Last weekend Enzian played host to the 14th annual Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase, and for the first time in the event's history, it featured a juried competition. Founded a decade and a half ago by a pre-Blair Witch Gregg Hale, Brouhaha had always been a non-competitive celebration of Florida's finest indie and student filmmakers. Over the years, Enzian provided these films a rare opportunity to get screened in a genuinely theatrical environment. With so many other local venues now providing the chance for these filmmakers to get audience response and feedback on their short films, Brouhaha went under the knife for its most recent incarnation.

No longer open to just any statewide indie filmmaker, films had to originate at a Florida college, art or technical school, or a high school. Once the films were selected and screened as part of the Brouhaha Showcase, a jury would then decide on a "Best of Brouhaha" student program to be featured in the 2006 Florida Film Festival (March 24 - April 6) as an "Emerging Florida Filmmakers" sidebar. A jury consisting of Mark Astrom (President, New Screen Television), Brian Clark (Partner/CEO, GMD Studios), and Mary-Frances Emmons (Arts & Entertainment Editor, Orlando Sentinel) came away impressed with both the overall quality and variety represented by this group of student works, and have chosen the following titles to move on to this year's FFF:

Melissa Rossi's Charm, Christine Spindler's Sirah , and Greg Jardin's The Problem With Fiber Optics (Florida State University); Ryan Pomeranz's On Being Your Average Joe and Andrew Kenneth Gay's Love is Deaf (University of Central Florida); Jason Kupfer's Work Farm and Matthew Richards' Lobstar (Valencia Community College); and Pericles Michielin's Football Toys, Ian Yonika's Food for Thought, Nikki Tomaino's Rue Du Tordu, Melissa Webster's Abigail, Lacey Bannister's Bella Musica, and Joshua Beveridge's Things That Go Bump in the Night (Ringling School of Art & Design).

The jury also selected three "Honorable Mentions" to serve as alternates should any of the above films get accepted into the American Independent Competition portion of the Festival:

Mickelson Civil's Delivering Louverture and Susan Bell's The Resurrectionist (FSU), along with Erin Kitzinger's Life-To-Go (UCF)

Congratulations to everyone and we look forward to the inaugural Emerging Florida Filmmakers program at the Florida Film Festival in March!

- Matthew