We’re looking forward to introducing you to Noelia Solange Rabino. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Noelia Solange, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I’ve fallen back in love with bike riding. Movement has always been my thing, yoga and dance especially, but something about being outside for long stretches, exploring my neighborhood with music in my ears, just hits differently right now. I’ll stop to look at the beautiful native trees and all the birds migrating in for winter, and it just feels like slow, intentional joy. The right playlist makes it all feel cinematic, so that’s a must 🙂
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
hi reader, human, friend 🙂 my name is Noelia Solange Rabino, but you can just call me Noe. I co-founded Subtropic Film Festival 3 years ago with the intention of bringing Miami, Broward and Palm Beach film communities together, while also focusing on showcasing work from South Florida artists.
In the past year, Subtropic has hosted 20 public events, screened over 180 short films, and welcomed more than 3,500 attendees across Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and South Florida. From programming at the Miami Film Festival and the Norton Museum of Art to sold-out shows at Shirley’s Gramps Wynwood, and collaborations with III Points and the How Bazar Market, Subtropic continues growing as a home for independent cinema in South Florida.
Our 2025 festival program screened 65 shorts films and 5 features with a strong focus on south florida stories and the environmental crisis in the Everglades. We brought together emerging and established filmmakers, artists, and audiences across Palm Beach and Miami-Dade for screenings, workshops, and community. Subtropic Film Festival will continue to elevate the experimental, deeply local voices shaping today’s South Florida’s film culture.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Competition, you know, the unhealthy kind. Unhealthy competition breaks bonds between people. Even strong relationships struggle when you can’t truly be happy for someone else’s success. That’s when things start to fracture. What restores them? Genuine collaboration. Not performative teamwork, but the real thing. When it’s authentic, you feel it immediately.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
I really miss going to the video store. There was something special about picking up that chunky VHS case, flipping it over to read the back, studying the images, and building up anticipation for the movie. Then you’d get to the counter and chat with the staff about whether they’d seen it, what they thought, just a real conversation about film. I was pretty young when I started doing this. The store was a block away from our home in Argentina and basically the only place I was allowed to walk to alone. It felt like going to the library, but way more exciting. With everything moving so fast now, we forget how much those simple, intentional experiences mattered. Maybe that’s what I miss most: taking time to choose what you watch, instead of just scrolling endlessly.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m forever a student when it comes to spirituality and staying present. It’s a practice that doesn’t have an endpoint, and I’ve made peace with that. We’re living in wild, fragmented times where our attention is constantly being pulled in a thousand directions. In that context, choosing to be fully present, to slow down and actually feel the moment you’re in, becomes almost revolutionary. It’s a belief I keep coming back to, a project that will last my entire life.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes. I show up fully to things because I want the experience itself to be meaningful, not because I need recognition. Praise is a form of external validation, and honestly, I’m not interested in that right now. The work, the relationships, the projects, they matter to me for what they are, not for what people say about them. The true fulfillment (for me) comes from doing the thing well, not from being told I did.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @noeliasolange , @subtropicff
Image Credits
Subtropic Film Festival
