NORTH MIAMI, FLORIDA.- The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is pleased to present the seventh installment of Optic Nerve on Friday, August 5. Optic Nerve is MOCA’s annual film festival featuring short videos and films by some of the freshest and most innovative artists in South Florida selected from an open call for submissions. Two screenings of the 40-minute program will be held at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm. The public is also invited to meet the filmmakers during the Starbucks Artist Roundtables at 8:00 pm.

Optic Nerve VII is sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Company. The program is part of MOCA’s ongoing effort to provide new venues for emerging South Florida artists.

The event is free with museum admission. RSVP required. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. For reservations, call 305.893.6211.

MOCA admission is free for MOCA members, North Miami residents, City of North Miami employees, and children under 12; $5 adults; $3 for seniors and students with ID.)

The twelve films that will be screened are all under five minutes in length and incorporate a wide range of narrative and non-narrative filmmaking techniques. They include: Mr. Wizard: The Legend of Speed a stop motion animation art piece created by the Miami-based artists group, Friends With You, in which “Air” and “Land” meet to perform sacred rituals to keep the world in perfect harmony; Kyle Trowbridge’s, 1984, a meditation on violence and grace focusing on the surging crowds of a 1980s punk rock concert; Ali Prosch’s Not My Mama, a campy encounter with a manic swamp zombie that explores the true meaning of “mother nature”; and Carola Dreidemie’s Untitled, a hand-manipulated film that investigates a state of desperation and fear using rhythm and repetition as key elements.