South Florida's Best Film Weekend Is Back —And It's Never Been Bigger
- Mar 19
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 20
The 2026 South Florida Film Forum returns to MAD Arts on March 28–29, bringing Sung Kang, FOX, Blumhouse, and 40+ speakers to your backyard for a weekend that could reshape the region's creative future.
In a creative community that runs on hustle, the hardest thing to come by isn't talent — it's access. The South Florida Film Forum exists to fix that. And this year, it's the most stacked it's ever been.
They say the film industry is all about who you know. For South Florida filmmakers, that adage has long felt more like a barrier than a blueprint. Too much talent has watched projects get greenlit in Atlanta, New York, or Los Angeles while Broward County's stunning locations, diverse communities, and deep production roots sat underutilized. The 2026 South Florida Film Forum — presented by WEG Films in partnership with Film Lauderdale and Broward County — is the event that's been quietly dismantling that story, one connection at a time.
The Forum didn't happen overnight. Film Lauderdale's Sandy Lighterman first envisioned bringing Global Hollywood decision-makers to Broward County through an established festival partnership — but when that path closed, a conversation with WEG Films founder Ron Baez opened a better one.
Together, they realized that combining Film Lauderdale's industry relationships with WEG's creative network could produce something the region had never seen. Convincing Broward County administration to back the vision took two years of groundwork — starting in 2023 — before the first Forum ever opened its doors. It is now a signature event for the county, made possible by the financial support of the Broward Board of County Commissioners, with Commissioner Steve Geller leading the charge for the industry.
It's Already Working
The most compelling argument for the Forum isn't a vision statement — it's what's happened since last year's event. A producer who participated as a panelist in 2025 was so moved by the experience that he brought his next project to Broward County. That project is currently a $10 million film shooting here right now. Commercials, smaller feature films, and other productions have followed — all traceable back to relationships formed at the Forum.
Lighterman is direct about what makes the Forum unlike anything else in the state: "There is no event, to this scale, to this level of decision-makers in South Florida — nor dare I say the entire state." That's not hyperbole. It's a gap the Forum was specifically designed to fill, and it's filling it.
A Room Where Hollywood Meets Home
This year's speaker lineup is unlike anything the Forum has assembled before. Sung Kang — best known as Han from the Fast & Furious franchise — joins as a featured speaker alongside producer Brian Yang for an inside look at their new independent film Drifter, a gritty underdog story shot with real drift racing athletes that's a testament to what independent filmmakers can pull off when authenticity is non-negotiable. Executives from FOX, Blumhouse, Warner Bros., Amazon MGM Studios, and Disney are also among the 40+ speakers in attendance — the kind of room that would normally require a flight to Los Angeles to get into.
According to Eddy Moon, head of programming at WEG Films, the prestige of names is almost secondary to the spirit speakers bring. The Forum spends months searching for industry leaders who work on content local audiences love — but who also believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. "Gatekeeping is a prevalent part of the world of Film & TV," Moon explained. "We work hard to find speakers who love to be honest, and love to help the next generation of storytellers on their way up."
There is no event, to this scale, to this level of decision-makers in South Florida — nor dare I say the entire state.— Sandy Lighterman, Film Lauderdale
Of the 40+ speakers, over half are South Florida-based filmmakers and actors working at the highest levels — proof that the Forum isn't just importing voices, but putting local talent exactly where they belong: on the main stage.
The Full Weekend: What to Expect
With simultaneous programming across three rooms — The Lab, The Studio, and The Workshop — the Forum is built to serve everyone from a first-year actor trying to land their first audition to a seasoned producer looking for financing connections.
Beyond the Panel: Six Workshops Built for Doing
One of the clearest evolutions of the Forum is its growing slate of hands-on workshops — a direct response to audience feedback asking for more "learning by doing." These aren't Q&As with a moderator. They're immersive sessions where you leave with a skill, not just an inspiration.
Eddy Moon is particularly excited about two of them, for reasons that say something meaningful about which departments the industry tends to overlook. On the costume side, Logan Moises leads a tactile deep-dive into aging and distressing wardrobe. On the sound side, Dan Abrusci covers both on-set dialogue capture and post-production design, treating audio not as an afterthought but as a creative weapon. "The costume and sound departments never get the love they deserve," Moon said — and this year's Forum is doing something about it.
Rounding out the workshops: Vivian Rubio flips the script for directors in an acting session; veteran line producer Andy Schefter (credits include Empire and Bully) breaks down scheduling as a logic puzzle; Eric "Hollywood" Corbin gets hands-on with practical horror VFX; and writer Peter Mir runs a writers' room simulation focused on the actual mechanics of comedy.
Broward County: The Advantage You Haven't Used Yet
For Film Lauderdale, the Forum is both a megaphone and a proof of concept. Lighterman's message — that Broward County and its 28 municipalities make up the most film-friendly area in Florida — gets amplified every time a decision-maker lands here and sees it firsthand. In the days leading up to the Forum, Lighterman hosts a private fam tour for participating executives, including last year's boat tour that showcased Broward's locations up close. "I get four days to hammer home what we have to offer," she said. "We have a captured audience."
The message she hammers home: Broward has the crew base, the creative talent, the diverse locations, and the incentives to make any project not just possible — but advantageous. That reframe, from liability to advantage, is the cultural shift the Forum is actively working to cement, one visiting producer at a time.
A high-powered studio executive told me he was blown away by the level of talent we have locally. He equated South Florida with Austin's film community — and said he would have never known the level of creativity we had if not for the Forum. — Sandy Lighterman, Film Lauderdale
MAD Arts: A Venue That Gets It
The choice of MAD Arts in Dania Beach isn't incidental. The space is part museum, part community hub, part laboratory — what Eddy Moon describes as "a building designed by dreamers." It's a space where art and technology collide in a way that mirrors exactly what the Forum is trying to accomplish, and the alignment between MAD Arts, Film Lauderdale, Broward County, and WEG Films runs deeper than logistics. Moon credited MAD's Marc Aptakin — whose support of local artists he called something he's "never seen anyone before him do" — as essential to the event's existence.
If You're Going: Talk to Everyone
Eddy Moon's advice for first-timers is refreshingly direct: be present, be open, and don't be shy. "You are in a safe place, amongst very like-minded people." The crowd spans the full range — from people only months into their creative careers to those with a decade or more of industry work. Lighterman puts it simply: the Forum is a place where you can find your tribe. And from first-year filmmakers to crew members looking for their next project, there's space for everyone in that room.
Sunday's speed networking session captures this spirit best: four minutes per connection, one rule — no talking about movies or moviemaking. Find the human first, find the collaborator second.
Programming team: Ronald Baez · Flor Portieri · Diana Garle · Olivia Timmons · Carolina Caruso · Eddy Moon (Head of Programming)
The Bigger Picture: A Birthplace, Not Just an Event
By summer or fall most years, Eddy Moon starts hearing about local productions that exist because of conversations that started at the Forum. Sandy Lighterman is already watching that same ripple effect play out in real time with a $10 million film on set in Broward right now. Both see the same future: a South Florida film industry that doesn't just support other people's projects, but originates its own — feature films, short films, music videos, and content that couldn't have existed without connections made under that Dania Beach roof.
It took two years and the belief of county commissioners to bring this event to life. Now it's generating millions in economic activity and putting South Florida on the lips of studio executives who had no idea what was waiting for them here. That's not a vision statement anymore. That's a track record.
2026 South Florida Film Forum
March 28–29 · MAD Arts, Dania BeachPresented by WEG Films × Film Lauderdale × Broward County
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