Tampa Film Fan

second annual gasparilla film festival february 27-march 2, 2008

After a successful debut in 2007, the Gasparilla Film Festival has bigger and better plans for this year’s festival, which opens February 27. At a recent press conference, festival executive director John Rosser and president Eric Odum presented the film line up, announced guest appearances, and listed the panels, receptions and special events planned for this year. 81 films from ten countries will be screened over five days, with at least 20 of the selected films having a connection to the Tampa Bay area.

Here’s a glimpse at some of the special events and screenings planned for this year:

Wednesday, February 27:

• Opening Night VIP Reception at the Tampa Theatre
• Opening night film Kabluey, a “hilarious, unique and heartfelt comedy” starring Lisa Kudrow, Chris Parnell and Christine Taylor. **Executive producer Jeff Balis is a Tampa native.**

Friday, February 29:

• An exclusive screening of The Good Fight, an “exclusive sneak-peak, work-in-progress” about FSU Seminoles’ coach Bobby Bowden by acclaimed filmmaker George Butler (Pumping Iron). Following the screening, George Butler and fellow producer Elisabeth Haviland James will be on hand to answer questions from the audience. (Tickets to the screening and the reception may be purchased separately or together.)

Saturday, March 1:

• A special, 45th anniversary screening of Blood Feast, the “first film ever to showcase explicit gore!” Legendary filmmakers Herschell Gordon “Godfather of Gore” Lewis and David F. “Mighty Monarch of Exploitation” Friedman will be in attendance! There’s a reception at 8 p.m., the film screening at 9 p.m., and then at 10 p.m. Lewis and Friedman will participate in a Q and A session with St. Pete Times film critic Steve Persall! (Sorry about the overuse of exclamation points, but I’m really excited about this event. !) “True fans of independent filmmaking will no doubt appreciate Lewis and Friedman’s fearless and pioneering cinematic legacy. However, the fact remains that their blood-soaked repertoire continues to influence people of all stripes to this very day…most notably, curious youngsters eager for kicks,” said Andy Lalino, producer at Film Ranch International, the sponsor of this special event and screening. I’m told that there will be a nurse on scene at this event, just in case. This event will put the GASP in the Gasparilla Film Festival, for sure. (While I wish I had thought of “GASParilla” myself, I must give credit to Film Ranch International for coming up with that.)
• Women’s Power Hour — The Gasparilla Film Festival is supporting Women’s History Month by showcasing the short films Ten At The Top in Tampa Bay (**by local filmmaker Renee Warmack**), In Between, Drive Lesson and Loose Ends. This event will take place at Channelside Cinemas at 5:30 p.m., followed by a complimentary networking session from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. and is sponsored by local publishing company JimSam, Inc. There will be gift bags for the first 50 people to enter the theater for this screening. Also on March 1, Channelside Cinemas is hosting the 3rd Annual Focus on Females Women’s Healthcare Symposium, a free day-long series of health-oriented seminars, screenings, demonstrations, and classes.
• Campus MovieFest — Sixteen of the best five-minute movies from the 06-07 tour of Campus MovieFest, the world’s largest student film festival, will be screened. Don’t ignore or dismiss this because of the “student” or “five-minute movies” aspects. Last year, the Campus MovieFest films were some of the best short films I’ve seen in the past few years (and I’ve seen hundreds of ‘em, at film festivals, at local screenings, online and on DVD). I have high hopes for this year’s Campus MovieFest crop as well.
• An exclusive screening of The Flock, a “heart-stopping psychological thriller” starring Richard Gere and Claire Danes.
• Several panel discussions/seminars, including: Worldwide Marketing and Distribution of Your Film, Budget Techniques for Producing Your Film and Working in 16mm and Other Filmmaking Techniques.
• Screenings of Requiem, a documentary about “one of the most misunderstood predators on our planet — the shark” featuring beautiful underwater photography. Requiem will screen at the Florida Aquarium and the filmmakers will be in attendance.

Sunday, March 2:

• The Young Filmmakers Series screenings.
• A special family screening of the kids’ action/adventure film The Flyboys starring Stephen Baldwin and Tom Sizemore. One free children’s ticket with each adult ticket purchase.
• The Closing Night/Award Ceremonies — hosted by Wendy Ryan of ABC’s Action News.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST, FOLKS: I have permission to announce that Shane West, star of TV’s ER and the GFF selection What We Do Is Secret, will be at the Gasparilla Film Festival this year. I’ll post more details when I get ‘em.

Other films to be screened at the festival include:

Special American Indies (Features):

• Autism–The Musical (U.S. premiere) — A documentary about five autistic children in L.A. who write, rehearse and perform their own full-length musical.
• Big Rig (Florida premiere) — This documentary is “an extended portrait of modern American as seen through the eyes of long-haul truck drivers as they span 21,000 miles, 45 states and dozens of truck stops.”
• Daydreamer (Florida premiere) — A mystery/drama/sci-fi feature that “zigs and zags, defying convention.”
• Judy Toll:The Funniest Woman You’ve Never Heard Of (Florida premiere) — A documentary about Judy Toll, “one of Hollywood’s funniest and talented comedy writers in the 80s and 90s…whose lifetime career achievements remain largely unknown even today.”
• The Memory Thief (Florida premiere) - A “fascinating and unsettling film about a young tollbooth worker whose search for meaning leads to an obsession with the Holocaust.”
• What We Do Is Secret — This drama takes a look at the Germs, “the seminal band from the late 70s L.A. punk rock scene,” and Darby Crash, “their enigmatic lead singer.”

Fun and Fear (Features):

• American Fork — Comedy starring William Baldwin and Kathleen Quinlan.
• 100 Tears — A horror film about two reporters drawn into “the bizarre world of a serial murderer known only as The Teardrop Killer.” **Locally-produced film.**
• Viva (Florida premiere) — “A comic tale of a suburban housewife in 1972 who is abandoned by her husband and goes out to find herself in the middle of the sexual revolution.”

Latin Panorama (Features):

• Death of a Bureaucrat — A “hilarious tale of the ludicrousness of bureaucracy” from Cuba.
• Drained — A Brazilian comedy.
• Dream Havana — Cuban documentary about two friends “faced with a life-altering choice” of whether or not to attempt escape from Cuba.
• El Custodio — An Argentinean drama about a man trapped in the thankless role of bodyguard.
• It’s Better That Gabriela Doesn’t Die (East coast premiere) — A Mexican comedy about soap opera obsession.
• Making Tom Ze’ — A Brazilian documentary about the controversial musician Tom Ze’.
• The Man of 2 Havanas (Florida premiere) — “Everything your parents never told you growing up about U.S.-Cuba relations…”
• Tocar Y Luchar (Florida premiere) — A documentary about a network of hundreds of orchestras in Venezuela.

And shorts, shorts, shorts. Lots of short films, many of which are locally produced, several that are making their premieres at the festival, and all of which sound interesting.

Visit www.gasparillafilmfestival.com for details on the films, filmmakers and the schedule. A variety of festival passes and ticket packages are available through the website as well.

See you at the festival. (If you get there first, save me a good seat, will ya?)

(cross-posted at www.sticksoffire.com)