I was sitting at my desk tonight, deep in concentration, working away on Sarasota Film Festival business when suddenly, the entire office shook with a thunderous "Boom!"; It was as if someone had blown in the door on the first floor, rattling the whole building and scaring the shit out of me. I got up and instantly, another huge, house-shaking "POP!" followed. I ran downstairs and looked around the office for signs of damage or an intruder, then looked out into the street to see if there had been an accident or if someone might be in need of help. Nothing. Business as usual. Was I going crazy?

It turns out there was a perfectly reasonable explanation...

I have been notoriously un-Dentler-like in blogging about the upcoming Sarasota Film Festival and I feel bad about it. I think it has something to do with my writing process; I haven't been to the movies in three weeks, and without the stimulation of the cinema to think deeply and write about, I tend to spend my days immersed in the details of the upcoming festival. That means meetings, planning, support for other departments, and the day-to-day grunt work involved in making the festival go. For me, time to think and write has been a luxury. It's not that I don't have anything I want to share or, say, any fun new films we've added to the lineup that I want to talk about, but I haven't had the presence of mind to write about things in a way that makes me happy. That is going to change in the coming days. Part of me wants to get excited for the festival by (narcissistic as it might be) sharing what Holly and I have put together, but mostly I want to discuss ideas about why the festival is what it is. So, I am going to start now.

Tonight, the good folks over at Movie Geeks United! had me on for what I can only describe as the most flattering and kind interview of which I have ever been a part. Jamey DuVall, the show's host, has been a tireless advocate for our festival on the show and his support means the world to us; The Movie Geeks United! crew have had several of our filmmakers on over this past year and, after several Craigslist-worthy missed connections, I was finally able to talk with Jamey and the team tonight. I have embedded the interview below in the hopes that you'll listen and get a little background on the festival. We discuss Sarasota in the first segment, but stay tuned for a great conversation with author Mark Harris, discussing his new book on the 1968 Best Picture nominees. Jamey has a great program, and you can sign up for the podcast on iTunes or tune in on Sundays and Wednesdays at the website and join the discussion. I am honored to have been on and look forward to the Movie Geeks United! coverage of the festival this year.

Congratulations to AJ Schnack, Thom Powers and all of the winners and nominees on what seems to have been an exceptional night at the IFC Center. As a Nominating Programmer for the First Annual Cinema Eye Awards shortlist and having voted for the awards, I am proud to have been a small part of what I think was an important process to bring proper recognition to the field of non-fiction filmmaking. I truly hope AJ and Thom will invite me to participate again next year as I was deeply honored to have been included and very much enjoyed being involved. I only wish my obligations in Florida had not kept me from attending the ceremony.

I am going to stay quiet on the winners and losers (except to say that I was very surprised in several categories) because for me, all of the films on the short list were exceptional and deserved to be recognized. I think these awards are a great idea and I can't wait to see how the process changes and things develop in the coming years. Regardless, this is a very exciting (and seemingly very well executed) first step and again, I couldn't be more proud and honored to have been involved. Congratulations and I look forward to reading the thoughts and reactions of the film community to the awards in the coming days...

On my way to bed, but just a note to offer my friend and colleague Matt Dentler best wishes for a successful festival... I know he's been far too busy with preparations for his festival to post on his blog lately, but I do hope he can take a minute to let the rest of us know which films might be showing at SXSW this year. Matt, when you have a second... you have a blog... for heaven's sake, use it!

Seriously though, best wishes to Matt and the SXSW team and everyone heading to Austin... I'll be comfortably situated at my desk making sure our catalog and website are locked and loaded for the Sarasota Film Festival, but I'll post more when you're all back from your tacos and Shiner Bock and watching the bats migrate and the live bands and the amazing films and the great city of Austin and... *jealous sigh*... one day I'll be able to join you...

Best wishes and I hope we'll see you (I know we'll be seeing Matt) in FL when it's all over.

Have a great SXSW!

(curls into a ball, starts working on database while weeping...)