Kareem Tabsch

Kareem Tabsch Kareem Tabsch is the co-founder and co-director of Miami’s largest art house cinema, an Award-winning documentary filmmaker and an Arts Advocate who strongly believes in the power of the arts, particularly film, to enrich lives and revitalize communities. FILMMAKER As a documentary filmmaker, Kareem’s works has been included in several prestigious film festivals including Slamdance , AFIDocs, DocNYC, Florida Film Festival, RooftopFilms, among many others. His debut film Cherry Pop: The Story of the World’s Fanciest Cat was named Best Documentary Short at Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival and played over 30 festivals. His short film Dolphin Lover, received wide acclaim after its World Premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival where it received Honorable Mention and won the Best Short Documentary Prize at the LA Film Fest. The film has and has over a million views on YouTube. His most recent film, The Last Resort premiered at the Miami Jewish Film Festival where it won Audience Favorite Documentary. It has gone on to play countless festivals and was picked up for distribution by Kino Lorber. It received a limited theatrical release including a 3 week run in New York’s famed Quad Cinema and an 8 week run in South Florida before being acquired by Netflix. His films have garnered international press attention from outlets like Comedy Central, Vice, The NY Post, Cosmopolitan, Jezebel, Bravo and from celebrities including Andy Cohen, Chris Hardwick, Rush Limbaugh, and Howard Stern.Kareem is the co-founder and co-director of O Cinema, Miami’s largest art-house cinema with three locations throughout the area including the Wynwood Arts District, the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach and the Village of Miami Shores. Previously, he served as Program Director of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Kareem has served on the First Feature Jury for Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, lectured about the history of queer cinema at Florida International University, served as a juror for Tribeca Film Institutes If/Then Short Documentary Film Prize, served as a Juror for the Louisiana Short Film PRize at the New Orleans Film Festival, and served as a Program Consultant for the Key West Film Festival.In 2013 Kareem was featured in the Miami New Times ‘People Issue’ for his contribution to the cities film culture, he was named a ’20 under 40′ by the Miami Herald’s Business Monday in 2014 and in 2015 was the recipient of the Knight Arts Champion award presented by the Knight Foundation in recognition of O Cinema’s contribution to the cultural vibrancy of Greater Miami. Tabsch has served on the Advisory Committee of the Miami Foundation’s Our Miami initiative, on the National Arts Advisory Committee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and as a juror for Springboard for the Arts 20/20 Minnesota Artists Fellowship. He presently serves on the Miami-Dade County Film & Entertainment Advisory Committee and on the Oolite Arts Cinematic Arts Residency advisory board, a micro-budget film initiative he helped create.