With the usual 1st of the month deadline looming this Sunday, there's still 2 more days for all of you budding Florida filmmakers out there to drop off/overnight your entries to June's FilmSlam. Enzian's next monthly program of local and in-state short cinematic works (# 6 for 2008 if you're counting) will take place Sunday, June 8, at 1:00 PM, and apparently there's still room for some more titles to make the starting lineup. Remember that all FilmSlam audience winners are more or less guaranteed a spot (depending on length) in December's Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase, which in turn can lead to early selection for the Florida Sidebar in the 2009 Florida Film Festival. So if you've been thinking about sending in that little project of yours, now's as good a time as any. Details are available on the Enzian website at http://www.enzian.org/films/filmslam.html

--Matthew

Don't look now, but the Tampa Bay (formerly Devil) Rays have the best record in baseball. This is not a joke. Apparently the team banished Satan in the offseason and a whole bunch of their talented young players have started to gel at the same time. Kind of reminds me of the Twins way back in '87 when they put it all together, going from the worst record in the American League all the way to the World Series Championship. Excellent starting pitching and productive potential All-stars like BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, and rookie sensation Evan Longoria have this team at 31 - 20, 11 games over .500 for the first time ever. In fact, Tampa Bay is only the second team in MLB history and the first in over a century (joining the 1903 New York Giants) to have the best record on Memorial Day after finishing with the worst record in the league the previous season (66 - 96). Be sure to check out the great comic book/Bizarro-world cover of the new issue of Sports Illustrated that totally gets this extraordinary development in the AL East thus far.

So what does all this do for drawing local fans? Apparently nothing, as they barely broke a pathetic 12,000 people in the stands for a holiday game. Perhaps it's that dump of a domed stadium with the catwalks in the outfield ("The Trop") in that bad location, or perhaps there's not enough baseball fans in the Bay area who think this team can actually compete in a division with the Red Sox (still really good) and Yankees (obviously having problems but still have to reckoned with over the long haul). All I know is the team has won 16 of their last 17 home games, and they seem to have it all working right now. I'm just happy someone's giving Boston a run for their money. Now let's see them keep it up, and maybe locals will start paying attention. Go Rays!

--Matthew

Congratulations to former Penn State student and Pennsylvania National Guardsman Jeremy Zerechak, who just announced a TV broadcast and DVD distribution deal with Anywhere Road Entertainment in the U.S. and Canada for his documentary, LAND OF CONFUSION. The eye-opening film, which recently had its World Premiere at the 2008 Florida Film Festival where it won a "Special Jury Award for Bold Truth," shows what happened when Jeremy's unit was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as part of a secretive group charged with the duty of locating the infamous weapons of mass destruction. The fact that he brought his cameras with him every step of the absurd way (including training in the snows of Fort Dix, New Jersey!) and was able to shoot (and keep) tons of footage "not under the direction of the Army" is a miracle. LAND OF CONFUSION presents an uncensored and unflinching look at war, one in which the bravery of our fighting men is undone by the corruption, chaos, and futility of their mission.

There's a lot of fine Iraq war docs out there at the moment, and Jeremy's film deserves to mentioned and seen with the best of 'em. I'm thrilled that people besides festival audiences will get a chance to see this important work--and having met him and spending a few days hanging out early last month, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

--Matthew

Lucas Draper has officially left the building! Enzian's resident big man (all 6+ feet of him) and jack of all trades over the past 3 years or so, had his final day here the end of last week. He will definitely be missed. Lucas started out as the Development Assistant for Enzian and the 2006 Florida Film Festival, but soon expanded his responsibilities to encompass not only sponsorship, but Enzian Film Society membership, FFF Platinum Pass holders, a community outreach program to set up and maintain a garden with a local elementary school ("The Ferncreek Garden Project"), and producing the Young Filmmakers Summer Camp and Kidfest Film Series for campers in Grades 5 - 7--easily the most successful one yet. Lucas departs with the title of "Development & Community Relations Associate."

He also rejuvenated Membership Month for the Film Society last October, producing a series of three special events to bring a lot of attention to Enzian's status as a non-profit cultural arts organization that depends on its memberships to keep the machine running. These events--including "Damn the Man" with a screening of EMPIRE RECORDS preceded by a host of local bands performing live on the theater lawn; "CHOCOLAT and Chocolate" with an evening screening of the Johnny Depp/Juliette Binoche-starrer and a chocolate and wine reception; and a "Guerilla Filmmaking" day with a panel of local filmmakers and a screening of John Waters' CECIL B. DEMENTED--were both incredibly fun and very successful.

Lucas' warm personality, huge smile, passion for film, and fan-boy enthusiasm (name a superhero/genre film he didn't look forward to) will be missed around here, and we wish him the best of luck with his plans to relocate to Seattle. Now I just have to get back the Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs and Submarines CDs I loaned him...

--Matthew

Congratulations and best wishes to New York filmmaker Myna Joseph as she heads overseas to the Croisette. Her short film, MAN--which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at the recent Florida Film Festival (thus qualifying it for Oscar consideration in next year's Academy Awards)--was selected for the distinguished Directors Fortnight program at Cannes, where it will be the only American short in her film program.

Myna's stark and disturbing tale of two sisters was also invited to be part of this summer's Sundance Institute's Art House Project shorts program tour, a formidable collection of award winners and favorites from last year's festival (some of which appeared at Florida as well). So it looks like MAN will not only be showcased over in France this week, but will also be getting an encore performance at Enzian in the coming months--exciting news!

--Matthew

Stick a fork in 'em--they're toast. The Orlando Magic ended their season Tuesday night with an ugly barrage of turnovers and missed free throws, losing in the second round of the playoffs in 5 games to the way-more- experienced Detroit Pistons. And boy did it show! Despite winning the rebounding, 3-point shooting, and field-goal percentage battles (usually a sure sign of victory), their ridiculous 21 turnovers (to a record only 3 for Detroit) and 57% foul shooting (compared to the Pistons' 88%) spelled their doom. As hard as it was to watch, including a nearly 10 minute stretch in the 3rd and 4th quarters where the Magic didn't have one stinking basket, they kept battling back and once again sent the game down to the wire. But it was their inability to execute and make a big play in the waning seconds that cost them 3 of their 4 losses. Hopefully they'll grow from this experience and maybe even have a legit (and healthy) power forward to add to the mix next year.

Now let's all pray that Boston and LA don't meet up in the finals, because if they do I'll have no one to root for. I can't stand either of those franchises, so please--somebody pull off an upset. In the meantime, I think there's a baseball season that's underway and my beloved Twins are surprisingly in 1st place in the suddenly mediocre AL Central. I know...it's early, and the cream will likely rise to the top eventually (I'm thinking Cleveland, not Detroit at this point). But they're in it and that's all I can ask after losing Johan and Torii.

--Matthew

This past Sunday's installment of Enzian's monthly FilmSlam had the misfortune of falling on Mother's Day, but a healthy turnout of film lovers and local filmmakers still showed up and made their Moms proud--hopefully they also took them to brunch before or after the 1:00 show or treated for something tasty at the theater. Congratulations to Jose Zambrano Cassella, director of MINA, about a 12-year-old girl with a dark secret, for scoring big with the audience and winning 1st Place and an automatic bye into December's Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. Kudos also go out to 2nd Place winners C. Velasco, N. Saati, and S. Robinson for their humorous take on neighborhood politics, JOSEPH HUNTER FOR SPRINKLER CONTROL, and Gerald J. Godbout III's 3rd Place winner about a babysitter and a little boy's imaginary friend, IN THE DARK.

A job well done to all the filmmakers, with an impressive total of 8 films combining for an eclectic mix of themes and styles that kept the audience on their toes. Keep 'em coming...FilmSlam # 6 is just around the corner (June 8).

--Matthew

Before I head out to Northern California to meet up for a little vacation with the brothers, there's some good news to announce regarding Enzian's Cult Classics series that's been showing up the final Tuesday of every month for the past year or two. Apparently Orlando has seen the light (amen!) and there's a strong interest in seeing retro films in 35mm on the big screen at Enzian--especially when admission is only $5 and you can drink and eat and have a grand old time with a whole community of film lovers. So...by popular demand (literally), Cult Classics will now be a part of Enzian's programming twice monthly, appearing both the second and final Tuesday of every month in the 9:30 slot. And check out the lineup of titles for the next quarter of the calendar:

May 13 - 30th anniversary screening of one of the greatest concert films of all time, Martin Scorsese's THE LAST WALTZ featuring The Band, Dylan, Clapton, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood and many others.

May 27 - George Miller's THE ROAD WARRIOR (MAD MAX 2) starring Mel Gibson (when he was still way cool).

June 10 - The Ramones in Allan Arkush's ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

June 24 - Richard Linklater's DAZED AND CONFUSED

July 8 - Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION

July 29 - Danny Boyle's TRAINSPOTTING

With the continued support of the Central Florida cult classic-loving community, there should be plenty to look forward to with many more exciting titles to come. So circle your calendars and keep up the good work. We're all excited to be able to supplement our regular, week-to-week programming with such deserving cinematic stand-outs.

--Matthew

Looks like downtown Orlando is going to be waiting a lot longer for the much anticipated return of movie screens in the heart of the city. According to Thursday's Orlando Sentinel Business section, AMC Theatres has opted out of its agreement to manage a 12-screen multiplex in The Plaza office towers because of a lack of progress in completing interior work on the second floor theater complex. Despite the rumors that the only stuff left to do was relatively minor, RP Realty Partners, the owners of the space, haven't even said whether they'd complete the work if they happened to find another tenant. Apparently the crappy economy and the horrible real estate market--in particular condo sales downtown that would house a local audience that could walk to the movies--have got a lot of heavy hitters rethinking their strategies for the entertainment dollar in the city of Orlando.

How many years ago was this thing supposed to open? How many different chains have been attached to this multiplex? Must be pretty frustrating for the locals that did move with the hopes (and shattered dreams?) that downtown Orlando would soon have its first first-run screens since the Beacham Theater on Orange Avenue became a series of concert halls and clubs beginning in the mid-1970s. In the meantime, film lovers can always head 10 minutes north on 17-92 to Enzian in Maitland--you know there'll be a terrific film and great food, beer, wine and snacks waiting for you when you do. And at least you can take comfort in that.

--Matthew