"Sterling Salutes the Silver Screen" Opening Night Film and Party was a HUGE success! Between the special premiere screening of Kinky Boots, wonderful wines from Sterling Vintner's Collection, Chef Josh Oakley's delicious food, the Peterbrooke chocolate fountain (yes, I said CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN), and wild dancing on the patio, the evening was absolutely unforgettable.

Click below to see pictures from this event!!

Well...the moment of truth has finally arrived. After over seven months of prep work and previewing nearly 1400 films, the 15th annual Florida Film Festival officially kicks off tomorrow night (Friday the 24th). Somehow it seems fitting that in a year in which Baltimore iconoclast John Waters will be receiving an "American Visionary" award, the Opening Night film is titled KINKY BOOTS--I'm certain he will be as entertaining and crowd-pleasing as this feature film directorial debut from Emmy-nominated Julian Jarrold. The always amazing Portland-based filmmaker, Chel White, has the honor of truly lighting the fuse for the fireworks to follow with his Opening Night short, A PAINFUL GLIMPSE INTO MY CREATIVE PROCESS (IN LESS THAN 60 SECONDS). Though actually a minute and a half, this brilliant piece of animation sets the tone for the ten days of thought-provoking, jaw-dropping, eye-opening, and mind-stretching cinema and film-related fun that are to come.

--Matthew

The latest e-mail blast with the current schedule for DMAC, Orlando's Downtown Media Arts Center, brought some unfortunate news with it. Apparently in a cost-cutting move, Director of Programming Darren McDaniel has been let go after a year and a half at the helm. It's never good when the local independent cinema community loses one of its own, but this was clearly a matter of not enough bodies in the seats on a consistent basis, and not a reflection on the quality of the programming. Darren, a filmmaker himself with the often humorous mockumentary THE ESSENCE OF IRWIN to his credit, did a terrific job bringing in more narrative and foreign titles to balance the multitude of docs available given the theater's video-only limitations. There are many films that just can't fit into the Enzian single screen schedule and that Regal chooses to ignore, and this is the area that DMAC fills such an important role for Central Florida filmgoers. Here's hoping the community realizes it before it's too late.

Meanwhile, we wish the best of luck with everything to a former colleague and Sundance roommate. Take care, Darren--hope to see you around Enzian and the upcoming Florida Film Festival.

--Matthew

The final days of preparation for a Film Festival are like taking final exams...you cram all day and all night, nonstop; freak out for no apparent reason; drink coffee until you can feel the shakes under your skin; drink booze just to sleep at night; lose 10 pounds from stress and lack of food (bonus!); wake up from stress dreams at 3, 4 and 5 am (at which point you give up and just lay there making lists in your head remembering the 50 things you forgot to do the day before and won't have time to do today); and feel like those 10 days of the thing will help or hurt the rest of your life. Is my hair falling out? But the Festival has something finals don't...you aren't glad when it's over, you're glad when it starts. Those 10 days that you nearly kill yourself creating are the most exhilerating, rewarding, fun days of the year. Better than Christmas, better than you birthday, every sold out screening, every first time filmmaker, every volunteer, patron and student that tells you what an amazing time they had, make it all worth it. Now how will I get through the next week until Opening Night...

And if you think I'm talking about that little college hoops tournament that begins this week, you are mistaken my friends. Instead I am referring to the explosion of independent cinema that rocks the Sunshine State in such a short period of time it will make your head spin. While Ft. Lauderdale still unspools in the Fall from mid-October to mid-November, Florida's three other major film festivals all open in the month of March for the first time ever. It's inevitable that there will be at least a small amount of overlap in the programming between Miami, Sarasota, and the upcoming 15th annual Florida Film Festival at Enzian Theater and Regal Winter Park Village beginning next Friday, 3/24, but each of us is unique and has its own special attributes.

If you don't have the luxury of taking a few weeks off in a row, travelling around the state, and watching great movies until your eyes bleed, I urge you to at least check out the event that's closest geographically and take part in what will inevitably be a very special experience. And if you have the benefit of living in Central Florida or are looking for a great reason to come visit the Orlando suburbs, you will not want to miss what we have in store for this year's Florida Film Festival--141 films from 18 countries, 108 of them making at least a Florida Premiere; 18 World, U.S., or North American Premieres, 45 East Coast Premieres, and 22 films having their 2nd U.S. showings; free panels, hot parties, tons of surprises, and the one and only John Waters. From family films to midnight movies and everything in between, it's guaranteed we have something you're gonna need to see...and I hope you come talk to me about it afterwards!

--Matthew

"Everybody loved Kirby." Those who know me usually also know that I am a life-long Minnesota Twins fan. I've never been able to explain exactly why since I grew up in the New York suburbs, with the most likely explanation of just wanting to be different from my older brothers and father who were and continue to be diehard Yankees fans. And while I didn't mind rooting for the Bronx Bombers, the Giants or Jets in football, and the Rangers in hockey, I made my stand by choosing the Vikings (with those great purple uniforms and Fran Tarkenton), the Blackhawks (with Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita), and the relocated Washington Senators who morphed into the Minnesota Twins in the early 1960's.

Of all the great players in the history of the franchise (Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Jim Kaat, Bert Blyleven, etc.), the greatest Twin of them all was Kirby Puckett. Before his amazing career was cut short by glaucoma in 1996 after 12 years with the only team he ever played for, this butterball-shaped baseball dynamo with one of the most infectious smiles you've ever seen made 10 consecutive all-star teams, won six Gold Glove Awards, and led his team to two World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001 on the first ballot, he became the third youngest player ever voted in.

Kirby Puckett died of a stroke on Monday at the age of 45. He was missed when he suddenly had to retire 10 years ago, but this sense of shock and loss goes much deeper. The only thing comparable is the death of John Lennon (almost). We can say it's just sports, but when you give your heart and soul rooting for a team over four decades and its most essential player ever suddenly passes away, it's really all quite sad. I am grateful to have met Kirby when the Twins used to still have their Spring Training in Orlando in the late 1980's, and feel fortunate to have been a Twins fan during those incredible times. Kirby was the man--may he rest in peace.

It has always been my intention to keep my blogging on this site film-oriented, but every once in a while real life intervenes and I may just have to write about it. Pardon my indulgence, and GO TWINS!

--Matthew

The Florida Film Festival staff wishes to extend a hearty congratulations to the creative team behind CONVENTIONEERS, one of the ten narrative features in competition for 2006. This past Saturday night at the Independent Spirit Awards, Director/Co-writer Mora Stephens and Producer/Co-writer Joel Viertel were honored with the "John Cassavetes Award" (best feature made for under $500,000) for their terrifically acted blend of sexual politics and moral quandaries set against the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC. Festival attendees won't want to miss the Southeast Premiere of this surprising, real, and totally involving love affair that so skillfully blurs the line between fact and fiction.

--Matthew

Last night was not the usual T-minus four-weeks-and-counting-to-festival-activities kind of evening. It's interesting that at a time I'd usually be totally immersed in Florida Film Festival details and prep work, I found myself in a college classroom discussing filmmaker Alan Berliner and rushing off to see a rare 35mm screening (at least in Orlando) of Godard's BREATHLESS at Enzian.

For the second time in the past few months, FFF selection committee member Peg O'Keef invited me to be on a panel after a screening of THE SWEETEST SOUND in her "Introduction to Liberal Arts" class at Rollins College. Alan Berliner's brilliant 2001 exploration of identity, individuality, and legacy--fueled by his obsession with the meaning of names and culminating with his inviting all of the other Alan Berliners in the world over for dinner--is perfect fodder for a spirited discussion of not only the issues raised in the film, but the creative mind of this distinctive documentarian. Not to mention how Tobias Wolfe, David Sedaris, and Tennessee Willaims managed to make their way into the conversation as well. Fellow panelist, author, and freelance film journalist Leslie Halpern, ironically a cousin by marriage of the filmmaker, also provided valuable insights into his work and family life. Hopefully the students had as much fun as we did.

There was no way I could pass up our Sundance Channel Film Series screening of a 35mm print of Godard's BREATHLESS (1959) later in the evening. Having shown the film at New College in the mid-70's, and distributed the film at Corinth Films in the 1980's, I realized I actually hadn't seen it for over two decades. One of the most influential existential crime thriller/romances of all time, the film still feels revolutionary. I had forgotten the virtually non-stop jazz score, the overall playfulness of the film, the gorgeous shots of Paris life at the end of the 1950's, and the jaw-dropping, iconic beauty of both Seberg and Belmondo's faces. Now if only I could purge my memory of the 1983 Richard Gere remake...

--Matthew