Recently in Sarasota Category
On the first night of the 2007 TIFF, a rather large group of indie film folks gathered at Toronto bistro Pastis for several hours of wine and quite delicious French food. A full pic of the gang can be found here, courtesy of indieWIRE's Brian Brooks, but I have a few of my own. Following up on Brian's post, the proprietor made sure that the wine was indeed flowing copiously, but seemed to be doing so sans bidding from the guests! Needless to say, the resulting bill resulted in cries of "Quelle horreur!"
NewFest topper Basil Tsiokos and SILVERDOCS director of programming Sky Sitney have a chat pre-dinner.
Oh yeah! Some more pics have been uploaded to my Flickr site, including those from a rather spirited BBQ held one rainy Saturday not too long ago. Not only that, there's some pix from the Tribeca Film Festival as well as other random shots. If your name is Tom Hall, Holly Herrick, Ry Russo-Young, Ryan Harrington, Paul Lovelace, Elizabeth Hanley, Todd Rohal, David Call, Jessica Wolfson, Jessica Smith, Brian Brooks, Basil Tsiokos, Harris Dew, Colin Brown, Nicole Guillemet, Laura Macdonald, Craig Zobel, Greta Gerwig, Joe Swanberg, Peter Bjorn & John or Au Revoir Simone, among many others, you might wanna check it out.
So, I finally finished uploading my pix from the most amazing, wonderful and engaging 2007 Sarasota Film Festival and BOY HOWDY are they fun. At least they are to me. There's celebrities (really!), filmmakers (who may soon be celebs!), film festival staff (oooh!), birds, lizards and even karaoke!
I'll be uploading video later, but until then, if your name is/film is: Jared Moshe, Jen Weiss, Tom Hall, Holly Herrick, Ry Russo-Young, David Wilson, Blood Car, Bob Giovanelli, Rae, Max Burke-Phillips, David Robinson, Gary Springer, Nick Springer, Mike Tully, Matt Robison, Ryan Harrington, Steve Buscemi, Mary Kerr, Poull Brien, Marcia Gay Harden, Joey Pants, David Garber, some Sandhill Cranes, Me, a tarantula, some poison arrow frogs, some herons and lizards, David Lowery, Lodge Kerrigan, The Israelis, Paul Lovelace, Paul Marchant, Ricci Shryock, Of Montreal, Norman Jewison, Josh Braun, Chad Lowe, Christine Jennings or Jessica Wolfson, check it out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabbireport/
Elizabeth gives me a rather adorable version of the evil eye, while James chats, slightly confused...
Shot at a fantastic BBQ thrown in honor of the recently concluded Sarasota Film Festival. More pix and videos coming soon.
Besides The Rabbi Report, I was also down in Sarasota for Filmmaker Magazine and today they published my report from the fest. Check it out, y'all!
After the jump, a few pix from the festival!
Ok, so I have finally gotten around to switching from Buzznet (they are so '05) to Flickr and am in the process of posting pix, some with witty bon mots, even! So far, it starts at the indieWIRE anniversary party in late November 2006 up to Berlin, 2007. Keep checking back, as by the end of next week I hope to have a few years worth of pix loaded, most of which have never been in this blog before and many of which include you. Yes, you!
So come on by and check them out and comment, comment, comment!
Even better, join Flickr, put your own pix up and be my friend!
Thanks.
One of the things that the staff and guests at the Sarasota Film Festival like to do several times during the fest is gather either at Esca or Cabana, both local bars with, uh, different styles. On Tuesday nights it's Cabana, a rather colorful dive, complete with the occasional hooker. No kidding.
up first, Silver Jew and Cocaine Angel director, Michael Tully whose dulcet tones graced Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters."
Since Tom Hall's bow as programmer in 2005, the Sarasota Film Festival has become known for excellent musical performances in addition to its film program and in the first of this year's performances, at the opening night party, crooner Matt Dusk belted out Louis Prima's "Just a Gigolo," in addition to many other originals and standards. I don't know about you, but I'm buying his new CD, Matt Dusk-Back In Town!
I apologize for the lack of closeups, but the band was separated from the crowd by a moat. No, I am not shitting you. A moat.
Regional film festivals all over the world need to take notice of how the Sarasota Film Festival does its thang. First of all, the opening night film, David Sington's brilliant In the Shadow of the Moon, was fantastic and Tom Hall, director of programming for this fest isn't the only one who's noticed. Festival programmers all over the country are opening their events with this film and the audience here was rapturous.
A compelling, moving and enlightening account of the Apollo space program told from the point of view of the astronauts who took part, In the Shadow of the Moon is the adult film for the 10 year-old "when I grow up, I'm gonna be a asta-naut!" inside us all. The film is further proof that there are still stories to be told, considering that there had, as yet, not been a film strictly about the Apollo program, narrative or doc. Rife with heretofore unseen footage from NASA's archives, including footage shot by astronauts on the moon, the film is far more than a rote an accounting of the Apollo program. The personal accounting of the program and their missions by the 10 astronauts makes for compelling viewing, especially when Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins recounts what it was like being alone in the spacecraft while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin where making their famous moonwalk.
Some scenes from the lavish opening night party at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and a more perfect opening night setting there could not have been! Like a Roman palazzo, the grounds included sculpture and a dizzying array of foodstuffs and bevvies.
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