I decided to cover the Florida Film Festival as an outsider. My film, COVID Dystopia was rejected by the festival. My thought is that the Florida politics shown in the film probably disqualified it. It is a bit too hard edged for the quaint hometown FFF.
I have sketched the festival many times in the past and I know you can rub shoulders with some pretty incredibly film makers just by hanging out at the Eden bar.
I saw more than my share of films at the Cleveland Film Festival which was a truly incredible experience. So I don’t feel the need to review films at the Florida Film Festival. Instead my thought is to cover the Florida Film Festival ancillary activities.
As I walked up to the Enzian Theater I could hear live music. Whisky Duo was performing outside on the patio in front of the Eden Bar. The bar was packed as were most of the outside tables. The front two tables closest to the performers were however empty. Chairs had been borrowed to seat more people at other tables so I set out my art stool. I masked up since it was a dense crowd.
I was enjoying the set until they broke into playing The Bear Necessities, from Disney’s The Jungle Book. Ugh, Disney’s sweaty paw seems to try and permeate all local arts and culture. I liked that yellow blooms had fallen from a tree onto the table and I liked that the Live Music banner reflected the dense Florida foliage that surrounds the Enzian. The performance was free, you can’t beat that.
On the night I did this sketch, International Animated Shorts were to be shown at 9:15pm. The laughing crowd around me were probably waiting for that show to begin.I figured that a crowd interested in seeing International Animated Shorts might have a familiar face but I didn’t recognize anyone. This weekend I will be buying a ticket to see the shorts for myself. I am curious what types of animated films were selected.
The musician announced that they were performing their last song. I panicked and sketched faster. I got some semblance of line work done of the performers before the end of the song. I spent the rest of the time working on the background and adding color. The lights made the painting a challenge since they kept changing color. I settled on the bright purple lights.