The Borscht Corporation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates short films and videos in and about the city of Miami, Florida. In addition to hosting a quasi-annual film festival that screens their work, Borscht Corp. provides financial and technical support to its commissioned filmmakers.
Since receiving a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2010, Borscht Corp. has spearheaded productions by untested moviemakers and provided a creative platform for underrepresented (often Latin American) identities in film.
Borscht Film Festival
Borscht Corp. hosts a quasi-annual film festival in Miami that functions as a venue to share their work. Named one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by MovieMaker Magazine, the Borscht Film Festival has simultaneously been hailed as "the weirdest film festival on the planet."
Short films Borscht Corporation holds open calls asking for project ideas from artists from, living in, or inspired by Miami. They seek out both first-time filmmakers from the community and invite guest filmmakers to collaborate.
Twenty short films commissioned by Borscht Corp. have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, with two of them winning Jury Prizes.
In each of the 2016 and 2018 editions of Sundance, Borscht had four projects in competition.
Fourteen Borscht Corp short films have screened at SXSW Film Festival, with three winning jury prizes.
Eight Borscht Corporation short films have screened at AFI Fest, with three winning jury prizes.
Ten Borscht Corp short films have been acquired by The Criterion Collection and are streaming on The Criterion Channel.
As of 2018, Borscht Corp shorts have collectively won fifty-one awards at film festivals.
At least twenty-one Borscht Corp commissions have been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks.
Reception Borscht Corp. productions have seen media coverage from sites, television networks, and publications as varied as Art Papers, CBS News, Interview, The New Yorker and VICE.
Their work has screened at hundreds of venues worldwide, from the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York City to the AFI, Rotterdam International, Sundance, SXSW, Toronto International, Tribeca, and Venice Film Festivals.
In 2015, Borscht Corp. was the subject of two retrospectives: one at the CERN in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the Cineglobe International Film Festival, and another at the Independent Filmmaker Project's Media Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will host a Borscht Corp. retrospective in 2016.
Thirteen of Borscht Corp.'s core members and alumni—Bernardo Britto, Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer, Terence Nance, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, Barry Jenkins, Alex Lim Haas, Robin Comisar, Sam Kuhn, Faren Humes, Keisha Rae Witherspoon and Sebastián Silva—have been named to Filmmaker Magazine's annual list of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
Three were named to the New York Times' list of 20 Directors to Watch in 2013—Barry Jenkins, Terence Nance, and Sebastián Silva.
Awards
Borscht Corp. has received grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Creative Capital, and Time Warner OneFifty.
Bernardo Britto's animated shorts Places Where We Lived and Yearbook were both awarded the Animated Short Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Fest in 2013 and 2014, respectively. His short film Glove received the Animated Short Grand Jury Award at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival.
Britto's animated short Yearbook received the Short Film Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014.
Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva's (collectively Mayer\Leyva) short video Scenic Jogging was selected by the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice to be a part of their YouTube PLAY exhibition in 2010.
Mayer\Leyva's short films Life & Freaky Times of Uncle Luke and #PostModem were finalists for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 and 2013 Sundance Film Festivals. In 2015, Mayer\Leyva's web series NO SEASONS—produced in association with MTV—received a Webby Award for Outstanding Reality Series.
List of Borscht Corporation Short Films +Selected Borscht Corporation Short FilmsYearTitleDirector(s)SynopsisFestival PremiereNotesRef(s)2010Day N Night OutLucas LeyvaA young man is on the brink of spiritual and sexual self-discovery on the day his city is on the brink of destruction. The short film takes us on an odyssey through Miami on August 22, 1992, the day before Hurricane Andrew completely devastates the city.Cannes Film FestivalScreenplay by Tarell Alvin McCraney2010VelvetPeter GlanzConrad loves Beatrice while Beatrice loves herself. Velvet is the story of their relationship and the crushed velvet jacket that comes between them.Later adapted to AMC series The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks2010Scenic JoggingJillian MayerJillian Mayer goes for a jog.Guggenheim MuseumYouTube Play Bienniale2010XemolandDaniel CardenasThe story of a seven year-old boy who is led to believe there is a portal to an alternate reality where all his dreams come true. However, the boy quickly realizes that Xemoland is not the place of his dreams, but his nightmares.Sundance Film Festival 20112011Otto and the Electric EelDuncan Skiles, Andrew ZucheroMiami bass legend Otto Von Schirach battles to keep an inter-dimensional creature from ruining his dinner date.New Orleans Film Festival 20112011I Am Your GrandmaJillian MayerAn autobiographical video diary log (vlog) that Jillian Mayer records for her unborn grandchildren.SXSW Film Festival 20122011Reinaldo ArenasLucas LeyvaThe true story of the last few hours in the life of an unintentional immigrant, as told by a dying shark.Slamdance Film Festival 2012SXSW Film Festival 20122011ChlorophylBarry JenkinsAna is a young woman struggling to get over the last vestiges of a failed relationship.International Film Festival Rotterdam2011Play DeadThe Meza BrothersA zombie apocalypse unites a ragtag pack of dogs in the ruined streets of Miami. Immune to the epidemic, they must stick together to survive in the midst of ferocious undead and human survivors in this unauthorized sequel to Homeward Bound.Fantasia International Film Festival2012Life and Freaky Times of Uncle LukeJillian Mayer, Lucas LeyvaA modern Miami adaptation of the 1962 French short film La Jetee, the film recounts Uncle Luke's rise to fame as he changes the face of hip-hop and fights for first amendment rights- and later as he ushers Miami into a golden era of peace and prosperity as Mayor. Everything changes when the Turkey Point Nuclear Reactor has a meltdown.Sundance Film Festival 2012 Sundance Film Festival 2012 Jury Prize Nominee SXSW Film Festival 2012 Jury Prize Nominee AFI Film Festival 2012 Jury Prize Nominee Acquired by The Criterion Collection2012Miami 1996Nick CorirossiA found footage film from a Miami booty party gone horribly wrong.Online2012Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse!Christina Felisgrau, Ronnie Rivera (Bleeding Palm)The true story behind how the Miami Heat won the NBA title in 2012 despite one of their star players being an interstellar prince who was called away to do battle with evil foes bent on finally making the Internet completely useless.Online2012C#CKFIGHTJulian Yuri RodriguezA deconstructed adaptation of Dante's Inferno that takes place at a bath salt fueled fighting ring in Miami's underworld.Fantasia Film Festival 2013 Slamdance Film Festival 2014 San Antonio Cinefestival 2014 Jury Prize Winner Toulouse Extreme Cinema Festival 2014 Jury Award Winner2012When We Lived in MiamiAmy SeimetzFilmed during Hurricane Isaac, When We Lived in Miami is a hypnotic short about the lengths one woman will go to keep her family from falling apart.Vienna International Film Festival 2012 SXSW Film Festival 2013 Acquired by The Criterion Collection2013The Places Where We LivedBernardo BrittoA man wakes up with a weird feeling. His parents are selling his childhood home.SXSW Film Festival 2013 AFI Film Festival 2013 Jury Award Winner2013To Capitalist Poem #5Kayla DelacerdaAn adaptation of Campbell McGrath's poem "Capitalist Poem #5."2013Si Nos DejanCelia Rowlson-HallA love story told through bubble baths, Hollywood movies, interrupted fantasies, Mariachi songs, beachcombers, missed connections and Pamela Anderson.SXSW Film Festival 20132013#PostModemJillian Mayer, Lucas LeyvaA comedic satirical sci-fi pop-musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists. It's the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with the technological singularity, as told through as series of cinematic tweets.Sundance Film Festival 2013 Sundance Film Festival 2013 Jury Prize Nominee New York Film Festival 2013 SXSW Film Festival 2013 Jury Prize Nominee AFI Film Festival 2013 Jury Prize Nominee2014Sea DevilDean C. Marcial, Brett PotterAn American fisherman attempts to smuggle two Cuban immigrants into Miami, passing them off as day laborers. While the group trawls for shrimp, a fourth person boards the boat, carrying a secret at the bottom of the Ocean.Fantasia Film Festival 2014 Fantasia Film Festival 2014 Bronze Audience Award Winner Slamdance Film Festival 2015 Jury Prize Honorable Mention Acquired by The Criterion Collection2014The Coral Reef Are Dreaming AgainLucas LeyvaGregor and Harold, two corals living in the underwater remains of Miami, share their dreams with each other.with Coral Morphologic2014The Voice ThiefAdan JodorowskyA man goes on a surreal odyssey through Miami's psychedelic underworld in search of his wife's missing voice.l'Etrange Festival Paris 2014 l'Etrange Festival Paris 2014 Jury and Audience Award Winner Fantastic Fest 2014 Award Winner Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival 2014 Award Winner Rotterdam International Film Festival 2014 Acquired by The Criterion Collection2014YearbookBernardo BrittoA man is hired to compile the definitive history of human existence before the planet blows up.Sundance Film Festival 2014 Sundance Film Festival 2014 Jury Prize Winner AFI Film Festival 2014 Jury Award Winner Florida Film Festival, 2014 Jury Award Winner Eastern Oregon Film Festival 2014 Jury Award Winner Ashland Film Festival 2014 Jury Award Winner Nantucket Film Festival 2014 Jury Prize Winner Acquired by The Criterion Collection2015Papa MacheteJonathan David Kane200 years ago, the slaves of Haiti defeated Napoleon's armies in the historic revolution of 1791-1804. One of their weapons was the very tool they used to work the land: the machete. Papa Machete explores the esoteric martial art that evolved through this victory through the practice and life of a farmer named Alfred Avril. The short film documents his proud devotion to his heritage in the face of bitter poverty, and his efforts to keep this mysterious art alive.Sundance Film Festival 2015 Toronto International Film Festival 2015 Zanzibar International Film Festival 2015 Award Winner Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, 2015 Award Winner2015The Sun Like a Big Dark AnimalChristina Felisgrau, Ronnie Rivera (Bleeding Palm)A computer and a woman fall in love only to be torn apart because of their inappropriate feelings for each other.Sundance Film Festival 2015 New Orleans Film Festival 2015 Jury Award Winner AFI Fest 20152015All Your Favorite Shows!Danny MaddenShows and commercials and videos and more shows. That's all this kid sees and that's all he cares to see.SXSW Film Festival 2015 Futureshorts 2015 Audience Award Winner