The Miami Latin Film Festival was created in 1996 as a non-profit organization and under the name of Miami Hispanic Film Festival. In June 2001, the French-Hispanic Film Festival, annually organized by the French Consulate in Miami, decided to join the Miami Hispanic Film Festival. Consequently, the organization changed its name to Miami Latin Film Festival. This change allows the festival to include French, Italian, and Portuguese movies in its repertoire in addition to the Latin American and Spanish films it has previously presented in Miami.

Besides promoting movies in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French, the Miami Latin Film Festival also fulfills an educational function. As parallel activities, the festival annually offers academic conferences and symposia presented by specialists on topics related to the movie industry and the development of Latin people in USA.

To serve as an open door for Latin films in the USA, the Miami Latin Film Festival also acts as a liaison between the movie production industry and the massive distribution market. In this sense, the organization runs MERCAVISION with a complete archive of films presented in the festival. Production companies are able to offer their films for sale.

The Miami Latin Film Festival also helps to promote American movies in Miami. With the Festival's cooperation, companies such as Samuel Goldwyn Films and Venevision International have screened the movies "Tortilla Soup," "The Art of Dying," "The Count of Montecristo," "Lilo & Stich," "Santa Claus 2," "The Book of the Jungle 2," etc.

Currently, the Miami Latin Film Festival represents one of the most important cultural events in South Florida. It has a unique ability to satisfy Floridians desire to view Latin films. The success the festival has achieved is due to:

Strong position in national and international media.
Management team.
Leadership position in the world of festival production.
Support it receives from sponsors and other non-profit organizations.
Extensive and organized volunteer team.

The VIII Miami Latin Film Festival will take place April 16-25, 2004. Movies will be screened from 6:00 pm to closing (midnight).