MDC’s Miami Film Festival photo
Audio By Carbonatix
Downtown Miami’s Olympia Theater opened nearly a century ago as a silent movie theater, but it was never intended to be this quiet. The Mediterranean Revival building, with its painted ceiling resembling a night sky with twinkling stars, is a marvel on the National Register of Historic Places, but after years of sparse use and disrepair under city management, fears have mounted that the theater could one day go dark for good.
The Miami Film Festival has temporarily eased those fears with its announcement that the historic venue will reopen for screenings next month, including the festival’s opening- and closing-night films, Meet the Barbarians and On Swift Horses.
The Olympia – thought to be the first-ever air-conditioned building in the South – is one of Miami’s most unique architectural landmarks. But the venue has seen little action since its Board of Directors handed over the keys to the City of Miami in 2020 under financial pressure exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Save for a Lego-themed installation in early 2024 and a Van Gogh immersive experience in 2023, the theater has languished for the better part of five years. Last year, WLRN profiled the venue and traced its decline as part of the four-part “Culture of Neglect” series.
“It’s safe to occupy. It just doesn’t have a clean bill of health,” Andrew Frey, director of the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management (DREAM), which manages the venue, told WLRN at the time. Indeed, scaffolding and even cracks have been observed on the theater’s facade in recent years. It remains to be seen what kind of conditions guests will encounter when they attend the festival next month, but organizers are excited.
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“Bringing the Miami Film Festival back to the Olympia Theater feels like the perfect way to honor Miami’s rich cinematic and cultural heritage,” James Woolley, executive director of the Miami Film Festival, tells New Times. “There’s an undeniable magic to this space between its history, its beauty, and the way it transports audiences the moment they step inside. We can’t wait for filmmakers and audiences to experience the festival in such a legendary setting.”
