Moonlight premiered two years ago, but we’re all still talking about it today: its honest portrayal of Miami, the Academy Award wins, and the hometown boys from Liberty City who made it happen.

Soon after it won Best Picture, O Cinema co-director Kareem Tabsch challenged Miami to make sure Moonlight didn’t become an anomaly.

Today he’s here to introduce something to keep that from happening: The ArtCenter South Florida Cinematic Arts Residency.

WHAT IT IS: $50,000 each for two local filmmakers, plus their own producer, studio space, industry networking, and a week-long run at O Cinema when the film is done.

WHY WE NEED IT: Great films don’t have to cost a lot of money.  Before Barry Jenkins made Moonlight, he made Medicine for Melancholy, a small indie film with a $14,000 budget. It caught the attention of SXSW and the Toronto Film Festival, catapulting his work into the spotlight.

But while you don’t need a ton of money, you do need a supportive ecosystem. The Cinematic Arts Residency provides that.

WHAT NEXT: If you’re a filmmaker, then apply, obviously. But if you’re not, then find other ways to support local filmmakers.

Go to indie theaters like O Cinema and the Coral Gables Art Cinema. Attend local festivals like the Borscht Film Festival (yes, their website is supposed to look like that) and the Third Horizon Film Festival later this month.

And read up on what it will take to make Miami a great filmmaking community over on thenewtropic.com.

Sweet news. The Redlands has one of the only cacao farms in the whole U.S., and now, the harvest is about to be turned into the good stuff. By the end of the year, just in time for holiday stockings, you should be able to buy the locally made Cao Chocolates at their Pinecrest-area storefront. They’re the latest to join Miami’s gourmet bean-to-bar chocolate craze, but they’re the only ones growing their own chocolate. Yum. (Miami New Times)

Hometown girl. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis picked Kendall-area State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez to be his running mate – which is pretty interesting, because Nuñez was a staunch Rubio supporter in the 2016 presidential election, and DeSantis is all about President Trump. She’s the first Cuban-American woman nominated for the seat in either party. (POLITICO)

Battle royale. The battle between City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami developer Bill Fuller is a little bit of a personal feud – the kind that Carollo is kind of famous for – because Fuller backed Carollo’s opponent in the last city election. But it’s becoming a big deal because it’s also become a battle over the future of the iconic neighborhood of Little Havana. Fuller’s been given a lot of credit for driving Little Havana’s transformation into a bustling nightlife and tourist spot, particularly with his renovation of the 1930s nightclub Ball and Chain. But Carollo says Fuller’s trying to “de-Latinize” the neighborhood and is very serious about preserving it as is. Who wins their ongoing battle is also set to win that debate. (Miami Herald)

That’s not all the Carollo news. He’s also suing the City of Miami government to stop a November referendum vote on whether to make Mayor Francis Suarez a “strong mayor.” Right now, the City of Miami mayor is mostly a figurehead, but with the change, he would run day-to-day operations and control the city’s $1 billion budget, making him pretty powerful. Carollo said the petition process to get the vote on the ballot was illegal and that the language is misleading. It’s too late to prevent it from going on the ballot, but if Carollo wins the suit, the results will be moot. (Miami Herald)

Keeping it local. Did you take a peek yet at the crest for Club Internacional de Futbol Miami (aka InterMiami)? You might have recognized those birds that are front and center: Great White Herons. The owners say they were chosen because they are “stoic and intelligent but strike with fierce accuracy,” but we’re choosing to appreciate the fact that they’re native to SoFlo. (WLRN)

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY.

But if you’re looking to up your coffee game this weekend, pro tip: Coral Gables now has the Brooklyn staple Cafe Grumpy, and they serve cold brew slushies. Yep.

– The New Tropic