This year’s Miami International Film Festival will take place from March 2 - 11. The program was just announced (via Variety) and looks really great, and the doc program in particular looks exciting. Past winners at Miami include greats like La Sierra(dirs. Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez pictured right) and Balseros.

Since you have to scroll through a long PDF to see the selections, I’m going to copy them here after the jump. Films I’m looking forward to this year that are in the program, Banished by Marco Williams, Off the Grid by Jeremy Stulberg & Randy Stulberg and Manufactured Landscapes by Jennifer Baichwal.

There is a $25,000 jury award for the best doc and they are eligible for the audience award also:

“Accident” (”Acidente”) Directors: Cao Guimarães, Pablo Lobato (Brazil) Part of the “city symphony” tradition of documentary filmmaking, the mesmerizing Accident beautifully weaves a tapestry of scenes shot in the 20 towns that comprise the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Narrated in the form of a nursery rhyme that pays tribute to each of the places visited, the film deftly captures the unpredictable moments of daily life. (East Coast Premiere)

“Banished” Director: Marco Williams (USA) This powerful documentary chronicles a shameful and obscure chapter in America’s post-Civil War history - the violent, and complete, expulsion of African Americans from a number of communities across the country. Centering on three of these communities, the film explores what can be done to redress a legacy of racial injustice and reconcile the past. (East Coast Premiere)

“The Cemetery Club” (”Moadon Beit Hakvarot”) Director: Tali Shemesh (Israel) Poignant, intimate, at times hilarious, this prize-winning documentary follows the complex relationship between 80-year-old Lena and her 85-year-old sister-in-law Minia. The two are Holocaust survivors and members of a social club of elderly Polish-born Jerusalemites who meet every Sabbath to discuss philosophy, politics and poetry at the Mount Herzl National Cemetery. (U.S. Premiere)

“Cocalero” Director: Alejandro Landes (Bolivia/Argentina/USA) Bolivia, 2005: An Aymara Indian and union leader named Evo Morales launches a seemingly impossible bid to become his country’s first indigenous president. A must for anyone interested in Latin America’s present and future, this fly-on-the-wall documentary reveals the personalities and politics behind one of the region’s most astounding stories. (East Coast Premiere)

“Fabricating Tom Ze” (”Fabricando Tom Ze”) Director: Decio Matos Junior (Brazil) Composer and musician Tom Ze hears music wherever he goes - in guitars, in a double-bass and, yes, even in vacuum cleaners. This absorbing documentary follows the controversial Brazilian artist as he tours through Europe, mixing music and life along the way. The film won Best Brazilian Documentary at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival. (East Coast Premiere)

“Ghosts of Cite Soleil” Director: Asger Leth (Denmark/USA) Thug life and political warfare merge in this raw look at two street gang leaders in Haiti’s lawless Cite Soleil, named “the most dangerous place on earth” by the U.N. Executive-produced by Wyclef Jean, Ghosts is a startling Caribbean expose of guns, gangs and politics during the fall of the regime of Jean Bertrand Aristide. (East Coast Premiere)

“Manufactured Landscapes” Director: Jennifer Baichwal (Canada) This stunning portrait of celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky - whose grand scale photographs capture the changes to natural landscapes wrought by modern industry - is as much about the aesthetic, social and environmental dimensions of globalization (shown here primarily in China) as about the artist and his work. The film took home Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. (East Coast Premiere)

“Mississippi Chicken” Director: John Fiege (USA) Questions of race, workers’ rights and exploitation form the crux of this intriguing documentary about Latin American immigrants living in rural Mississippi, where poultry plants promise jobs, but little else. Shot on Super-8mm film, which gives it a lustrous, saturated color, Mississippi Chicken reveals the textures, moods, and struggles of the New South. (North American Premiere)

“Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa” Directors: Jeremy Stulberg & Randy Stulberg (USA) This engrossing documentary follows a hardscrabble community of hippies and war veterans who live on the fringe and off the grid, without electricity or running water, along the mesas of northern New Mexico. Sibling filmmakers Jeremy and Randy Stulberg have unearthed a place that stands at the bizarre crossroads of utopian ideals and post-apocalyptic nightmares. (East Coast Premiere)

“The Railroad All Stars” (”Estrellas de la Linea”) Director: Chema Rodriguez (Spain) The hookers of Guatemala City’s La Linea slum eke out a meager living in constant fear of being attacked or killed. When a local soccer championship rolls around, the ladies form a team to publicize the dangers of their trade. The resulting story becomes a media sensation giving the women a newfound voice and much-needed sense of empowerment. (East Coast Premiere)

“Septembers” (”Septiembres”) Director: Carles Bosch (Spain) The director of festival favorite Balseros returns with this touching film about love, imprisonment, and the power of song. For the participants of the 2005 Festival of Song held at a prison near Madrid, singing love songs isn’t just fun, it is, rather, a poignant reminder of those they long for and are without. (World Premiere)

“Serambi” Directors: Garin Nugroho, Tonny Trimarsanto, Viva Westi, Lianto Luseno (Indonesia) Aceh, historically a center of trade between East and West, was ravaged by the tsunami of 2004. In the months that followed the tragedy, a documentary crew chronicled the devastation left behind”a cratered landscape of destroyed homes, dead bodies, and orphans searching for their families”capturing the extent to which civilizations can be literally washed away by nature’s wrath. (U.S. Premiere)

“These Girls” (”El-Banate Dol”) Director: Tahani Rached (Egypt) Tata is tough and she’ll let you know it. In a country where unemployment runs near 10% and girls are fourth-class citizens of a Muslim world, Tata and the homeless teens of These Girls are driven by a paradoxical mix of empowerment and powerlessness as they live their lives on the streets of Cairo. (Regional Premiere)

“To Play and to Fight” (”Tocar y Luchar”) Director: Alberto Arvelo (Venezuela) One of the music world’s most uplifting social phenomenons, the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System has made world-class musicians out of otherwise forgotten young children. Interviews with music luminaries Placido Domingo, Sir Simon Rattle, and many others appear throughout this inspirational documentary about music, courage, determination and teamwork. (East Coast Premiere)

“Two Homelands Cuba and the Night” (”Dos Patrias Cuba y la Noche”) Director: Christian Liffers (Germany) What is it like to be a gay man in today’s Cuba? Director Christian Liffers traveled to the island on two occasions in 2004 to seek answers to that question. The result is a film that presents six unforgettable personal stories that underscore the many differences in experiences, social status, and opinions among gay men in and around Havana. (North American Premiere)

“Yokohama Mary” Director: Takayuki Nakamura (Japan) “Yokohama Mary” was a World War II prostitute and legendary Japanese street eccentric who mysteriously disappeared in 1995. Rumors surrounding Mary were myriad, but little was ultimately known about her. Director Takayuki Nakamura’s engrossing documentary embarks on a poignant journey through post-war Japan as it pieces together the life and disappearance of this peculiar and fascinating woman. (U.S. Premiere)