At its high points -- the rapturous applause that greeted the opening night film, Mexican drama Under the Same Moon(La misma luna), or the boisterous party at Bongo's following a screening of Emilio Estefan's documentary 90 Miles (90 Millas) -- the Miami International Film Festival delivered the celebration its organizers had promised, a reminder of the heights the event had attained over its 25-year history.

But at its low points, the festival felt like a wake, from poorly attended screenings of deserving films to the dull, less-than-memorable homage to festival directors at a half-full Gusman.

The inconsistent quality of the event had nothing to do with the films of the 11-day event, which wrapped Sunday. This year's festival, the first under the guidance of director Patrick de Bokay, boasted one of the strongest and most diverse lineups since the departure of co-founder Nat Chediak. The former director, whose festivals averaged 25 films, parted ways with the event in 2001 over a disagreement with former parent Florida International University over the speed at which the festival should grow.

Growth is what most regional film festival directors strive for, hoping that the more films shown, the bigger the audiences will be. Orlando's Florida Film Festival, which kicks off March 28, boasts a lineup of 160 films this year, while last year's Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, which sprawled over 23 days, screened 175 selections.

Even cities such as Cleveland, not necessarily known as bastions of moviegoing, have seen their festivals balloon: This year's edition screened a whopping 290 movies.

''Festivals used to be primarily for film buffs to enjoy movies and each other's company,'' said de Bokay. ``But as the film industry started to take notice of them and realize their potential as a market for sales and promotion, the festivals developed a business component that made them grow into much larger events.''

PRESSURE TO GROW

Another reason for the growth trend is that nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are increasingly relying on financial support from institutions, academic and corporate, in order to survive. Those parent organizations in turn want to maximize their investment by maximizing the audience.

''Cultural events such as the film festival often either go away after a while, or they form partnerships and change,'' said Michael Spring, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs and a longtime festival attendee. ``I don't look at the festival today as being better or worse than it was: I look at it as being different, which is what it is. I loved Nat's festival and consider him to be a genius. But I love the new festival, too. People are finding entry points to films that they might not have found before, because of the breadth of it.''

Now in its fourth year under the auspices of Miami Dade College, the Miami Film Festival screened 166 feature-length and short films from 54 countries. But the erratic size of the audiences -- organizers estimated attendance through Saturday was 61,000 and expected the final tally to reach last year's total of 70,000 -- and the visible strain on the festival's staff and resources proved the expansion sometimes detracted from the experience.

''It was a lot different than we expected,'' said Andy Tarr of Miami, who attended the festival for the first time this year with a group of friends to catch a screening of the documentary American Teen at the Colony, which drew fewer than 50 people. ``It's great that they got the movie here, but the place was empty, and no one from the movie came.''

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