Three excellent short films from last year's 2005 Florida Film Festival earned major kudos (and even some cash) at last week's Gen Art Film Festival in New York City. Jay Duplass' THE INTERVENTION, another uncomfortably funny and brilliant work from the creators of SCRABBLE and THE PUFFY CHAIR, had its North American Premiere at the FFF last March . By winning the Acura Grand Jury Short Film Award at Gen Art, the film earned itself a $5000 cash prize. The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Winter Park native Hannah Beth King for WET, her evocative and memorable tale of adolescence and morality in mid-80's Florida that had its World Premiere at FFF. Not only is Hannah from here, but WET was actually filmed at a house and neighborhood not far from the festival office affectionately known as "the bunker." Last but certainly not least, the Gen Art inaugural Stargazer Award, honoring "breakout talent for excellence in acting," was given to Katherine Cunningham-Eves for her role opposite Charlie Robinson in Scott Tuft's THE PASSAGE OF MRS. CALABASH. This fascinating deconstruction of an overnight train journey, two strangers, and a chicken, was a standout with a unique storyline and terrific performances.

Congratulations to all the filmmakers. It's always nice to see your programming choices succeed with other audiences and juries since every festival has its own identity and vibe.

-- Matthew

It's over...everyone is relaxing on vacation right? Not exactly. People often think that we just drop everything and bolt on the last day of the Festival. They don't realize that by the time we wrap up this year, we have already started on the next. After we ship all the prints back, after we wrestle with accounting and budget tracking, after we clean up the mess that is inevitably left behind AND get Enzian up and running again...we start the post mortem.

Before, during and after the festival everyone takes notes on the good, the bad and the ugly and turns them in to our fearless leader Peg to compile and divide into departments. Then it's a fun week's worth of meetings to crawl through every detail from what a great job the volunteers did to who cracked the toilet tank in the bathroom?

Sometimes painful, always entertaining, this process allows us to let go of the past and get excited about what we can do better for next year...first we just have to fix the toilet...

--Shannon

We did it! We survived, and not just the Festival. In the past year, the staffers here at Enzian have survived three hurricanes, the deaths of family members (in two cases two in one family within two weeks), car accidents, illnesses, and the dissolution of relationships...maybe God is punishing Florida. But we are still here and we produced a great festival (if I do say so myself).

This was my fifth festival and I don't think I have ever seen a staff (paid or volunteer) work so hard! And please, before we start to get letters, let me clear up the fact that the folks at Gatorland who provided us with "Jeb" really do care about those animals and use them to educate schoolchildren on wildlife preservation. Anyone who sees those men with those animals can tell they love them. Enough said.

Each year there is one moment where I think this is why we do this...this is why I do this. This year is was on closing night when I saw the tears of a packed house in reaction to AFTER INNOCENCE. When I saw it at Sundance, I knew we had to screen it in Florida, especially since there is current legislation pending in the Florida legislature regarding the use of DNA evidence. After director Jessica Sanders impassioned plea to the audience to take action, I think the real Jeb probably received a few calls yesterday...

Last week we shot the trailers and tv spots for the 2005 Florida Film Festival. I won't reveal the concept in the hopes we get our trailer online this year, but I will tell you the shoot involved backyard kiddie pools, an alleyway, a church, a landfill, a trailer (well, it is Florida!) and our favorite, The Parliament House. The P-House is Orlando's long-standing drag mecca and resident diva and all-around lovely person Miss Sammy helped us organize the whole thing. Watch for our ED Peg in a Hitchcock-esque cameo!

After the shoot, we all took shots of our own (lemon drops to be exact) and stayed for the Wednesday night "Anything Goes" drag show. Aside from the Britney wanna-bes we were also treated to the lip-synching stylings of Spikey Dykie (sp?) and one oversized diva who could do the splits. The air was filled with dollar bills...and I feel so much closer to our design team! But alas, it was way past our bedtime and we left around 1 am, missing the best part of the evening I am sure.

This week we are working on the "final" schedule (ha, ha) and the edit, plus a million other things. Volunteers, equipment, staff, press...the list is never-ending...until April 17th that is! Stay tuned...