Miami Film Festival's GEMS program returns October 29 through November 5, bringing a 50-film lineup, a handful of starry career conversations, and anniversary screenings at venues scattered across the city. Kyle MacLachlan and John Turturro both headline this year's guest list, each set to receive a festival honor alongside a public conversation about their work.
According to Miami New Times, MacLachlan will receive the festival's Precious Gem Award on November 27 and discuss his memoir, Fictional Selves, in conversation with Rene Rodriguez — a pairing also confirmed in the festival's own program listing on miamifilmfestival.com. The Precious Gem Award is the festival's signature accolade, introduced in 2015, and past recipients have included actor Bob Odenkirk, per the festival's Precious Gem Award page.
Turturro, meanwhile, will receive the Creative Vanguard Award during a conversation on November 2, where he'll discuss his career and his latest film, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, which screens October 30, the report notes. The conversation is organized with Variety, and the festival's program page specifies the talk will be moderated by Variety's Ramin Setoodeh.
Opening and Closing Night Picks
The festival opens October 29 with The Debut, directed by Jesse Eisenberg and starring Julianne Moore, per the same Miami New Times report. Closing night on November 5 belongs to Club Kid, directed by and starring Jordan Firstman, which follows a burnt-out gay club promoter whose life is upended when he discovers he has a 10-year-old son he never knew about — a premise echoed in the festival's own program description of a New York City club promoter whose whirlwind lifestyle is interrupted by a previously unknown son.
Centerpiece slots this year go to four high-profile premieres out of other festivals. Behemoth!, a world-premiere centerpiece from the New York Film Festival directed by Tony Gilroy, stars Pedro Pascal as a concert cellist. Paper Tiger, also a New York Film Festival world premiere, comes from director James Gray and stars Adam Driver and Miles Teller. Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott, won the International People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, while Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, tells the story of CIA agents sent to Easter Island.
Anniversary Screenings and Honorary Awards
GEMS will mark two notable film anniversaries this year. Marie Antoinette gets a 20th-anniversary screening at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens on October 28, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch celebrates its 25th anniversary on November 9 with director-star John Cameron Mitchell appearing in person — the same appearance for which he'll receive the festival's Impact Award, according to Miami New Times.
Japan's official Academy Awards submission, All of a Sudden, from director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, also screens as part of the program; the film stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto and won a joint Best Actress prize at Cannes. The festival's own program notes describe it as Japan's official submission and the latest from Hamaguchi, aligning with the outlet's reporting.
A Spanish Duo's Reported Final Project
Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the filmmaking duo known as Los Javis, will receive the Variety Virtuoso Award alongside musician Guitarricadelafuente, the stage name of Alvaro Lafuente Calvo, with the trio appearing in conversation on November 4. The honor ties to La Bola Negra, an adaptation of an unfinished García Lorca novel spanning decades, starring Glenn Close and Penélope Cruz, which screens November 1. Miami New Times reports the film is said to be Los Javis' final project together as a duo, though that detail is attributed only as a reported detail rather than confirmed fact.
Other films in the broader lineup include Look Back, a live-action adaptation of a one-shot manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda; Ray Gunn, directed by Brad Bird; Iron Boy, directed by Louis Clichy; Tender Loving Care, described as Mike Leigh's final film; Bitter Christmas, directed by Pedro Almodóvar; and La Gradiva, the feature debut of director Marine Atlan, set amid the museums and ruins of Pompeii and Naples, Italy.
Where to Catch It Around Miami
Screenings are spread across several venues, including Coral Gables Art Cinema, the University of Miami's Cosford Cinema, the Koubek Center in Little Havana, and Silverspot Cinema Downtown. Notably absent this year is the Tower Theater, which will not host GEMS screenings while it undergoes renovation ahead of a planned reopening in January 2027.
Ticket prices for the festival range from $16.50 to $55, and festival members get discounts along with other perks, according to Miami New Times. The full schedule is posted at miamifilmfestival.com. WLRN frames the festival's return as the start of the fall movie season and an early stop on the awards-season circuit, organized by Miami Dade College.
