Congratulations to filmmaker David Munro and FULL GROWN MEN for winning the 2007 indieWIRE Undiscovered Gems Audience Award yesterday. The bittersweet comedy about a young man (Matt McGrath) who refuses to grow up--which was showcased in the 2007 Florida Film Festival last spring as the only narrative feature in the Florida Sidebar--won a theatrical distribution deal with Emerging Pictures that includes a $50,000 P&A guarantee and a $50,000 license fee for exclusive broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Complete with its satirical barbs at Disney World (or "Diggityland") and road trip north from Miami to Central Florida with characters along the way ranging from a disgruntled ex-theme park employee to a horny bartending clown to a delusional ex-Weeki Wachi mermaid, this is an often humorous tale of accepting responsibility and acting your age. The supporting cast of Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris, and Deborah Harry is a joy to watch, and FULL GROWN MEN is truly deserving of whatever kind of theatrical release it finally gets. A very nice way to start the new year...

--Matthew

Still playing catch-up after a few days spent out of touch in the wilds of Northern California and Oregon, and finally read the always-anticipated "25 New Faces of Independent Film" feature in the summer issue of FILMMAKER magazine. While the professional sports world seems to be imploding with scandal (from roids and HR records to star QBs indicted for dogfighting to NBA refs manipulating games for the mob--pro soccer and the NHL suddenly ain't lookin' so bad!), I was thrilled to discover that this annual survey of hot new talent on the indie film scene features a number of FFF 2007 alumni:

Moon Molson and his powerful dramatic short, POP FOUL, have been making the festival scene everywhere, and deservedly so. Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky, with their provocative post-Katrina doc short, GOD PROVIDES, and Sophie Barthes, with her off-beat short comedy starring Polish screen legend Elzbieta Czyzewska, HAPPINESS, will hopefully be having an encore performance as part of the Sundance Institute Art House Project shorts program coming in November to Enzian. Calvin Reeder and his twisted family horror piece, LITTLE FARM, made its East Coast Premiere at Midnight preceding Jeremy Saulnier's MURDER PARTY. And Phillip Van and his clever little slice of android sci-fi, HIGH MAINTENANCE, also had its East Coast Premiere here in March and went on to win the Florida Film Festival Audience Award for Best International Short.

Like other programmers who have championed the work of these extremely talented individuals, there's a certain feeling of pride in their recognition and continued success. So congratulations to all of you, and keep up the great work!

--Matthew

Congratulations are in order for a number of filmmakers whose work graced this year's Florida Film Festival a little over a month ago. This past weekend, Arturo Cabanas' MAN UP (which first stunned me in the video library at the IFP Market last September and ended up preceding ROW HARD NO EXCUSES at the FFF) won the award for Best Short Documentary at the recently completed Hot Docs in Toronto. And the juries at the Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFB) just unloaded a bunch of hardware on some familiar names and faces: Seth Gordon's THE KING OF KONG won Best Documentary Feature, Moon Molson's POP FOUL won Best Short Film, David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's KAMP KATRINA won the Special Jury Prize for Doc Feature, and John Thompson's SONGBIRD won the Special Jury Prize for Short Film.

Needless to say, you should jump at the opportunity to see any of these brilliant and accomplished films if they come to your town...or if you're lucky enough to be visiting a city with a festival or theater (in the case of the upcoming release of THE KING OF KONG) with them in the program.

--Matthew

Back from the depths of festival insanity and finally coming up for air. Thanks to all those filmmakers, moviegoers, special guests, jurors, panelists, industry types and cinema lovers who helped make our 16th edition the best, most fun, and most memorable one yet! In case you didn't catch it in our illustrious daily metropolitan newspaper (I haven't seen anything yet, have you?) or on-line, here's our distinguished list of winners for 2007:

Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature: BLACK IRISH, directed by Brad Gann

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: BLACK IRISH, directed by Brad Gann

Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature: KNEE DEEP, directed by Michael Chandler

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature: UNSETTLED, directed by Adam Hootnick

Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short: THE CARESS OF THE CREATURE, directed by Stewart McAlpine

Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short: THE TRIBE, directed by Tiffany Shlain

Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short: EVERYTHING WILL BE OK, directed by Don Hertzfeldt

Audience Award for Best Short Film: TALES OF MERE EXISTENCE, directed by Lev Yilmaz

Special Jury Award for Best Actress: Meagan Moses of PRETTY IN THE FACE, directed by Nate Meyer

Special Jury Award for Innovative Documentary Storytelling: OPERATION HOMECOMING, directed by Richard E. Robbins

Special Jury Award for Best Female Role Model: BITCH, directed by Lilah Vandenburgh

Audience Award for Best International Feature: IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (UK), directed by David Sington

Audience Award for Best International Short: HIGH MAINTENANCE (Germany), directed by Phillip Van

Congratulations to all the filmmakers. We are honored to present your work and look forward to future projects.

--Matthew

Judy Greer and Jake Kasdan's THE TV SET. Peter Bogdanovich and an archival print of PAPER MOON. Chazz Palminteri coming in for the Full Sail panel. Samm (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared) Levine and LIFE IS SHORT. The writers of FACE/OFF and THE MASK, AMERICAN PSYCHO and GO FISH, CRIMES OF PASSION, the CHILD'S PLAY series, and THE AIR I BREATHE all on the same screenwriting panel. The World Premiere of KNEE DEEP, the fascinating new doc feature from Michael Chandler, Oscar-nominated editor of AMADEUS, MISHIMA, and NEVER CRY WOLF. Some of the best shorts programs, both domestic and international, live action and animated, that you will ever get to see.

These are but a few of the highlights in store over the next ten days as the 16th annual Florida Film Festival takes flight on Friday evening. After 8 months of work, these 171 films from 24 countries--including 38 World, North American, and US Premieres--are ready for their close-up. We hope you can join us!

-- Matthew

This is Michael Ferraro, the Programming Coordinator for the 2007 Florida Film Festival, informing you of just a sample of short films playing in our awesomely deranged Midnight Shorts program.

Carles Torrens' Coming to Town plays out like Bad Santa on crack! It's a dark tale about Santa's alcoholic brother and demon assistant out to deliver one special 11-year-old girl her dream Holiday present - revenge! Needless to say, she probably won't be picked on too much more after this magical holiday evening.

Even more dark is Michael Medaglia's The Ratsnitch Angel - showing exclusively in 1 1/2 D - that's... well, you'll have to see this one for yourself. The Sundance alum songbird, directed by John Thompson, also takes a bizarre (and by bizarre, I mean gruesome) stab at revenge.

T. Arthur Cottam's Filthy Food is probably exactly what you'd expect the title suggest. Enjoy the mouth of a woman connecting with various foods in multiple ways we haven't seen before. And speaking of which, director Will Hartman's piece, entitled Moosecock, also has to do with eating but not in similar fashion. Brian Baumgartner (from NBC's The Office) co-stars in this take on the infamous joke told mostly in bars by people who've probably had more than one drink or two.

Oh, and have you ever wondered what would happen if you made your little sister drink a concoction of household cleaners (and such)? Hyperactive Ingredients, directed Trevor Piecham and Ben Spinney, has the answer. The Florida Film Festival Midnight Shorts Program has all of these hilarious (and somewhat disturbing) shorts, and many more.

You can see the Midnight Shorts Program this Saturday night, March 24th, at midnight at the Enzian, or next Saturday (3/31 at midnight again) at the Regal Winter Park Village.

See you at the festival!!

--Michael Ferraro

While I could be writing about how pathetic and embarrassing and truly awful our local pro basketball franchise has become after such a promising beginning to the year, I've decided instead to dwell on more positive developments on the entertainment scene. It's always bothered me that the International Narrative Shorts and International Animated Shorts programs at the Florida Film Festival only got one showing each. Since these programs were so popular and so labor intensive and costly to produce (especially when considering return shipping charges), why not make it a priority to get them both an additional screening?

I'm happy to report that we've pulled it off for this year's 16th annual festival which opens next Friday, March 23. The two programs, which are comprised of 22 films from 9 countries, include 5 US Premieres and are two of the finest and most diverse shorts collections we've ever asembled. The International Animated Shorts program even has two documentaries(!) in its line-up: the stunning MCLAREN'S NEGATIVES from Canada about film artist and innovator Norman McLaren, and NEVER LIKE THE FIRST TIME! from Sweden, a fascinating and ingenious memory film with four people recalling their first sexual experiences.

So you now have two shots apiece at catching the International Shorts programs from Friday, March 30 - Sunday, April 1--chances are, there won't be another opportunity to ever again see these on the big screen in Central Florida. You don't want to miss out...and don't forget to vote on your Audience Award ballots.

--Matthew

I'm never quite sure why it takes so long to get my three Florida Film Festival juries locked down and confirmed. After all, we fly people down to Central Florida during the most gorgeous time of the year (late March) to spend 4 - 5 days relaxing (with a little work mixed in), watch a reasonable amount of great films, eat wonderful food (during the movies themselves if the screening's at Enzian), party, and engage in conversation with others as passionate as themselves about cinema. Or perhaps it's the balance I always strive for in each jury, with a combination of both men and women, a filmmaker in that particular genre, a distributor, and a third person from another part of the industry such as producer, actor, critic, journalist, publicist, etc. For whatever reason, it's a surprisingly difficult and stressful process and I'm thankful when we're able to finally put together such a distinguished set of juries as we have this year:

Narrative Features: James Shapiro - Director of Rental Sales, Planning, & Acquisitions, Starz Entertainment/Anchor Bay Entertainment; Gene Seymour - Film Critic, Newsday;and Guinevere Turner - Actress/Director/Screenwriter (GO FISH, AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE)

Documentaries: Charles Coleman - Film Program Director of the Facets Cinematheque; Daniel Anker - Filmmaker (SCOTTSBORO: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, IMAGINARY WITNESS: HOLLYWOOD AND THE HOLOCAUST); and Michael Schmidt - Director of Theatrical Marketing, Kino International

Live Action & Animated Shorts: Thelma Adams - Film Critic, Us Weekly; Mark Bell - Editor-in-Chief, Film Threat; and Scott Calonico - Filmmaker (THE KING AND DICK, FULL METAL SLACKS, SAFETY FIRST)

We look forward to having them down as our special guests and demonstrating some Southern hospitality.

-- Matthew

In my 16 years of working on the Florida Film Festival--the first five as Selection Committee member and the last eleven as Programming Director--I have never seen such a dominant showing of formidable talent from one film school as we have this year. Those of you who attended Sundance are probably already aware of the extraordinary artistry displayed by Columbia University students and alumni, since 10 of the 71 shorts selected out of more than 4000 submissions all came from this one institution--remarkable!

Well that trend continues at this year's Florida Film Festival, ready to launch in just three weeks. While the numbers aren't quite as staggering as the Sundance percentages, 6 out of the 27 shorts in the American Independent Narrative Shorts Competition (selected from over 600 entries in that category) are all from Columbia. Yet only three played in Park City: Lilah Vandenburgh's BITCH, Sophie Barthes' HAPPINESS, and Moon Molson's POP FOUL. Our other three are just as good, yet didn't make it into the Sundance 10: Tobin Addington's DANCING GROUND, Benjamin Gray's THE HUNTER, and Julia Kots' NATURALIZED.

Not only that, but had the filmmakers struck a 35mm print like they indicated on their submission forms, we would also be playing two more outstanding works: Ian Olds' BOMB and C.C. Webster's CIVIL WAR. Unfortunately, by the time we found out that they were actually video only, our video shorts programs were all locked and confirmed. But it easily could have been 8 out of the 27 instead of 6, and either way it's unprecedented. And what's even more impressive is how diverse this group of films really is, with nothing really in common except their excellence.

There are a lot of fine film schools in this country, including a few right here in Florida, but what this group of student filmmakers from Columbia University has achieved can only be described as stunning. Hopefully you'll get to experience these fine films for yourselves.

--Matthew

This past weekend Enzian played host to 32 short films, a couple of hundred spectators, and a dozen filmmakers at the 15th annual Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. The two programs of Florida films were judged by a local industry jury made up of Orlando Weekly Music/Film EditorJason Ferguson, Florida Film Monthly Publisher/Editor Michael McNamara, and Enzian/Florida Film Festival Director of Marketing and Development Shannon Lacek. Their responsibility was to select the best works from Brouhaha, which will then be featured in the 2007 Florida Film Festival this March in an "Emerging Filmmakers Showcase."

The following films were selected as representing the best of Brouhaha: from the University of Central Florida, Chris Shields' SEX MACHINE 2025, Aaron Brownlee's AMERICAN DELUXE, and Tiina Treasure's THE WORLD, NAKED AS A JAYBIRD; from Florida State University, Alex Durham's WOLF and Demetrius Wren and Wilson G. Tang's OF MY GOD; from Full Sail Real World Education, Gail Grate, Kevin Hirsch, Sandy Mehlman, and Nicholas Roselius' AMATEUR; from University of Miami, Kirsten Strom's LES VWA; from Ringling School of Art & Design, Guillermo Careaga's SUGAR RUSH, Kevin Andrus' CORNER OF LOVE & HEARTBREAK, Fernanda Santiago's OUR SPECIAL DAY!, HanJin Song's THE FLY, and Lindsay VanderGalien's MOE & LES; and independent submissions BLINK, by Maia Monasterios, and HARD, by Wayne Leman.

Congratulations to all of the winners--we'll see you in March at the FFF!

--Matthew

Animation is always a big deal at the Florida Film Festival, and this year we're adding something special. In addition to the usual Animated Shorts program in the American Independent Competition, the International Animated Shorts program, and the "extreme" titles that make their way into the Midnight Shorts, computer animation will be the subject of a just-confirmed new forum.

The beautiful and humorous FIRST FLIGHT, the first original character short from DreamWorks Animation studio, will be the subject of the panel to take place on Friday, March 30. Directors Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson--who between them have worked on such films as SHREK, SHARK TALE, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, SINBAD, and STUART LITTLE 2--will be in attendance to discuss the creative and technical process behind their stunning short about an uptight businessman who finds himself teaching a tiny bird how to fly. This should be a must-see for anyone interested in CG animation or who wants to learn about the passion needed to create a short film within the studio system, so mark your calendars.

--Matthew

No doubt that many of you out there are anxiously awaiting to hear your fate from a certain prominent festival out West somewhere. We certainly want to wish you the best of luck, but also remind you that there are plenty of other fine festivals on the horizon no matter what happens with your film and Sundance. And one of those fine festivals just happens to be the 16th annual Florida Film Festival (March 23 - April 1, 2007), which also just happens to have a late entry (postmark) deadline for both narrative and documentary features coming up this Friday, December 1.

So the time for procrastinating is officially over. If you've got a film over 40 minutes in length that you've been on the fence about when and where to submit besides Park City, do it now! We'd love to see your work, but the window of opportunity will be shutting this weekend. As always, entry info is available at both enzian.org and floridafilmfestival.com.

Is it a shameless plug if we know there's still great stuff out there that's yet to be submitted, or merely the rant of an eternally optimistic programmer?

--Matthew

The first of a number of informative and entertaining panels for this year's 16th annual Florida Film Festival (March 23 - April 1) has been set, and we couldn't be more excited. Thursday, March 29, Enzian will be hosting an extraordinary line-up of succesful screenwriters in a forum discussing the challenges and benefits of working within both the studio system and the independent film world.

Moderating the festivities will be Barry Sandler, University of Central Florida Film Professor and writer of such films as CRIMES OF PASSION and MAKING LOVE. Scheduled panelists include Mike Werb (CURIOUS GEORGE, FACE/OFF, THE MASK); Don Mancini (the CHILD'S PLAY series, HBO's "Tales From the Crypt"); Guinevere Turner (THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE, AMERICAN PSYCHO, GO FISH); and former Florida Film Festival Programming Coordinator Bob DeRosa, whose romantic crime drama, THE AIR I BREATHE, co-written with writer/director Jieho Lee and starring Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Sarah Michelle Geller, and Brendan Fraser, is due for release in Spring 2007.

It's never to early to mark your calendars, and this sounds like an event that's not to be missed for both film students and film lovers alike.

--Matthew

That's right! Another one of those oh-so-final postmark deadlines approaches this Friday, November 17, for all films 40 minutes or less that want to be considered for this year's 16th annual Florida Film Festival (March 23 - April 1). If you've been pondering sending in your baby, whether it's domestic or international, now's the time to make it happen. We love to show short films, and generally feature upwards of a dozen different programs composed of nearly 100 shorts. And of course, our Grand Jury Award winner will automatically qualify for consideration for the 2008 Oscars. Don't procrastinate any longer--entries must be in transit this weekend so everything is received by next week.

As always, information and submission forms are available through Without a Box and at the Enzian and Festival websites (enzian.org and floridafilmfestival.com). Good luck! We look forward to seeing your work.

--Matthew

From the shameless plug and friendly reminder department...Two of Enzian's most venerable and longstanding special events have important deadlines today: the 16th annual Florida Film Festival and the 15th annual Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. The Film Festival, which takes place March 23 - April 1, 2007, has its early entry deadline for features, both narrative and documentary, domestic and international. That is a "postmark" deadline, not a "received by" one, so submissions should be in transit by this weekend to avoid any late fees. But if your latest project is not quite ready for preview (we do look at a large percentage of rough cuts by the way), there is a second, "late entry" deadline of December 1. As always, entry info and a submission form are available at www.floridafilmfestival.com, so don't dawdle.

Today's other deadline is for Brouhaha (December 2 & 3), and again it is a "postmark" one. Brouhaha is Enzian's annual showcase for homegrown films of all kinds. Schools are invited to submit or curate their finest 20 minutes of work created by the students free of charge, and other independent filmmakers from throughout Florida can also submit their short work for a nominal fee. As was done last year for the first time, Brouhaha will once again be juried by local industry professionals, and the best 85 to 90 minutes of film will be honored in an "Emerging Florida Filmmakers" program in next year's Florida Film Festival. Entry forms are available at www.enzian.org or in the theater lobby. We look forward to screening your work!

-- Matthew

The 16th Annual Florida Film Festival will take place March 23 - April 1, 2007 when filmmakers and film lovers can enjoy all the best that Florida has to offer. The Festival includes narrative and documentary features and shorts, animation, midnight movies, and a full array of educational forums, glamorous parties, and other special events. The Florida Film Festival is also a qualifying festival for the Oscars in the category of live action short films. The winner of the Grand Jury Prize Award for Best Narrative Short will automatically qualify to enter the Live Action Short Film category of the Academy Awards.