Get ready for world-class culture, glitz and fun: the 30th annual Miami International Film Festival. This year, the festival is the U.S. premier for 117 feature-length films and 12 shorts from more than 40 countries. The film festival calendar plays out from March 1-10, at various Miami venues.

Diverse genres are represented in the list of films. Fans of political intrigue will enjoy No, an Oscar-nominated Chilean film about an advertising executive plotting against Chilean dictator Pinochet. If comedy’s your preference, try Mental, starring Toni Collette as a woman caring for five girls after their mother suffers a nervous breakdown. For goose bumps, watch the psychological thriller, Sanitarium, featuring Malcolm McDowell as a psychiatrist whose patients never get well.

The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) showcases Miami’s cultural diversity, vibrant international arts scene and spirit of renovation -- nowhere more evident than in Soho Studios’ own Wynwood neighborhood, a warehouse district turned arts center.

MIFF History

The MIFF is the crème de la crème of film festivals in Miami. The Film Society of Miami launched the event in 1984 to promote cultural understanding on a global stage.

Since 1989, the MIFF’s home has been the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, which began in 1926 as the lavish Olympia Theater. The center is one of six screening venues in 2013.

The MIFF awards cash prizes to films receiving the highest marks from judges. Filmmakers who don’t make that cut benefit nonetheless from international exposure.

Filmmakers from more than 60 countries have submitted their work to the MIFF since 1984. The 2012 festival attracted more than 70,000 people.

Other Events

Watching topnotch films is just one part of the MIFF experience. Strut your fashionista creds on Opening Night, at the DuPont Building, Miami’s famous Art Deco skyscraper. Three judges will scope out the crowd to find the best-dressed man and woman. Winners will receive a $1,200 gift certificate from Osklen boutique.

Or you can always sample the food and spirits at the Freedom Tower, site of the Pyrat Awards Night Party, while you learn which films won awards.