will also have a strong representation at the Festival. MIFF’s internationally-focused programming is apparent with the inclusion of Zhang Meng’s “The Piano in a Factory,” Sebastian Hiriart’s “A Stone’s Throw Away,” and “Jean Gentil” from filmmakers Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas.

Danish director Sussane Bier will be receiving the Festival’s Career Achievement Tribute on March 6. Bier’s latest film, “In a Better World,” won the award for the Best Foreign Film at this year’s Golden Globes.

“Dreams are a key theme of MIFF 2011, starting with our 2011 official image from photographer Stian Roenning,” said MIFF Executive Director Jaie Laplante. “The directors of these films are a true ‘dream team’ of cinematic artists. Their works will bestow a wizardly enchantment on this year’s Miami Film Society members and MIFF ticket buyers.”