$100,000 Goes To Six Miami-Dade Filmmakers For Stories About Local History

Margaret Cardillo now has $50,000 to put toward her feature-length documentary about local television’s Jane Chastain, who was the first female sports anchor in the United States at Miami’s WTVJ.

Cardillo received the largest prize of a combined total of $100,000 given to six Miami-based documentary filmmakers in the inaugural The Louies awards. The Miami Film Festival, presented by Miami-Dade College introduced the awards, an initiative sponsored by the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation, in September of 2024.  Announcements of the six winners was on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Two of the films will premiere at the 2025 Miami Film Festival in April; the others will debut at future festival editions.

To be considered for funding, applicants needed to be permanent residents of Miami-Dade County and to apply for the $50,000 feature documentary award, the filmmaker had to have a completed short documentary under their belt. Short documentary applicants, who received $10,000 each, could be first-time directors, but needed to have experience working on a short film and have received credit for their work on the film.

Margaret Cardillo received $50,000 to help produce her feature-length documentary about WTVJ female sportscaster Jane Chastain. (Photo courtesy of the filmmaker and Miami Film Festival)

The sponsors of The Louies are the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation, founded by the Wolfson family, who established Miami’s first TV station, WTVJ.

“When I discovered Jane’s story as the first woman to discuss sports on television, it immediately captivated me,” said Cardillo. “While it’s certainly a pioneering ‘first female’ narrative, complete with the familiar challenges of harassment, disrespect, and ultimate triumphs, this story takes unexpected turns that will surprise audiences,” said Cardillo about her documentary “Jane Chastain: The Untold Story of the Nation’s First Female Sportscaster.”

Cardillo, who grew up in Naples, Fla., and currently lives in Coconut Grove, said that the landscape of modern television sports coverage was fundamentally shaped by Chastain and television producer Bernie Rosen and their innovative work at WTVJ in Miami during the late 1960s.

“Yet somehow, this pivotal figure in broadcasting history has been largely forgotten — and that’s a mystery worth exploring,” she said, adding the grant money will help her “continue bringing this vision to fruition and for a filmmaker, there’s nothing more meaningful.”

Short documentary winners, who receive $10,000 each, are Symone Titania Major for “Under the Mango Tree,” Gina Ann Margillo for “Night Train Last Stop,” and Jayme Kaye Gershen for “Adult Night: A Super/Hot Wheels Doc.” Two other filmmakers received $10,000 as “Finishing Funds” to assist in completing their films. They are Rachelle Salnave, whose film “Dual Citizen” is about Haitian-American identity, and Emilio Oscar Alcade’s “El Sonido de Miami,” which traces the evolution of Miami’s signature Latin music sound, a fusion of Cuban and American influences.

Symone Titania Major will use funds from her The Louies award for her short film “Under the Mango Tree,” which explores a family’s deep connection to a mango tree in Goulds. (Photo courtesy of the filmmaker and Miami Film Festival)

For Major and her film about one family’s connection to a mango tree in Goulds, funding and support has to do with preservation, says the filmmaker who grew up in the town of Goulds — preserving stories and history. “For generations, there have been oral stories of the agriculture community within Goulds, a Miami town that is rich in African-American History,” she said, adding that it has “yet to be archived, studied, and highlighted.”

The grant also gives filmmakers access to the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College, which is a repository of more than 35,000 hours of video and film chronicling Florida’s history.

“Access to the Wolfson Archives will help me reference significant moments that coincide with the stories recalled by members in the Goulds community,” said Major.

Gershen focuses her lens on a Miami roller skating rink in southwest Miami and the documentary will capture the culture of the Miami icon and the community, according to the filmmaker.

Jayme Kaye Gershen received $10,000 to assist with her short documentary “Adult Night: A Super/Hot Wheels Doc,” a film capturing the culture of an iconic Miami roller rink. (Photo courtesy of the filmmaker and Miami Film Festival)

“For me, the message is about harmony. Go roller-skating on any given Monday night and you will see so many kinds of skaters; speed skaters, newbies, jam skaters, groups moving in sync, and solo groovers, each doing their own thing in their own way while existing in this one space . . . I want audiences to feel a bit nostalgic, to relate with Miami’s skate culture, and really, to just be mesmerized because every time I walk through the doors of the rink, that’s how I feel,” said Gershen, a North Miami resident, who began crafting her story about the rink when it was on the brink of closing in 2024.

Access to the archives, she said, will give her a chance to “dig into the history of the rink.”

Ted Grossman, host of WLRN-FM radio’s “The Night Train” program retired in 2024 after 50 years on the air, and is the subject of the documentary “Night Train Last Stop.”

“I want people to be inspired by Ted’s dedication to music and community,” said Margillo of North Miami. She said she hopes her film, when finished, will have audiences “questioning assumptions about aging, laugh and learn some Yiddish.” Some of the grant money will assist Margillo in getting rights to music that is necessary to tell the story. There has been a kinship she’s developed in researching the documentary. “Ted’s community, which I became a part of, had big expectations about the project and I didn’t want to let anyone down,” said Margillo, who is also a writer for artburstmiami.com. “I was so relieved to have the funds to complete the film.”

Rachelle Salnave, shown at left during a film shoot, says the funds will help her complete a project she’s been dedicated to. “Dual Citizen” is humorous and heartfelt exploration of Haitian-American identity and the journey to reclaim Haitian citizenship. (Photo courtesy of the filmmaker and Miami Film Festival)

Before even becoming aware of the grant, Salnave said she had put years of hard work and dedication into “Dual Citizen,” a film that she describes is a humorous and heartfelt exploration of Haitian American identity and the journey to reclaim Haitian citizenship. Salnave, who splits her time between Miami’s Overtown neighborhood and Jacmel, Haiti, says the financial support is essential for her to tell what she says is a deeply personal story.

“The grant is a lifeline that gives me the resources to focus on completing the film with the depth, nuance, and polish it deserves,” said Salnave. When she found out she had been selected for the grant, she said that there was a mix of emotions: relief, excitement, gratitude, and then a moment of reflection. “(It) brings me one step closer to amplifying an important conversation about identity, family, and connection to Haiti.”

The second documentary to receive finishing funds also deals with identity. “El Sonido de Miami” is a “love letter to the Cuban immigrants who were trying to find their place in Miami, trying to assimilate to American culture, all while maintaining their roots,” said Alcalde, who was born in Havana, Cuba, and spent part of his childhood in Stockholm, Sweden, where he said his father was a diplomat. The family moved to Miami in 1998.

Emilio Oscar Alcade’s “El Sonido de Miami,” traces the evolution of Miami’s signature Latin music sound, a fusion of Cuban and American influences. (Photo courtesy of the filmmaker and Miami Film Festival)

“The music developed is a fusion of cultures that could only happen in Miami. It comes from the struggle of trying to keep your culture in a new country. And the importance of being in a city that allowed for immigrants to create a home away from home.”

Four filmmakers, Gaspar González, Kareem Tabsch, Matt Deblinger and Sasha Wortzel, received Special Jury Mentions and will each receive a stipend and complimentary use of the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives to complete their projects.

“The Louies will ensure that South Florida’s stories are told, remembered and cherished,” said Randi Wolfson Adamo, trustee of the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation.

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