Florida Film Festival Opening Night Party

Posted on by Thor

The opening night of the 2019 Florida Film Festival was celebrated with a
thrilling film premiere at Enzian Theater (1300 Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751). The opening night film was Woman in Motion directed by Todd Thompson. To most of the known universe, Nichelle Nichols is Lieutenant Uhura, the
communications officer aboard the Starship Enterprise. On Star Trek
she broke barriers as one of the first African Americans to star in a
network show and as a participant in television’s first interracial
kiss. In reality Nichelle Nichols was a pioneer, a fiercely intelligent
and passionate advocate for African Americans, women, and minorities.
She worked with the NAACP and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a role model
for young black children and women. Beyond that, Nichelle Nichols is
arguably the single most important figure in history for the recruitment
of women and minorities to the field of space exploration, specifically
the NASA space shuttle program.

After the premiere, patrons sampled food and cocktails from favorite
local spots and an open bar at Eden Bar. It was an outdoor feast where patrons could
mingle and celebrate with all the folks would be their new cinematic best
friends for the next ten days. Patrons ate, drank, were merry, and discussed all the
films that might be seen at the festival ahead. This legendary
party launched a non-stop, fun-filled, ten-day celebration of Film,
Food, and Friends.

When Pam and I arrived, I quickly sat in a open spot to sketch the moon shaped orb that illuminated the lawn next to the Eden Bar. Pam explored a bit and sat with Scottie and Brendan to catch up. When My sketch was done, Scottie asked if I had included him in the sketch. Unfortunately he was out of my line of sight.

Pam and I tried a few vendors food booths to see what was available at this gala opening party. First up we tried a slice of pizza from Medici Pizza. It was kind of hard to judge the pizza since it was ice cold. We picked up a flyer anyway and might go to the restaurant to try a hot slice instead. Roque Pub was offering bites, beer and wine. Better yet they had a $10 off coupon and a bumper sticker. Now I don’t put stickers on my bumper,but I did place it on the cover of my sketchbook which is mighty fine ad placement for hundreds of years to come. Should you be a local business wanting sticker exposure look no further than the AADW sketchbooks. The other food treat I tried was from La Empanada and that was delicious. After a couple of bites of cheese I had seen enough. I had my sketch and the party was in full swing. We decided to get back home since I had to get up early to teach all day Saturday.

Today is the final day of the Florida Film Festival, so get out and support independent cinema.

Program Announcement Party

Posted on by Thor

The 28th annual Florida Film Festival pass and package holders as well as other festival supporters gathered for this kickoff event featuring the announcement of all films, events, and special guests selected for the 2019 Florida Film Festival. The big announcement was that actress Nichelle Nichols best known for her role as Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek series would be featured in the opening night’s film titled Women in Motion. Back in the 60s when Star Trek aired it was unheard of for a black woman to featured as a senior member of a crew. After leaving the bridge, she saw a film about the space program that featured all white men. She wondered why there were no women of color in the space program. She spoke to people in charge and ended up becoming the single most influential figure in the recruitment of women and minorities in the filed of space exploration.

The Blair Witch Project was made in 1999 with a budget of $25,000. The premise of the film was that the film makers hiked in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland
to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair
Witch. The three disappeared, but their equipment and footage was
discovered a year later. The purportedly “recovered footage” was the film
the viewer saw. I first saw the Blair Witch Project at the Enzian. The Blair Witch Project grossed nearly $250 million worldwide on a modest budget of $60,000, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. The Cast and Crew will be returning to the Enzian for an evening to see and discuss the making of the film.

This year the Oscar for the best film went to a film made for Netflix. This might be an indication that audiences have a growing taste for independent films. The Florida Film Festival is an Oscar qualifying film festival. So for the independent film creators, this is an important step in their film’s journey.

Following the announcement, trailers were screened. This year there are more films by women filmmakers than ever before. Pam Schwartz wrote comments for each film so we knew what the best films to see might be. Her choices included,  

Chef’s Diaries: Scotland, food travel.

Dachra, Investigative reporting about witchcraft.

Dog in the Woods, a magic universe dog.

All is True, Shakespeare’s biography and finding his voice after retirement.

The Biggest Little Farm, a couple on a farm faced the hardships of nature.

General Magic, an early computer company dreamed of the pocket cell phone and was ripped off by Apple.

Tungrus, was a hilarious short about a rooster terrorizing a family home in Mumbai.

Of the animated shorts, I liked,

Sister, about memories of an annoying sister. I incorporated this film into my sketch.

Hybrids, looked like  gorgeous epic about life in the ocean with crabs wearing bottle top helmets.

Cerulia, a creepy Burtonesque film.

Beginning April 13, 2019 the Festival will screen 180 films over 10 days. Festival passes and individual tickets for the film Festival are on sale now. It will be 10 days of Film, Food and Friends.