Motion Pictures

By Karina Valdes Bill Cosford was just a few credits away from earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami when he accepted a job at The Miami Herald in 1973. Having started as a copy editor, Bill grew to become a respected film critic for the newspaper, as well as a motion pictures professor at UM. At the age of 47, he passed away. Mary Cosford, Bill’s mother, sought a way for her son’s legacy to continue. She made a gift in memory of her late son to [...]

When Ed Talavera, associate professor in the Cinema and Interactive Media Department, approached his former student Ronnie Khalil about directing a feature film for the School of Communication’s Film in Greece summer study abroad program, neither of them had any intention of making an LGBT interracial vampire romance. Yet several unexpected turns shaped With a Kiss I Die into exactly that. UM alumna and assistant professor of screenwriting Barbara Leibell teamed up with alumnus James Orie to write a comedy about an immortal Juliet Capulet never dying, as she did in the original Shakespearean [...]

The University of Miami was named one of the top 50 film schools in the country by TheWrap Magazine. Jumping from number 38 in 2016 to number 27 in 2017, the motion pictures program was recognized for its immersive curriculum, experienced professors and successful alumni from the program and the University, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sylvester Stallone, Barry Waldman and David Nutter, Emmy-winning Game of Thrones director. TheWrap Magazine’s second annual ranking was revealed in September. The magazine selects the top 50 programs based on alumni involvement, alumni professional success, [...]

The Humphrey Bogart Film Noir Shorts Competition & Film Showcase returns to the University of Miami on Oct. 15 – 17 for its third annual student film competition. This year, for the first time, the competition is being expanded to all filmmakers, not just students. The fifth annual classic festival, which shows classic Bogart films, returns to Key Largo from Oct. 18 – 22.  The portion of the festival that takes place at the Cosford Cinema came from Ruth Reitan’s thesis project while she was completing her M.F.A. at the [...]

Bring your floaties this Sunday, Sept. 3, for a special screening of Disney’s The Little Mermaid at the UC Pool. The film will be projected on 35mm and is paired with a drag queen performance from Miss Toto and Persephone Von Lips.  The “dive-in” theater event is part of Flaming Classics, a film and drag performance series that is the brainchild of Trae DeLellis, Cosford Cinema manager and adjunct professor, and Juan Barquin, co-runner of Dim the House Lights and arts writer for Miami New Times. With every Flaming Classics screening [...]

A feature film comedy, Chateau Vato, recently completed principal photography. The story focuses on a family of impoverished Latinos who squat in a lavish Miami mansion and assume an upper class lifestyle.  Chateau Vato is bursting with physical comedy and memorable one-liners. It stars actor-comedian Paul Rodriguez (Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Ali), Elpidia Carrillo (Predator, Bread and Roses) and Patricia De Leon (Magic City, Men of a Certain Age). It is written and directed by Tom Musca (Stand and Deliver, Tortilla Soup).  The production survived the hottest July ever in the history of Florida. The crew [...]