Not all sequels suck. Case in point: the Borscht Film Festival, which launches its ninth edition this week at venues across Miami.
The work coming out of the Borscht Corp. film collective has earned major accolades over the past several years. Bernardo Britto's Yearbook took home the Short Film Jury Award for animation at the last Sundance Film Festival, and this year two Borscht-produced shorts, Papa Machete and El Sol Como Un Gran Animal Oscura (The Sun Like a Big Dark Animal), will be screened at Sundance. Borscht has had a presence at that festival for five straight years now; films by the collective have also screened at SXSW, the Vienna International Film Festival, the Fantasia Film Festival, and others.
You can see all three films at the Borscht Film Fest's biggest event, Borscht 9, a screening of 29 short films at the Arsht Center this Saturday at 7:30. But plenty of other worthy pieces will show at a series of events taking place between this Wednesday and Sunday. The whole lineup looks like required viewing for anyone interested in Miami, or film, or Lou Gehrig, or stripper fights. Here are ten that look especially promising.