Film at FIU
Written by Jessica Reales and Ana Duque
Miami is a city rich in culture and diversity, a “melting pot” if you will. Every corner turned is a new culture and a new experience waiting to happen. As our beautiful city grows, so do all the ways we are able to spotlight it and show its beauty to the world, and what better way to do that than with film?
In Miami, the film industry is growing and has been for quite some time. At Florida International University (FIU), where the film industry is most prominent within Florida, the most we are offered is a certificate with a scarcity of classes and professors. Yet other universities in the state have film programs, University Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, even University of Central Florida. We weren’t able to find any data to show how many students would have made the choice to major in film at FIU if the opportunity had been presented to them.
At FIU, we have such a multifaceted city around us where people come to film stories about their experiences, old or new, yet in one of the major universities in Miami, they do not offer the same resources to explore the non-news related and creative aspects of storytelling to the same extent as they do journalism.
From 2017 to 2018, there was over $1 billion spent on productions for film and television shows in Florida, and over 60% of the projects were in Miami. In 2017, Moonlight won the the most prestigious film award, the Oscar for Best Picture, telling the story of the life of a man who grew up here, in Liberty City.
Other acclaimed movies and shows filmed in Miami are Chef, One Night in Miami, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Bird Cage, and of course, Miami Vice. How, in a city that is portrayed so honestly in films and TV, will one of the most important universities in the city not show its appreciation to the art by offering their students the opportunity to earn a degree in film?
In order to get more insight on the opportunities that FIU provides their students in obtaining a film degree, we reached out to Daniel Mitan, a theater and film professor at Florida International University. He states, “I feel that since FIU doesn’t officially offer Film as a major, students really interested in that would’ve selected a different school.” Students that want to study film have to choose between paying a substantial sum of money to attend the University of Miami, or leaving the cultural and film hub that is Miami for a different public university that is able to offer them a Film major opportunity, but have to give up a city that is one of a kind.
Miami, both culturally and creatively has so much to offer students and only continues to grow. We don’t know how many students would have made the choice to major in film at FIU because the opportunity has not been presented to them. It is clear that if given the chance, both FIU students and the institution would highly benefit from the creative opportunities presented by this city and its people.
