The Florida Film Festival, one of the most respected regional festivals in the US, kicks off this evening, bringing more than 141 films over to the next 10 days to its home city of Orlando, Florida. The Festival is headquartered at the Enzian Theater, a not-for-profit arthouse cinema that brings adventurous independent and international programming to Orlando audiences throughout the year.

This year, the Festival is presenting 51 feature films (33 narrative films and 18 documentaries) and a staggering number of 90 short films, from animation to live action to experiments in digital art. The Festival boats 11 World Premieres, 7 North American and US Premieres, and 45 East Coast Premieres.

The festivities begin this evening with the Sterling Salutes The Silver Screen Opening Night at the Enzian Theater, sponsored by the Sterling Vintner Collection of fine wines. The Festival will screen the Sundance feel-good film KINKY BOOTS, an outrageous comedy from the UK about a statuesque drag queen who saves an English boot factory from going under. The screening will be followed by a glamorous evening of wine, food, dance and celebration on the picturesque grounds of the Enzian Theater.

Many special events, dazzling parties and informational seminars, but none is more anticipated than next week’s AN AFTERNOON WITH JOHN WATERS: CINEMATIC IMMUNITY, where the legendary director of “bad taste” will dish about his career, the state of film, and his journey from the streets of Baltimore to become a true pop culture icon.

But the heart of the Florida Film Festival is its American Independent Competitions for Narrative Features and Documentaries. Second in influence to only Sundance, an Award from the Florida Film Festival is sought after by independent filmmakers in the know as a sign of their films having arrived on the scene.

This year’s Florida Film Festival American Independent Competition includes:

Narrative Feature Competition

212 , directed by Anthony Ng, Florida Premiere
Chalk, directed by Mike Akel, East Coast Premiere
Conventioneers, directed by Mora Stephens, Southeast Premiere
In Memory of My Father, directed by Christopher Jaymes
Inside, directed by Jeff Mahler, World Premiere
Intellectual Property, directed by Nicholas Peterson, World Premiere
Runaway, directed by Tim McCann, Southeast Premiere
Steal Me, directed by Melissa Painter, Southeast Premiere
Sweet Land, directed by Ali Selim, Southeast Premiere
The Puffy Chair, directed by Jay Duplass, Florida Premiere

Documentary Feature Competition

B.I.K.E., directed by Jacob Septimus and Anthony Howard, East Coast Premiere
Beyond Conception: Men Having Babies, directed by Johnny Symons, World Premiere
Hand of God, directed by Joe Cultrera, East Coast Premiere
Muskrat Lovely, directed by Amy Nicholson, Southeast Premiere
Purvis of Overtown, directed by Shaun Conrad and David Racugglia, 2nd US showing
Revolution '67, directed by Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno, World Premiere
Showbusiness: A Season to Remember, directed by Dori Berinstein, Southeast Premiere
So Much So Fast, directed by Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan, East Coast Premiere
The Trials of Darryl Hunt, directed by Ricki Stern and Arnie Sundberg, East Coast Premiere
Wide Awake, directed by Alan Berliner, East Coast Premiere


More to come from the heart of the Sunshine State in future reports…….


Sandy Mandelberger
Industry Editor