Miami is well known for its annual Miami International Film Festival. Once a year for 10 days in February, the Miami Film Society presents this internationally acclaimed event which premiers brilliant filmmaking from Hollywood and around the world. The 32-film festival has featured many avant-garde directors, including new-wave Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. It is held downtown in the ornate Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

During the rest of the year the Miami Beach Film Society continues to feed South Florida's hunger for cutting edge films with cinema-themed events in various venues around the city. For more information, call (305) 377-3456 or (305) 375-3000.

Other cinema events include the Jewish Film Festival, Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and the South Beach Festival. The Jewish Film Festival, sponsored by Florida International University, is held in December in different Miami Beach locations (call (305) 576-4030). In April the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is held at the Colony Theater on Lincoln Road and nearby venues (call (305) 534-9924). Also in April at the Colony Theater is the South Beach Festival, which showcases films ignored by the larger fests.

For more film options, check these out these venues:

Absinthe House Cinematheque
235 Alcazar Ave., Coral Gables
(305) 446-7144

This theater in the heart of wealthy Coral Gables shows art films.

Alliance Cinema
927 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach
Sterling Building, Suite 119
(305) 531-8504

Located in a nook off Lincoln Road Mall, this theater presents cutting edge independent movies and films for gay audiences. There are several midnight shows.

Astor Art Cinema
4120 Laguna St., Coral Gables
(305) 443-6777

This small theater highlights sophisticated independent and foreign films.

Tower Theater
1508 S.W. 8th St., at 15th Ave., Miami
No phone available

This Little Havana cultural landmark shows subtitled and Spanish language films.