Night of "A Thousand Stars" and A Few Dozen Indie Filmmakers
Friday night at the Sarasota Film Festival brought more people to town, as well as the annual "Night of a Thousand Stars" soiree which is apparently quite legendary. Legendary, how? Basically because it's probably one of the most extravagantly catered and liquored parties you'll ever attend (at least outside of some overblown Hollywood premiere party). I mean, this party rivals some of the best I've attended at Cannes. It was a fascinating spectacle, watching the local Sarasota film boosters mingling with the scrappy indie film crowd that was in town. Here are some pics from Friday evening (and not just all from the party):
(At the Hollywood 20, the festival's main venue, a gang of filmmakers run into each other in the hallway. Here we have Josh Safdie and Brett Jutkiewicz from The Pleasure of Being Robbed, Woodpecker director Alex Karpovsky, and Momma's Man director Azazel Jacobs. The first two films, premiered at SXSW 2008. Aza's movie is what I've come to call "the best SXSW movie that didn't play SXSW." It's a tremendous film.)
(Checking out a screening of Woodpecker on Saturday night, festival filmmaker pals Todd Rohal, Linas Phillips, Lynn Shelton, and Ben Kasulke sit back with some popcorn.)
(Very soon after we arrived at the "Night of a Thousand Stars" party, we discovered the amazing candy table. That's where I snapped this photo of Hamptons Film Festival director of programming David Nugent, right, and his girlfriend Violet. The candy table - which included M&Ms, Twizzlers, jelly beans, peppermint patties, and more - was a big hit with the 8-year-old in all of us.)
(Also at the party, blogger Mark Rabinowitz with the always fun writer Erin Torneo and her husband, Throw Down Your Heart director Sascha Paladino.)
(I couldn't resist getting a photo with two of my favorite film industry folks, Liesl Copland of Red Envelope Entertainment on the left and Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on the right of me. Next to Josh is a very special guest: Liesl's mom, attending her first film festival ever!)
(We Are Wizards editor Myles Kane and director Josh Koury, hurried over to the party immediately after their plane landed.)
(Indie film journalists unite! Chatting at the "Thousand Stars" party, I found Jason Guerrasio who is covering for Variety.com, Alison Willmore from the IFC Blog, and Nick Dawson from Filmmaker. )
