Florida Film Festival

Why Should You Care About Another Regional Film Festival? This One In Florida Has the Answer

Greg Cwik — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 13:39:41 GMT

To some, the sun-drenched, tourist-magnet city of Maitland, Florida may seem like an odd place for an art-house movie theater and film festival. Disney World is right around the corner, so who wants to go sit in a dark room and watch a John Cassavettes film?

But, contrary to these misconception, Maitland does have a thriving movie-loving community: a thirsty, film-savvy coterie. The Enzian, the quirky single-screen theater in which the Florida Film Festival is rooted, and around which the local community has grown and thrived, acts as a sort of Mecca for Central Florida filmgoers. And this isn't a group of old people wearing flower-pattern shirts and flip flops with socks, to usurp another bias. A couple hundred people showed up at 11am to hear indie filmmaker Shawn Christensen talk about how he expanded his Oscar-winning short "Curfew," which played the Florida Film Festival in 2012, into a full-length feature, "Before I Disappear." ("I'm not a morning person," Christensen said, "So I applaud anyone who can wake before noon to come to a movie.")

Earlier in the week, Giancarlo Esposito gave an enlightening 90-minute talk following the still-relevant "Do the Right Thing," and later, on a warm, rainless Friday night, Susan Sarandon was in attendance for a showing of her Oscar-winning film "Dead Man Walking" followed by an interview. The line to see Sarandon snaked around the outside of the theater. People stood outside the doors for up to four hours waiting to catch a glimpse of the icon, who discussed, among other things, the tricky definition of "feminism" and her voiceover work for social activist documentaries. Earlier that day, Paul Sorvino showed up for his new film "Last I Heard," and the next day he was back for "Goodfellas," shown on glorious 35mm. Sorvino recited poetry, sang a bit of opera, and sought to "dispel notions that [he is] a slow-moving, lead-footed Mafioso." Notion dispelled, Paul.

Oh, and the Enzian's film-savvy faithful would like you to know that Disney World is 35 miles away. There are no Mickey Mouse ears in sight here.

The Enzian, established in 1985, is at once a familiar place for moviegoers, and an altogether different kind of entity: you'll find that all-enveloping darkness unique to movie theaters — the kind of darkness through which you can still make out the silhouettes of the backs of heads, and just barely see the butter gleaming on the mound of popcorn harbored in waxy paper bags, and watch the harmonious swirling of dust caught in the swath of light spilling out of the projection booth and washing over the screen in 24 frames of luminous chaos per second.

But you'll also find a selection of beer, from Miller to craft favorites Terrapin and local brew Swamp Head; you'll hear the feint clatter of silverware, and smell the distinct aroma of fried chicken, and sit in a thickly-cushioned seat with ample room on either side of you. They could easily fit another couple-hundred seats here, but then you wouldn't have the beer, the fried chicken, the thickly-cushioned seats with ample room. Someone accustomed to the dingy confines of tiny, sometimes squalid (but lovably squalid) New York art-houses may find it jarring sit in such absurd comfort while watching, say, Bergman's "The Silence."

There's a kind of tranquility to the whole endeavor, like catching a matinee on your off day. And the lack of journalists descending en masse upon the stars, trying desperately to grab a quick pic, or catch a headline-making quote, is a pleasant change. (More than one person, from Susan Sarandon to passersby having a drink after a screening with some of the filmmakers, made fleeting comments on the manipulative nature of journalists, sentiments echoed by the scary cult-leader in Ti West's "The Sacrament," which played at the Florida Film Festival this year.)

So, at a time when myriad film festivals offer myriad ways in which a film fan can consume myriad films of high quality, what purpose does the Florida Film Festival, which doesn’t offer many world premieres or that deluge of super stars and parties affixed to New York and LA, serve? Why does the Florida Film Festival exist?

Whereas the trek from screening to screening at big film festivals is circuitous and nerve-shredding, the Florida Film Festival feels like a long weekend, where you can recharge and relax while watching depressing art-house indies about suicidal drug addicts in Brooklyn. The FFF, which turns 30 next year, is an intimate affair, and its relatively small lineup means only two or three films overlap, so you don’t have to pick between six or eight films (everything in competition also plays twice).

The festival was birthed from the ashes of the one-and-done Orlando International Film Festival, which hinted at the possibilities for a central Florida film festival, and showed that there was in fact an audience for art-house movies in Mickey Mouse's big back yard. There were far fewer film festivals in 1992 than there are now, explained Siggy Tiedtke, chairman of the Enzian; like creative writing workshops, Tiedtke, artisan coffee shops, film festivals are proliferating like rabbits kept in confined spaces.

Tiedtke (or Siggy, as everyone calls her) waves her arms with enthusiasm, describing the roots of the Enzian's name: an enzian is a beautiful blue flower, found in the Alps—and, if one looks closely, is discernible among the more well-known edelweiss in "The Sound of Music." (An enzian is also a WWII-era surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile, but that’s just a coincidence.) Aptly, the Enzian is wreathed by beautiful foliage. The theater, which is "bursting at the seams" with programming, plans on adding two more screens, ideally in time for the festival's 30th anniversary next year, which would mean popular indies like "The Artist" and "Moonrise Kingdom," which played for about nine weeks each, could take up one screen while the other two screens would be dedicated to a revolving selection of less-popular films and cult favorites.

Variety's Scott Foundas, who first attended the FFF when he was a high school student in Tampa ("Those were the days when the gang who went on to make 'The Blair Witch Project' were still working on the festival staff," he said) and has acted as a juror for the short films program and as a guest curator for the festival, is a big enthusiast for smaller regional festivals.

"In a bigger city like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco,” Foundas said, "you can be reasonably confident that the major indie and art-house films of the year will eventually come your way via a week at the local art-house or a one-off at the local film society or museum screening series. But if you're in Orlando or Nashville or St. Louis, the options are considerably more limited, and so the role of a festival like FFF becomes more crucial."

Programming Director Matthew Curtis has been at FFF since the beginning — originally as a member of the selection committee, before becoming full time in the summer of 1996. During the Reagan era he helped bring cult films like David Lynch's "Eraserhead," "The Grandmother" and the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple" to a new audience while working at Corinth in the early eighties, so he's no spring chicken in the independent film world. He thinks diversity — in subject matter, tone, origin, audience appeal — is integral to making a film festival good.

"We want to enlighten viewers," Curtis explained. "We're showing films from countries that don't get a lot of distribution down here."

Poland is represented by Pawl Pawlikowsiki's gorgeously bleak "Ida," shot in Bergman-approved 4:3, and Turkey by Can Evrenol's tar-black Satanic short "Baskin," which preceded Ti West's "The Sacrament." Australia’s Jennifer Kent offered her debut "The Babadook," a fairytale nightmare that's been heralded by horror fans.

Curtis, whose unabashed penchant for "dark, twisted" films warms the horror fan's heart, is especially proud of this year's selection of "insane" midnight films, which act as a (stomach-churning) alternate to the more family-friendly films.

Driving home the handmade quality to the lineup are whispers that Curtis doesn't use a computer for his work. He somehow makes use of a wall plastered in Post-It notes, rumor has it, to coordinate his endeavors. The staff lovingly refers to him as "completely analog."

As a relatively minute festival, the FFF at once competes and works in tandem with the many other festivals against which it goes up. The festival has congenial relationships with Sarasota (with which it overlaps), Tribeca (which starts before FFF's projector bulb has cooled on closing night), and Ashland Independent Film Festival, at which Shawn Christensen's debut feature "Before I Disappear" (screening at FFF, with Christensen in attendance), won Best Cinematography.

When Christensen's Oscar-winning short "Curfew" played the FFF two years ago, it ironically placed second in both the audience and jury's selections, though it spurred the most conversation of any film that year. The competition for shorts is intense, since the FFF, according to Christensen, is completely earnest in its treatment of short films, which are often designated “second-class citizens” by other festivals.

"You either get a good vibe from a festival," Christensen said, "or you get a bad one. It can be exhilarating or defeating. The shorts have a good audience here."

Unlike, say, Sundance — the monolithic festival at which filmmakers vie for the attention of potential distributors and backers — smaller gatherings like FFF offer a more intimate atmosphere, devoid of distribution pressures, which seems to lend itself well to short film programming. And FFF is now an Oscar-qualifying festival for narrative short films: if a short film wins the Grand Jury Award, it automatically qualifies for Oscar consideration. This year’s winner was "Aftermath," a dark, 20-minute tale of two brothers seeking refuge in a frigid, predatory new age.

So, to get back to our root question: Why does the Florida Film Festival exist? Why should a moviegoer go to this festival, and why should a filmmaker screen his or her film here, where there are no distributors, very few world premieres, and far more palm trees than there are movie screens?

It’s pretty simple, actually: It feels like a vacation. The staff and moviegoers are unequivocally friendly, the selection of films is good, the beer is good, and the theater is absurdly comfortable. It isn’t going to challenge its bigger brethren in terms of audience size or world premieres and prestige factors, but it doesn’t have to — it has its niche, and the dedicated followers.

"We're here because we love movies," said a volunteer driver who only gave his first name, Matt, as he gunned it through a yellow light in an attempt to get a certain journalist to an interview on time last weekend. It was a moment that encapsulated what's so great about a small festival like FFF: a volunteer adorned with a big smile and beaming sunglasses, driving around in a rented mini-van, talking about movies, pointing out the best Thai restaurants in town as they pass, determined to do his job — his non-paying job — with gusto and aplomb. Even when this certain journalist offered to walk the short distance from the Enzian to the Reagal, which lends two screen to the festival, the volunteer staff maintain with swift persistence, at 2:00 a.m., and say no, no, no, we’ll drive you: "We have to maintain our reputation for southern hospitality."

Reputation maintained.

Florida Film Festival Program Includes 'A Trip to Italy,' 'The Babadook' and More

Max O'Connell — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 14:39:43 GMT

Get ready, Florida film lovers, because the program for the 23rd Annual Florida Film Festival has just been announced. The festival will host 170 features, documentaries and shorts, along with celebrity guest appearances, forums and parties.

Opening the festival is Michael Winterbottom's "A Trip to Italy," the follow-up to Winterbottom, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's 2010 film and series about a pair of friends (Coogan and Brydon, playing fictionalized versions of themselves) going on a restaurant tour throughout England, bickering all the way. The new series debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Also coming from Sundance: "The Babadook," Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent's buzz-building horror film; Richard Ayoade's Kafka-esque Dostoevsky adaptation "The Double," starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska; and "Wetlands," a German film about a young woman with shocking and often gross tendencies when it comes to hygiene and sexuality.

Other highlights include new films from David Gordon Green ("Joe"), Richard Shepard ("Dom Hemingway"), Fred Schepisi ("Words and Pictures"), Kim Ki-duk ("Moebius"), and Ti West ("The Sacrament").

The Florida Film Festival runs from April 4-13. For more the full listing of films, click here.

Is the Next Great Hope of American Film Hiding In Florida?

Eric Kohn — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 17:43:59 GMT

"If you can keep your creative juices flowing, you can make a lot of money in the arts here," said the cab driver taking me to the airport in Key West, Florida over the weekend.

To anyone who doesn't reside on this sunny island riddled with pleasure-seeking vacationers and complaisant retirees, that statement might come as a surprise, but this cabbie had found his niche: A musician and wedding photographer on the weekends, he fled the growing cultural scene in Austin, Texas 11 years ago and never looked back.

There was a similar element of unexpected artistic contentment found throughout the Key West Film Festival -- and, by extension, the entire region -- which concluded its second edition on Sunday.

For the past decade, Key West has been home to a classy three-screen indie theater, the Tropic Cinema, which has provided an outlet for a much broader range of movies than the local multiplex. The theater was partly founded by writer Jean Carper and retired law professor George Cooper, whose wife is illustrious fiction author Judy Blume. The couple is among the established part-time residents of Key West who populated the festival this year, which also welcomed filmmakers Shane Carruth, Terry George and Paul Haggis as guests.

Ultimately, though, the Key West Film Festival provided a showcase of the fairly robust film scene that, in recent years, has taken hold in neighboring Miami. Kareem Tabsch, a programmer for Miami's independent O Cinema, assembled the festival's "Florida Shorts Program" to exclusively showcase Miami-based productions. The result was an extraordinary range of new cinema that riffs on distinct aspects of the Florida environment.

Each selection illustrates the way young filmmakers have started to riff on the state's history and iconography with fresh approaches that make the region's film community stand out. The most startling of the bunch, "#Postmodem," comes from Miami filmmaking couple Jillian Mayer and Lucas Levya, who run Borscht Corp. -- a collective that produces shorts, installations, and a film festival with the stated goal to "redefine the stereotypically insipid depiction of our city in the mainstream media."

"#Postmodem" certainly does that with memorable results. The 13-minute short, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, playfully and exuberantly probes futurist concepts surrounding the notion of a technological singularity: It opens with the haunting montage of adorable young children on a playground directly addressing the camera about the inevitability of their demise. It then dovetails into a bizarre instructional video about the possibility of uploading one's consciousness to the cloud, which climaxes with an intensely surreal and borderline hypnotic music video ("Mega Mega Upload," below), followed by a seemingly normal woman attempting just that -- by jamming a CD-ROM directly into her cerebral cortex.

That unsettling transition is balanced off by a lyrical interlude in which the woman (Mayer) wanders around a Miami beach in the nude before lifting above the waves in a water jet back -- still in her birthday suit -- providing a strangely triumphant statement on the prospects of self-empowerment in the internet age. The tranquil finale is something of a revelation: The idea of the aforementioned singularity as an empty, colorful swing set that's both touchingly delicate and notably false.

Mayer and Levya, who are currently in the process of preparing their feature film debut, display the kind of formalist invention within the dynamics of the short film that once put director Benh Zeitlin on the map prior to the completion of "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Just as that movie was preceded by Zeitlin's similarly expressionistic fable "Glory at Sea," the Miami filmmakers' shorts suggest that their eventual arrival in the feature realm will catch many more audiences by surprise with an exceptional vision confidently rooted in a unique time and place.

Other highlights in the Florida shorts program, also produced by Borscht Corp., utilized the environment in different ways. Actress-producer-director Amy Seimetz, a Florida native, was technically in town to promote her role in Yen Tan's gentle drama "Pit Stop," but also directed "When We Lived In Miami," the tale of a defiant mother that was shot in the midst of tropic storm Isaac. Seimetz plays the mom of a six-year-old clueless to her parents' marital troubles, even as they swirl about the family in a physical manifestation provided by the real life storm. As with Seimetz's feature debut, the outstanding minimalist crime saga "Sun Don't Shine," Florida's climate becomes the primary driving force of the plot.

Similarly, the state's history provides a compelling backdrop for "Waiting for Berta" (which screened at the Borscht Film Festival last year), in which an elderly woman tracks down an old foe on the eve of Fidel Castro's death. And then there was "Cockfight," Julian Yuri Rodriguez's wacky metaphorical look at Miami's underground cockfighting scene that abruptly transforms its beaked competitors into human beings.

Viewed through the lens of these productions, Miami takes on a remarkably complex definition rich with cinematic possibilities. Such potential wasn't lost on festival founder Brooke Christian, a D.C.-based executive whose family has lived in the Key West area for over 20 years. While Florida has its fair share of significant festivals, particularly the indie film launchpad at the Sarasota Film Festival and Orlando fixture the Florida Film Festival, Key West offered space for another welcome excuse to explore the state's film community.

"From the outset, Brooke had a clear [vision] for the festival in bringing a first class film festival to a market ripe for one given its strong support of the arts and creative spirit," said program director Michael Tuckman, a prominent New York-based theatrical booker who runs M Tuckman Media. "He went out of his way to avoid any kind of niche programming angle and instead cast a wide net covering all genres of film in trying to build a program as diverse as the community."

For future editions, Tuckman said the team hopes to develop Key West into "a showcase for South Florida and Key West filmmakers in particular."

A glance at the recent lineup makes that assertion more appealing than it may appear. Just ask the cab drivers.

LatinoBuzz: Miami International Film Festival

Juan Caceres — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:30:00 GMT

'THE BOY WHO SMELLS LIKE FISH' (USA) Dir. By ANALEINE CAL Y MAYOR

LatinoBuzz: This is your first film - they say that sometimes you have been waiting your whole life to tell the first one - Was that the case with this story?

Analeine Cal Y Mayor: Not with this story. I had never heard about this disease until 2006 in the first place. I was waiting indeed for a long time to direct my first feature. I felt I was ready and I enjoyed working with actors very much but the story was not waiting in a drawer for years fortunately. I saw the article in the newspaper and I immediately knew I wanted to do a film based on that news. It was a beautiful girl with this terrible disease, Trimethylaminuria, terrible more because of what it causes emotionally and psychologically to the persons not so much the physical part. I wanted to turn this drama into a comedy, otherwise I would do a documentary.

LatinoBuzz: Was it always an intention when you were writing the screenplay, that this would be in English?

Analeine Cal Y Mayor: Actually it was not the intention at all. I wrote it in Spanish with another screenwriter (Javier Gullón) thinking it would be shot in Spanish. But I always imagined a North American neighborhood where Mica, the main character, lives. Partly inspired by Elvis´ Graceland, he lives in a museum house of Mexican kitsch singer Guillermo Garibai but we don´t have those museums in Spain or Mexico. We started even casting Spanish actors but suddenly it didn´t make sense where they lived. Somehow it didn’t fit that the actor was saying “joder” and other Spanish slang with this setting. Also the singer was supposedly very famous so I wanted it to be outside Mexico, he was an International singer after all. Now that I see the film it seems naturally suited for English language and the good news is that nobody that read it after it was translated suspected it was first in Spanish. Then my Canadian producer Niv Fichman told me “ You need to meet this actor, Douglas Smith, he is perfect for 'Mica'”. So I waited for the occasion for several months and finally one evening in Toronto we met after a screening and walking towards him was really like a film , I still remember crossing to the other side of the theater like in slow motion and when I saw him I knew it was going to work. I don´t know who was more nervous but he stepped on my foot. Zöe Kravitz came later. I didn´t write thinking of any actor in particular. I wanted someone that was attractive but that could stand out in other ways. There´s always in Hollywood like 4 or 5 actresses that I confuse because they don´t really stand out. She had to have a personality that you believed she fell in love with someone like him, and also a beautiful women that in the story is relaxed about her looks. She is an amazing actress and has something unique that I can´t really put in words. She is just a natural.

LatinoBuzz: You've worked on projects across the globe - has it changed the way you look at art?

Analeine Cal Y Mayor: After making video art in Innbruck, Austria and then getting a grant in almost the opposite city: New Delhi, I changed the way of working and also I try to get rid of clichés about expecting some art based on the artist´s Nationality. I learned to see more, I guess. I write a project back home but then when I get to a place I take my time to observe. I forbid myself to take photographs the first week and after a week I decide how to adapt my project or throw it away and start from scratch. Also after traveling I know that people expect a type of film again depending of your Nationality but that is a prejudice. Some people are going to say my film is not very Mexican or very Latin but that is if they are referring to a cliché of the “Mexicanity”. What does a film needs to have a Mexican flavor? Cactus, drug lords? Well, I have some mariachi music after all but because my characters live in a house of a Mexican singer. It ´s all part of the same world.

LatinoBuzz: There's amazing women filmmakers coming out of Latin America that's bringing an excitement and an invigorating voice that's been missing - do you see this continuing to emerge or is there still much needed change needed within the industry?

AnaIeine Cal Y Mayor: I'm optimistic of the emerging women directors. Every year I see a little bit more coming up slowly. In Mexico at least, the industry is still a man´s world. It's funny how some crew members can´t say “Yes, Mam” they say “Yes sir “ all the time! And they do it without thinking. I´m “Sir” in Mexico a lot of times. I admire Claudia Llosa and in Mexico, Paula Markovich, Mariana Chenillo and Patricia Arriaga.

LatinoBuzz: What's next from you?

Analeine Cal Y Mayor: I'm working on a new script that has to happen in an isolated forest, perhaps Sweden or Finland but while that film takes shape I might spend all my savings to do a very, very low budget film. This is one thing that I still enjoy in Mexico: my colleagues make films with 20 million pesos, 2 million or $200,000.

Visit www.analeine.com for more on this great talent!

THE MIDNIGHT GAME (USA) Dir. By A.D. CALVO

LatinoBuzz: What was the first horror film that scared the bejeezus out of you and got you hooked?

A.D. Calvo: Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. Back in '79, shortly after my father died, my mom moved us into an old white house on a hill with an historic New England cemetery in the backyard. My bedroom window overlooked the tiny lot riddled with crooked, broken headstones. I can still remember the name on one of them, Alexander X. Weed, and my morbid fascination with the babies’ graves that had shifted in the ground over the years, revealing dark crevices into the earth around them. We didn't have cable back then, so I'd occasionally catch a scary movie on channel 9 or 11, our local NY affiliates. This film really scared the crap out of me. The thought of the dead rising from their graves kept me awake half the night. I was only 11 at the time, and I'm sure the death of my father -- and that damn cemetery – didn’t help. I checked that film out recently, and it was rather comical, deliberately campy. But man, oh, man, it wasn't back then. Orville was a living corpse who haunted me on many nights.

LatinoBuzz: How do you see your work evolving within the horror genre?

A.D. Calvo: Honestly, I'm not a big fan of violence in film and have consistently focused more on the psychological aspects of horror. In my more recent films, particularly The Midnight Game, I've tried to "amp up" certain graphic elements -- but my style is still a far cry from anything close to gore porn or slasher, which are just not my thing. I love a great ghost story and would love to revisit that world with a more mature approach one day. I think of horror classics like The Shining as benchmarks for what's possible within that realm. It all comes down to finding the right screenplay or writing something that I feel really works. After four films, three of which were skewed more toward young-adult horror, I'm looking to shift into more mature themes.

LatinoBuzz: With the likes of Guillermo Del Toro and Fede Alvarez etc and even a film like, Mama - crossing over to the mainstream, do you see a possible gateway for films to be made starring a Latino cast and marketed successfully to an American Latino audience?

A.D. Calvo: Yes, I do. I've always loved Latin horror films like The Devil's Backboneand The Orphanage, and even cerebral sci-fi like Timecrimes. I like the weird ones too, e.g., Santa Sangre, The Last Circus. There's just so many amazing Latino actors and directors, many who haven't been exposed much to US audiences. The Argentine actor, Ricardo Darin, is a personal favorite, but lesser known here in the states, despite the Oscar win for The Secret in their Eyes. He'd be great in an American Latino ghost story! Something gothic like The Others, don't you think? Perhaps a nice mix of foreign Latino names, like Darin, and some better known domestic faces (Oscar Isaac, John Leguizamo, Rosario Dawson -- a few more personal favs). It's fun to think of the possibilities.

LatinoBuzz: You take a trip to a cabin in the middle of the woods straight outta Deliverance with 4 characters from Horror films and there's no cell phone reception -- because, despite all previous warnings, it's still a great idea -- Who are they and who's out in the woods (Dick Cheney is a perfectly acceptable answer)?

A.D. Calvo: I love this question! Here's my dream team: I'd take a Ripley-like character (from Alien)—someone who's capable of kicking ass and protecting the bunch; and I'd throw in a weak male sidekick, to provide a little comic relief—the quirky Shaggy of the bunch. My cabin wouldn't be complete without a wise old man, physically inferior but intellectually a necessity to the group's survival (I'm picturing Michael Caine type wisdom and self assurance here)… Then, lastly, I'd toss in another woman, but a sensitive type—someone who understands that even evil can have a good side. A character like the one Naomi Watts played in The Ring. She'll help offset Ripley's take-no-prisoners attitude, BUT will make the crucial mistake of sparing the lives of a few of our villains, who are none other than a mutant militia controlled by their own evil inbred children. (Militias really scare me. As do evil children.) Not sure what my chances of survival would be, but it would make for an interesting movie!

LatinoBuzz: Where and how do the ideas come to you? And how do you flesh them out?

A.D. Calvo: My creative process can be summed up as follows: left brain, right brain. On the one hand, I think about other films I've responded to and try to create an amalgam, of sorts, from that. Something fresh and new, but that still feels familiar and is producible within a set of constraints. This is the logical, left brain half of the process. On the other hand, I remain open to the infinite possibilities that unfold before us, in a more mystical and romantic way (the "creative tap" we all have access to). I have found this balance serves me well. Being true to my vision, creatively and aesthetically, while listening to, but not being bound by, the business side of things. In terms of fleshing out ideas, I have a great set of "go to" people whose opinions I really trust. As with any collaborative endeavor, it's important to keep folks involved (and hence excited about the project). Of course, it's also important to separate individual tastes and personal opinions from more important ideas that can make a project better (and not just different). When you hear that a particular thing isn't working, from a couple of trusted sources, you know you have a problem. Likewise if one's suggestion is well received by others on your team then it's probably worth pursuing, despite any hesitation you may have. I believe you can do this without compromising the so-called, "singular vision of the director." I've heard of film directors referred to as "benign dictators" but the key word here is "benign" and not "dictator." Filmmaking is a collaborative medium so you're acting more like a creative CEO, you still have a boardroom of key folks to listen to. It's really just a matter of building the right team and becoming calibrated enough to recognize the things that raise the bar versus the things that don't really matter. That's the core of it, I think. That, and not letting your ego get in the way of that, is key.

LatinoBuzz: What are the next projects?

A.D Calvo: I just finished another screenplay, my first in 2 years. It's definitely a deviation from horror. It’s a character-driven mystery with a little magical realism thrown in. American Splendor and Ghost World meetThe Lovely Bones. Very different for me. I've also been developing an original time travel concept. Sci-fi is a genre I've always enjoyed and I have a unique idea for a time machine that's fairly well grounded in physics... I have a few other concepts in various stages of development.

Any of these projects could be next, but we'll have to wait and see. Having the wherewithal to push another film through to the end is becoming a greater challenge, psychically, for me. Knowing the pitfalls and what is and isn't possible, given a budget, can become a hindrance of sorts, but it can also make you more discerning and creative—which is a good thing… as long as it doesn't cripple you.

For more on A.D.'s work, check out: www.goodnightfilm.com

EENIE MEENIE MINENY MOE (USA) Dir. by JORGE 'JOKES' YANEZ

LatinoBuzz: Tell us about the scene in the 305 -- there's a few collectives down there doing really interesting things.

Jokes: The 305 is my home, and there's nothing like it anywhere in the world, the mix of cultures, styles, personalities and weather is a stew with a flavor all its own. In the last few years the arts has really been gaining momentum and there’s talent that is staying and making stuff here which is great. I love seeing Miami artists I grew up with getting their respect. Miami has made its mark in music, sports and visual art and I'm happy that it’s finally starting to get an identity in film.

Latinobuzz: Where did this idea come from and how long from when you wrote this, did it go into production?

Jokes: The idea was conceived around 2003/2004, I was living in L.A. and directing music videos flying to all these different cities and I noticed how people would tell me I had an accent and style that they couldn't put a finger on. When I would say “Miami” they would say of course, it's obvious. So the first seed of making a feature with characters that were authentically Miami came to mind in the way New York filmmakers tell New York stories and wanting to make a movie that addressed a lot of the attitudes that I thought were prevalent in the 305, especially about hustlers with strong ethics and loyalty that were gaming the system. The final ingredient was meeting a few tow truck drivers and it inspired using that as a thread to tie everything together. In early 2007, J.Bishop, my writing partner and I finished the script and I started looking for financing. In 2009, we created a short film 'Vladimir’s Vodka' that features some of the characters and the aesthetics of “EENIE MEENIE MINEY MOE”. That piece created the momentum we needed and we finally went into production in late 2011.

LatinoBuzz: Who are the filmmakers that inspired the aesthetic of your work?

Jokes: I would say for this film i was really inspired by the work of Brian DePalma, Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and a few little sprinkles of Kubrick, Scorsese and James Cameron. I mean all these guys are like titans in the industry its hard to make a movie and not be influenced by their work. Overall, I’ve been a film buff for years and there’s so many influences that contribute to my aesthetic choices.

LatinoBuzz: What does premiering in your home town mean to you?

Jokes: I couldn't imagine it any better way. I made this movie because of growing up in Miami and being able to share it with so many of my friends and family is what its all about.

LatinoBuzz: What are the constraints of making independent films in Miami?

Jokes: The biggest constraint is finding money, Miami is a party town and not too many investors have done anything in the movie business and actually not been burned by it, the second is the weather being outdoors in the summer is hot and wet two things that’ll put a production in slow motion.

LatinoBuzz: And what are the benefits?

Jokes: Locations and finding people that are still mesmerized by the allure of the movie biz. In LA it's big business and people are jaded and want their check, here so many people are just so helpful and proud that their block or business is being shown that they bend over backwards to accommodate you.

LatinoBuzz: Name a classic novel you could make into a film, and set it in Miami -- what is it and who is in it?

Jokes: 'The Count of Monte Cristo': I can see that being re-imagined into a Miami setting and I am definitely drawn into the revenge plot. I would love to use Benecio Del Toro, Julio Mechoso and Nestor Carbonell and some fresh new faces. I like discoveries.

LatinoBuzz: What's the next Jokes Flick?

Jokes: The next one is titled 'The Local Crew', it's a true to life story about some of the experiences J.Bishop and I had growing up. We just finished the script and are building the team to produce it.

For more on Jokes flick, visit: www.eeniemeeniemineymoe.com

TONY TANGO (USA) Dir. By MANOLO CELI

LatinoBuzz: You wrote the screenplay along with Billy Sommer from an idea Max Maulion and Andres Oliveira came up with.

Manolo Celi: Yep! Billy Sommer was the genius writer. There was a lot of back and forth between us via phone and many many Skype sessions, but the best stuff was written by Billy who is a truly gifted writer. Andres and Maxx had written an initial 1st draft and they created the iconic character of Tony Tango, and what started to be a doctoring of the script, ended up being a complete transplant. Everything changed except for some character names and that there is a dance competition, but even the main characters were re-written completely anew.

LatinoBuzz: How was this presented to you in the first place?

Manolo Celi: Andres and I had worked on some commercial projects previously, and we really hit it off. They gave me that 1st draft, and while I knew the script needed work, I really related to the character of Tony who was a real underdog. I also found both Andres and Maxx to be very talented and driven to get the film done.

LatinoBuzz: How did pitching a story about an overweight tango dancer in ill fitting ballroom outfits to investors go?

Manolo Celi: All of the investments came from Andres and Maxx sources. They dealt with the financing 100%

LatinoBuzz: What about the casting process? These characters where very specific.

Manolo Celi: We were lucky that the two main characters, Tony and Pablo were already being played by Maxx and Andres. And then, we were so fortunate to find tremendous talent like Antoni Corone and Sergia Louise Andersen to complete the picture - not to mention the rest of the cast who were all truly amazing. My main concern was working with the cast to get as genuine performances as possible. While their characters are very absurd and quirky, the audience needed to relate to all of them and sympathize with them.

LatinoBuzz: A lot of care went into the detail in making the film - the costumes, the choreography and the tone of the humor was very specific. How did you go about getting the right team with budget limitations?

Manolo Celi: What can I say about the crew? What great luck!! Many of them, I had already worked with or had known for a very long time. DoP Angel Barroeta is an incredible DP and professional, not to mention a beautiful human being. Tom Criswell is hilarious and somehow made the art department work with barely any resources, Li Millian, the wardrobe stylist created Tony's most memorable clothing, hands down, Jonathan David Kane made the day to day run so smoothly, Alan Ramos found us the absolute best locations we could find within the limits of our budget, Jerry Perez and Christine Lopez not only acted great throughout the movie, but they also donated so much time beforehand choreographing Maxx's dance routines, Obi Reyes did a miraculous job with all of the film's make up needs, Carlos Gomez was superstar Gaffer. Both AD's De la Vega and Rafa Herrera ran the set so smoothly, and they kept the energy alive and the production going. And, on the post side even, it was amazing: Juan Pablo Mantilla, the music producer composed an amazing score, and also produced so many great pieces for the film, and Bob Curreri was an incredible colorist. I mean, really, everyone put in so much time and love into the project for next to no money or for no money whatsoever. I hope to work with every single one of these people again, for the rest of my career.

LatinoBuzz: And how much was specifically your vision?

Manolo Celi: It really was a wonderful collaborative process by everyone involved. Obviously, as director, it is important to have a clear vision, and keep everyone on the same track. Especially in a low budget production like this, there are always situations that crop up that force you to think on your feet and be very receptive to suggestions from your team. I believe a good deal of the film reflects my vision, with compromises due to the resources available and not having final cut of the film, but there are many things that reflect the direction that we had aimed for.

LatinoBuzz: You guys applied this green initiative to shooting the film in Miami - and here people are, thinking filmmakers are heartless brutes -- where in the process was that decision made?

Manolo Celi: We all tend to be very environmentally conscious as individuals, but it was Jonathan David Kane who really pushed the green initiative. He was really who got that ball rolling and was very disciplined about it.

LatinoBuzz: What's the next project?

Manolo Celi: I have a short and another feature in the works. The short is musically-themed, and the feature is more indie-action themed. Besides that, I continue directing commercials.

For all info on Tony Tango click here! www.tonytangothemovie.com

Florida Film Festival to Open with Orlando-Produced 'Renee'; Feature Talk with Barry Levinson

Devin Lee Fuller — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:07:40 GMT

The 2012 Florida Film Festival will be celebrating its 21st anniversary this year with a line-up of 168 films including 28 world premieres.

The festival will kick off with Nathan Frankowski's drama "Renee," which was filmed in Orlando, Florida.

Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson will also be on hand April 21 to present and discuss his 1999 film "Liberty Heights."

More details can be found at FloridaFilmFestival.com.

Full press release below:

FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES CELEBRITY GUEST, FOOD EVENTS, AND RECORD-BREAKING FILM AND EVENT LINEUP

The 2012 Festival Presents “An Afternoon With” Academy Award® Winner
Barry Levinson Featuring Live Q&A and Screening of “Liberty Heights”

Top Chef Star Marcel Vigneron Joins Other Culinary Superstars for Food Forum
And Saturday Night Feast

Film Schedule Officially Launched Online at FloridaFilmFestival.com with More Entries, Films, Represented Countries, and World Premieres Than Ever Before

Orlando, FL – It’s a great time to be a film enthusiast in Central Florida. Last night, the 2012 Florida Film Festival announced a stellar lineup of 168 films representing 31 countries. In a record-breaking year, the Festival received more entries (1700+) and is offering more films and World Premieres (28) than ever before.

Academy Award®-winning director, screenwriter, and producer Barry Levinson will present Liberty Heights, a humorous and touching drama that captures the spirit of change in Baltimore circa 1954 on Saturday, April 21 at Enzian. His lengthy list of credits includes Rain Man (Best Director Academy Award®), Bugsy, And Justice for All, Diner, Avalon, Wag the Dog, The Natural, Good Morning Vietnam, and HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack. Levinson will engage the audience with a live Q&A following the film.

Foodies will unite for a one-of-a-kind discussion on books, blogs, television, and film provided by culinary superstars Marcel Vigneron (Syfy Network’s Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen, Bravo’s Top Chef), Chad J. Galiano, Gui Alinat, Jeff Potter, and Martha Hall Foose. These food connoisseurs will discuss everything from fame and chef brands to how to stand out amongst thousands of foodie bloggers. Devour the latest scoop on current topics in the food world and savor tasty treats prepared by the Enzian kitchen. The celebration of food continues that evening with the Saturday Evening Feast. Winter Park’s own renowned Chef Brandon McGlamery will prepare an unforgettable meal at Luma on Park Ave. This exclusive, upscale event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any foodie. Seating is extremely limited. Dine with special guests from the Taste & Presentation food forum including Marcel Vigneron.

The Festival opens with Orlando production RENEE. Director Nathan Frankowski and other special guests will be on hand for a live Q&A on Friday, April 13, 7PM. Also that evening, the Opening Night Party kicks off at Enzian. Jam to the tunes of The Mud Flappers and dine on the best of local cuisine. Top local chefs serve up mouthwatering dishes from Eden Bar, The Ravenous Pig, White Wolf Café, K Restaurant, Black Bean Deli, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, and Sushi Pop!

The 2012 Festival, sponsored by Full Sail University, runs April 13-22 in Maitland, Winter Park, and Winter Garden. Venues include Enzian, Regal Winter Park Village 20, Eden Bar, Central Park in Winter Park, and Garden Theatre in Winter Garden.
The complete schedule of films and events is officially launched and available online at www.FloridaFilmFestival.com. A free downloadable guide is available online and can also be accessed via smartphones.

To purchase Festival passes and ticket packages, visit www.FloridaFilmFestival.com. Festival pass holders gain access to all regular films. Ticket package holders can redeem film vouchers for individual film tickets before they are available to the public. Early redemption occurs until Saturday, March 24. Individual film tickets go on sale to the general public on Sunday, March 25. Ticket prices start at $10.

Critic's Notebook: Notes from a Florida Film Festival Juror

Eric Kohn — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:02:11 GMT

To my mind, the most important criteria for an effective short film is an avoidance of the easy route. That outlook was central to this past week at the Florida Film Festival in Orlando, where I sat with my fellow jurors through five short film programs in three days. Eventually, we settled on awards for three of the 38 shorts and despite so many possibilities, we reached a consensus without much difficulty. Deserving candidates stood out from the pack.

A few shorts ran under five minutes, while others neared the 20-minute mark. Working under those temporal constraints, filmmakers -- many of whom are in early stages of their careers -- usually go for the easy gags, ending with a clever punchline. There's nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but when viewed several times over, it comes across as overly simplistic and portrays the short form as incapable of attaining the mature narrative possibilities available to features.

It doesn't have to be that way. A good short might do something clever in a brief period of time, but a great movie can take any shape or form, labels be damned.

This line of thinking was crucial for our jury's choices. (I was joined by Neal Block, head of distribution at Magnolia Pictures, and former Arthouse Films vice president Erin Owens.) For the first time in its 20-year history, the Florida Film Festival gained Oscar-qualifying status for its shorts. The animated and live-action shorts that received top can now make the short list for the 2012 Academy Awards. To paraphrase a line from "Spider-Man": With great power comes great possibilities.

That brings me to "Bottle," Kristen Lepore's lovely romantic fantasy, which we selected as the best animated short. With delicate craftsmanship, Lepore constructs a sweeping intercontinental romance between a creature made of sand and another made of snow. The two exchange messages in a bottle before they both decide to cross the sea. The heartbreaking result of that act -- what happens when sand and snow enter the water -- leads to the mesmerizing, poetic finale, rendered particularly moving by the clarity of this wordless love story between two natural objects. (Watch "Bottle" on YouTube.)

Another visual feast, Brent Bonacorso's "West of the Moon" wowed us with its phenomenally absurd portrait of child's dream. Littered with elegant layers of green-screen images and other trickery, the sepia-toned saga involves an old man recalling a wide range of surreal experiences, from playing poker with a robot to hanging with a pack of bespectacled walruses. You can't make this stuff up, but Bonacorso, a promising new visionary clearly inspired by the likes of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, somehow did.

Not content with simply honoring two shorts, we squeezed a special jury prize into the mix in order to highlight the memorably dark, thoughtful "After the Snow," director Brooke Sebold's short about a despondent young woman (Jeannine Kaspar) at a party who confronts the obnoxious slob who knocked her up. Intended as the outline for a feature, "After the Snow" conveys its unnerving scenario with two committed performances, tightly executed suspense and a provocative final shot that leaves much room for interpretation. Written by Matthew Tyler, the short is currently being expanded into a feature called "Gone June," according to a website for the production. It's hard not to imagine that the wintry setting and equally chilly demeanor of the characters in "After the Snow" will expand nicely into the feature-length format.

But short films don't need to contain the inkling of a feature in order to succeed. We chose movies that we liked; the prizes’ larger ramifications were secondary considerations. I only realized later that "Bottle" and "West of the Moon" may have already qualified for Oscar consideration since both won awards at other festivals earlier this year, rendering moot that entire aspect of our jury's agenda.

And that's fine. We were more concerned with consensus than advocacy. As we engaged in our final deliberation on Friday evening, sitting across from a moonlit lake in the expansive backyard of Enzian Theater owners Philip and Sigrid Tiedtke, we just talked about the movies we liked and the opportunity we had to spread the word.

"Project Nim" to Open 20th Florida Film Festival; 21 World Premieres Set

Brian Brooks — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:33:19 GMT

21 World Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 7 U.S.Premieres, and 39 East Coast Premieres are on tap for the 20th anniversary of the Florida Film Festival, taking place in Orlando. FFF's full roster includes 160 films from 25 countries, with Oscar-winning director James Marsh's latest, "Project Nim" opening the event April 8 at the Enzian Theater.

The documentary tells the tale of a chimp taken from its mother and raised as a human in an upper west side brownstone in 1970s New York.

"We're excited to launch our 20th edition of the Festival with this sensational documentary," commented Henry Maldonado, President of Enzian and the festival in a statement. "We opened the first Florida Film Festival with the documentary, 'A Brief History of Time,' and it's meaningful for us salute that moment 20 years later."

"The incredible scope of cinematic expression in this year's Festival is found not simply in terms of the volume of submissions or its demographics but in the variety of types of filmmakers and the issues they explore," added Matthew Curtis, Florida Film Festival Programming Director in a statement. "This year we are screening films that embody risk-taking, diversity, and aesthetic innovation, and we are hopeful that audiences will find them as engaging and entertaining as we did."

The 2011 Florida Film Festival takes place April 8 - 17.

The Narrative and Documentary competitions follow with information provided by the Florida Film Festival.

Narrative competition:

"Dog Sweat" - East Coast Premiere (Directed by Hossein Keshavarz)
"Fanny, Annie & Danny" - (Directed by Chris Brown)
"Hamill" - (Directed by Oren Kaplan)
"The Happy Poet" - Florida Premiere (Directed by Paul Gordon)
"Kinyarwanda" - East Coast (Directed by Alrick Brown)
"Norman" - Southeast Premiere (Directed by Jonathan Segal)
"Silver Tongues" - East Coast Premiere (Directed by Simon Arthur)
"This Narrow Place" - World Premiere (Directed by Sooney Kadouh
"Without" - East Coast Premiere and 2nd US Showing (Directed by Mark Jackson)
"Wuss" - East Coast Premiere (Directed by Clay Liford)

Documentary competition:

"Bobby Fischer against the World" - Regional Premiere (Directed by Liz Garbus)
"Chekhov for Children" - Southeast Premiere (Directed by Sasha Waters Freyer)
"Journey from Zanskar" - Southeast Premiere (Directed by Frederick Marx)
"Holy Wars" - East Coast Premiere (Directed by Stephen Marshall)
"Louder Than a Bomb" - Florida Premiere (Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel)
"Made in India" - Florida Premiere (Directed by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha)
"mindFlux" - Southeast Premiere (Directed by Ryan Kerrison)
"A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt" - Florida Premiere (Directed by Sally Rowe)
"Stuff" - World Premiere (Directed by Lawrence Johnson)
"Windfall" - Southeast Premiere (Directed by Laura Israel)

FFF's 21 World Premieres Features:

"A Beautiful Belly" - (Directed by Andrew Kenneth Gay)
"TANZANIA a Friendship Journey" - (Directed by Sylvia Caminer)
"This Narrow Place" - (Directed by Sooney Kadouh)
"Stuff" - (Directed by Lawrence Johnson)

World Premiere Shorts:

"La Salle de Jeux" (The Playroom) - (Directed by Tim Miller)
"Thule" - (Directed by Robert Scott Wildes)
"The Thief" - (Directed by Rachel Weisz)
"Victims of Gravity" - (Directed by Vlady Valentin Oszkiel)
"California Romanza" - (Directed by Eva Mendes)
"The Candidate" - (Directed by David Karlak)
"The Deep" - (Directed by PES)
"Tales of Mere Existence: How to Be a Man" - (Directed by Lev Yilmaz)
"Tales of Mere Existence: How You May Fall for a Girl on Facebook" - (Directed by Lev Yilmaz)
"Nosy Bear" - (Directed by Fran Krause)
"Snot Bubble Boy" - (Directed by John Derevlany)
"Bad Influences" - (Directed by Kate Emery)
"A Coincidence of Sorts" - (Directed by Edgar Jorge)
"City of Murals" - (Directed by Ricky Rose)
"I'm Sorry I Forgot" - (Directed by Jason Rosette)
"Deadliest Throw" - (Directed by Joe York)

[For more information and a full lineup, visit the Florida Film Festival's website.]