If it's March in Miami, the city becomes synonymous with all that spring break implies: topless beach revelers, circuit parties and non-stop nightlife. But for ten days cinephiles and film industry reps head for Florida with more than an excuse to shed parkas and scarves and soak up the sun.

Ariadna Gil and Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen is running a little late. Extra security has had to be organized for his red-carpet arrival at Miami's ornate historic Gusman Theater. Television crews, photographers and guards swamp his entourage as he steps out the black SUV onto the press line. Commenting backstage before the US premiere of his swashbuckling period drama Alatriste, based on the novel series by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Mortensen is confident that international audiences including American cinema-goers will respond to a Spanish-language film about a 17th century swordsman: "There are people here today from Japan and when I asked them: 'Why do you like Alatriste?', they finally said: 'Oh, it's a samurai movie!' The idea of pride is very important, and a code of honor and loyalty to your friends. If the Japanese like it, then I suppose people in Miami will like it as well. I hope so." And they do. The 2-hour 45-minute premiere receives a rapturous applause. Perhaps not least because the film encapsulates all that this year's Miami International Film Festival strives to be: ambitious, energetic and, although rooted in a Spanish film tradition, it has a universal scope that appeals to viewers irrespective of their cultural and language backgrounds.

This year's annual Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) kicked off with a sold-out screening of Paul Verhoeven's World War II drama Black Book and featured a diverse international slate with an emphasis on films from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Local media are dubbing the event as the "Spanish Sundance" as the festival, now in it's 24th year, seeks to become a forum for Ibero-American filmmakers to gather and develop their projects. Under the direction of festival director Nicole Guillemet, a former Sundance co-director, the MIFF required that that almost half of the 112 films screened in the festival be produced by companies from Spain, Portugal and Central and South American countries. Yet, despite the possible limitation of such a mandate, the festival boasts a truly global reach with entrants from as far a field as Iceland and Rwanda. While the geopolitical agenda of the festival is not hard to figure out, the "Spanish Sundance" label is perhaps misleading. With Guillemet's guidance, Miami's premiere film fest has developed its own distinct identity and doesn't appear to have copycat Sundance aspirations. Considering that Miami has the highest proportion of Spanish speakers of all the major US cities (two-thirds speak Spanish at home), the festival organizers made a conscious decision to program Spanish-language movies that the local community as well as the American and Latin-language press would embrace. Yet the festival does not yet have the infrastructure to support a thriving marketplace for buyers and is probably not about to spawn the next sex, lies and videotape or The Blair Witch Project. However, the festival is a strong springboard to launch films that have performed well in Spain, Mexico and South American territories into the US market.

Alatriste is the most expensive Spanish-language film ever made at $28 million and came in a close third behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Ice Age: The Meltdown at the Spanish box office in 2006. While the film's director, Augustin Diaz Yanes is leery of the film's potential success in the US, this was a savvy venue choice to introduce the film to East Coast audiences.