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ABOUT

Miami’s platform for next-generation storytelling and creative technology.

EXPAND FLORIDA'S
CREATIVE ECONOMY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN ARTS.

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FilmGate exists to help creators move from idea to audience. Through festivals, labs, mentorship, and public programming, we support filmmakers, immersive artists, and creative technologists building new forms of culture in Miami and beyond.

THREE WAYS WE MOVE FLORIDA FORWARD.

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FESTIVALS

FilmGate Festival and the Interactive Media Festival — a platform for independent film and immersive work.

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THE CREATOR
STUDIO

The Feature Film Fellowship and New Narratives Lab develop writers, directors, and immersive storytellers.

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YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMS

Fusion at Frost Science, Machine Learning Mondays, WHY the Drama, Youth Filmmaker Bootcamp.

BUILT IN MIAMI, YEAR BY YEAR.

A condensed look at FilmGate Miami's growth from a grassroots filmmaker platform into a year-round home for film, immersive media, and creative technology.

2012

FOUNDED

Focused rooms, direct access to makers, and programs sized for conversation instead of anonymous volume.

2014–2016

BUILDING THE CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM

FilmGate expands year-round programming with workshops, labs, panels, and artist development initiatives across film, immersive media, animation, acting, and creative technology.

2019

NATIONAL RECOGNITION & EXPANSION

By its fifth edition, FilmGate Interactive has:

  • Presented 133 immersive projects

  • Hosted 59 workshops and labs

  • Featured 155+ creators

2021

ENTERING THE IMMERSIVE DOME ERA

FilmGate partners with Frost Science Museum and Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

2024

RESILIENCE & REINVENTION

Despite temporary displacement due to construction, FilmGate continues programming across Miami-Dade County.

2026

FILMGATE INTERACTIVE 12

FilmGate celebrates the 12th edition of FilmGate Interactive.

LOOKING AHEAD

2013

FILMGATE INTERACTIVE BEGINS

FilmGate rebrands as FilmGate Miami and receives the Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Award.

2017

DOWNTOWN MEDIA CENTER OPENS

Following a two-year fundraising effort, FilmGate opened the Downtown Media Center.

2020

REINVENTING DURING THE PANDEMIC

FilmGate pivots quickly into hybrid and virtual programming.

2022

A NEW CHAPTER

FilmGate secures a 25-year lease on a new 7,000 sq. ft. facility - The Downtown Media Center 2.0.

2025

COMMUNITY RECOGNITION

FilmGate Miami is voted “Best Festival” by Miami New Times readers and editors and also  Best of Florida by the Best of Florida poll.

2027

THE FEATURE FILM PIPELINE

Launch of FilmGate’s first locally supported feature productions through the Feature Film Fellowship and Film Fund initiative.

Expansion of global partnerships across Latin America, Europe, Asia, and immersive media markets.

2029

THE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY CAMPUS

Expansion of the Downtown Media Center into a larger multidisciplinary innovation campus.

2028

WORKFORCE & INNOVATION HUB

FilmGate becomes a statewide leader in creative workforce development across film, AI, XR, gaming, and digital storytelling.

2030

A GLOBAL CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM

FilmGate is recognized internationally as a premier hub for immersive storytelling, independent media innovation, and next-generation entertainment.

IMPACT. INNOVATION.
COMMUNITY.

14

YEARS OF BUILDING CREATIVE CULTURE IN MIAMI

10,000+

CREATORS SUPPORTED

30,000+

AUDIENCE ENGAGED

150+

PROGRAMS AND LABS

BUILT IN MIAMI. CONNECTED GLOBALLY.

THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE PLACE.

Diliana Alexander
Diliana Alexander
Diliana Alexander is the co-founder and Executive Director of FilmGate Miami, FilmGate Interactive, and the Downtown Media Center. An experienced creative and executive producer, she has collaborated with HBO, Netflix, Showtime, HGTV, CBC, and TLC, and led international co-productions. She has served as a speaker and juror at festivals including Tribeca, MUTEK, NewImages, and Miami Film Festival, and as a visiting professor at FIU and Broward College. She holds an MFA in Film Production and degrees in Economics and International Relations.
Segundo Correas
Segundo Correas
Segundo Correas is FilmGate Miami’s Technical Director. Since joining in 2020, he has played a key role in the planning, coordination, and technical production of FilmGate's festivals and programs, with a particular focus on immersive and interactive media. Originally from Mendoza, Argentina, Segundo has a background in 3D modeling and game development, bringing together creative and technical expertise to support innovative experiences and events.
Ava Abreu
Ava Abreu
Ava Abreu is a Florida-based film student currently studying at State College of Florida, with a focus in directing, graphic design, and technical theatre. Ava has done work on several productions in both film and theatre, ranging from directing and assistant directing, to production design, graphic design, and run crew. Her most recent work includes directing for her college’s play festival, and she is currently the graphic designer and production coordinator on the Cuban bilingual short film, El Pinero. Ava is grateful to be interning with Filmgate Miami and hopes to continue learning from the skilled artists around her.
Brian Stockwell
Brian Stockwell
Brian Stockwell is a current graduate student at FIU pursuing a Masters in Marketing with a bachelors degree in Marketing from UCF. Brian’s love for film stems all the way since he was a child, and his aim is to pursue a career in film marketing or production.
Jose Jacho
Jose Jacho
Jose Jacho is the co-founder of Filmgate Miami and the Downtown Media Center. He is an out-of-the box thinker and creator, who seeks to establish and maintain South Florida as legitimate location for advancing the arts with the aid of technology
Belen Cartajena
Belen Cartajena
Belen Cartajena is a 24 year old Chilean-American creative, pursuing a career in film directing and screenwriting.
Isabella Aybar
Isabella Aybar
Isabella is a marketing student with a passion for film, music, and art. As someone who loves painting and expressing herself creatively, she enjoys exploring new ways to bring her artistic vision to life. she combines her love for traditional art with digital creativity and visual storytelling.
Sophia Milanes
Sophia Milanes
Sophia is a Public Relations, Advertising and Applied Communications major with a Certificate in Film Studies at Florida International University. With a passion for film, she has conducted formal research on the influence of film on young adults and coordinated corporate tours for fellow students with entertainment industry organizations such as Content HQ and FilmGate Miami. Sophia is personable, passionate about building connections and always excited to meet new people in Miami’s film community.
Nacey "Ace" Fernandez
Nacey "Ace" Fernandez
Nacey “Ace” Fernandez (she/her) is a Miami native with a Cuban background. She is a UCF graduate with a Bachelor’s in Film. As an avid social activist and queer AfroLatine woman, she is passionate about equality, justice, and social reform. Nacey plans to use her platform in the film industry to educate others about dynamics between groups of people from different walks of life. Fun fact: Nacey started interning with FilmGate back in 2015!
Maya Victoria Rego
Maya Victoria Rego
Maya Victoria Rego is a Miami Native and a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a BA in Communication, double minor in Professional Writing and Film, TV, & Digitial Media. Her love and passion of film developed as a child and blossomed even further while pursuing her degree in Los Angeles. Her work is largely centered on performing art management, specifically in the film and music spaces. She is fluent in English and Spanish, with intermediate French proficiency after spending a year working in Paris following her college graduation.
Nina Ramirez
Nina Ramirez
Nina Ramirez is an intern for Email Outreach. She began to act on her love for writing and film by publishing movie reviews for her high school newspaper. Afterwards, she continued to pursue her passions by graduating from FIU with a bachelor’s in digital communications. There, she was able to have her articles published on Caplin News, Biscayne Times and The Miami Herald. She’s since worked on many productions as a production assistant and actress.
Spencer Guevara
Spencer Guevara
Spencer Guevara is an Art and Tech major student currently attending New World School of the Arts. He is passionate about the fine arts within animation and film technologies with a little gaming on the side.

THE PEOPLE
KEEPING US ACCOUNTABLE.

Lindsay Grace
Lindsay Grace
Lindsay is an awarded game designer, developer, author and professor. He is the Knight Chair, Professor and Director of the Master of Fine Arts in Interactive Media at the University of Miami School of Communication. He is Vice President for the Higher Education Video Game Alliance and the 2019 recipient of the Games for Change Vanguard award. Lindsay has curated a variety of international events including The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s SAAM Arcade, the 20th Games for Change Festival, and others. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 books, articles and papers and consults for government and non-profit organizations aiming to employ playful media to solve real word problems.
Pedro Menocal
Pedro Menocal
Pedro is a legal, business, and strategic advisor with 20 years’ experience representing clients, big and small, from all over the world. He represents both domestic and international clients in a number of industries, primarily private equity, software and technology, media and entertainment, and healthcare.
James Powderly
James Powderly
James Powderly is an award-winning technology designer known for inventing tools to empower artists to augment the world. His vision and designs have made a broad cultural and engineering impact with acknowledged contributions in digital art, open source and augmented reality technology. His work can be found in the permanent collection of MoMA, in Snapchat's hardware products and on the surface of Mars. James is the most recent member to join the board at Filmgate Miami. His focus is on identifying and supporting a diverse cohort of creators innovating at the intersection of cryptoart and emerging tech like generative AI and augmented reality.
Joel Krieger
Joel Krieger
Joel is an executive creative leader with over two decades’ of multidisciplinary design experience. Throughout his career, Joel’s work has played at the emergent edge of technology, design, and story. With one foot in the commercial design world, the other is firmly rooted in regenerative design and development — helping to reimagine our relationship to Earth and to the more-than-human world.

FILMGATE
IN THE NEWS.

Miami’s Diliana Alexander Named Among the “100 Women of Culture” in Paris

LATEST

Miami’s Diliana Alexander Named Among the “100 Women of Culture” in Paris

FilmGate Miami co-founder honored at the Palais de Tokyo by a jury chaired by the Getty Trust’s Katherine Fleming and including Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan and filmmaker Mati Diop

PARIS — October 12, 2026 — Diliana Alexander, Executive Director and Co-Founder of FilmGate Miami, has been named one of the 100 Women of Culture 2026, an honor presented by the French nonprofit Women of Culture (Femmes de Culture). She was recognized today at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, in the presence of French Minister of Culture Catherine Pégard.

Our Policies

FilmGate Miami is committed to creating safe, inclusive, and accessible spaces for artists, participants, partners, and community members. Please find our key organizational policies and governing documents below.

Safeguard Policies

Equal Opportunities Policy

Governing Docuement

FILMGATE - DOWNTOWN MEDIA CENTER |  168 SE 1ST STREET, 4TH FLOOR, MIAMI, FL 33131
(305) 916-6973  |  INFO@FILM-GATE.ORG

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