"It was magical and it was improbable, but just like the journey of Borscht, both that week and over the past decade, it somehow made perfect sense. Independent filmmaking won. Miami won. Moonlight won. Of course they did." - Newsweek

#MIAMIONTOP

In case you didn't hear, we won the damn Oscar.

They renamed a street in Liberty City "Moonlight Way."

Tomorrow afternoon in Miami, the filmmakers will receive the keys to the city, in a big ceremony you can all attend.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Two boys from Liberty City representing the 305" weren't supposed to shout out our city from the top of the film world, from the Oscar stage.

The voice of Chris Bosh's father isn't supposed to have two Academy Award.

Miami isn't supposed to be home to the "most conceptually bold film festival of its era," or the "titans of the American short film scene" with an unprecedented streak of 7 years in a row competing at Sundance.

Our heroes are supposed to be rappers and druglords. Miamians are supposed to stand in line for clubs, not cultural events. Our parades and parties are for ballplayers, not independent filmmakers.

But here we are. #AllLifeIsReal , as we've been saying. At the end of the first cycle of Borscht, what started as an impossible mission to "redefine cinema in Miami" has been realized in a very big way.

In five short years, thanks to the support of all of you and the Knight Foundation (with a big assist from Cinereach and OneFifty this year), Borscht has become "the center of a vibrant and visionary filmmaking community in Miami."

But this is just the beginning.

Since our festival ended in February, we haven't been able to catch our breath.

Our projects and filmmakers have been traveling the world,

• Exhibiting at MoMA PS1
• Screening at SXSW
• Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival
• and for the first time ever, a Borscht supported short (Mobiüs by Sam Kuhn, which you may have caught at Borscht 9.5) is one of only nine short films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival Critic's Week. Yes, the real Cannes, not the bobo Short Film Corner. 

Not to mention Kendall's own Meza Brothers, who have gone from pretending to make Evil Dead movies in their backyards to currently being in New Zealand where they are directing the new season of Ash vs. Evil Dead for Starz, all without ever leaving Kendall.