Jaie Laplante: Executive Director of Miami Film Festival in 12th year

Jaie Laplante has directed the Miami Film Festival since 2010 and co-directed programming. Over a decade he has been able to bring the best of the film industry to South Florida. 

But his story in the film industry dates back farther. “I had been very interested in film at a very young age and knew from the age of 11 that that’s what I wanted to do with my career,” he said. “By the time I was 14 years old, I had gotten a job with a city newspaper, being a film critic for my small-town newspaper in Canada, so from the age of 14 until 26 years I was a film critic, and I wrote two columns a week about movies.” 

When the time came, he moved to Toronto to study Film at York University. When he graduated, Mr. Laplante worked on short films, and eventually he landed in Miami. “[I] really want to make sure that the artists that I really cared about, that were making cinema and that I really thought was interesting, would connect with an audience, find that audience because that’s the communication process,” he said. 

His first job in Miami was at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, then he worked for the Miami Short Film Festival, and later he became director of the Miami International Film Festival in 2010. The year after that he also took over the Tower Theater for Miami Dade College, and since then he has been running the facility. 

Mr. Laplante works year-round selecting the best films to be displayed at the Miami Film Festival, taking place through March 11. Every year over 1,500 movies are submitted, and selection begins. 

“It takes a whole year to go through them all, to really respect them all and to watch them carefully and fairly consider them before we make our final decision,” he said. 

This year more than 120 films from more than 35 countries are being presented at Miami Dade College’s Tower Theater Miami, the Silverspot Cinema and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. 

Jaie Laplante spoke with Miami Today reporter Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow. 

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