Scene & Heard

+ ‘Beautiful Noise’ filmmaker shoots next project
Local indie filmmaker Steve Tatone is on a creative hot streak.

Less than one year after premiering his 2010 labor of love, “Beautiful Noise,” Tatone has begun work on another Sarasota film project.

The writer/producer and his Midnight Pass Productions crew began principal photography last week on the thriller “Blind Pass,” which stars Bradenton actress Danielle White.

White, a graduate of Booker High School, played a starry-eyed singer alongside veteran Neil Diamond performer Jay White in the musical drama “Beautiful Noise.”

In fact, the 19-year-old brought so much energy to the “Beautiful Noise” set that Tatone decided to make her a co-producer on “Blind Pass,” which is set to film in Italy and Ireland in addition to Sarasota.

Although many of the movie’s supporting cast members aren’t household names, their credits are certainly titles you’d recognize.

Leading man Armand Assante won an Emmy in 1996 for playing John Gotti in the HBO biopic “Gotti.” Chris McKenna is a recurring character on the CW’s “90210.” And Michael McGlone made a name for himself in the 1990s when he starred in two back-to-back Edward Burns’ films: “The Brothers McMullen” and “She’s the One.”

Character actor Ed Lauter had a small part in this year’s “The Artist,” a silent film that’s generating a lot of Oscar buzz. And Tampa actress Mary Rachel Dudley was in the sappy chick flick “Dear John.”

Then, there’s precocious child star Sydney Rouviere, who played the daughter of Jason Bateman and Leslie Mann in “The Change-Up.”

Sounds like a pretty good lineup to me. Now, if only Tatone could work a Neil Diamond number into the soundtrack. Can I get a little “Holly Holy” in a car-chase scene?

+ Sarasota Film Fest names new director
Tom Hall continues to move up the rungs at the Sarasota Film Festival.

Hall served as the festival’s director of programming for five years before getting promoted to artistic director in 2009.

Last week the festival announced that, Hall, who splits his time between Sarasota and Brooklyn, N.Y., will step up as director of the 14-year-old film festival.

Hall is a film buff who has served as the artistic director for the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, R.I., programmer at the Nantucket Film Festival in Nantucket, Mass., and director of new media for Bravo/The Independent Film Channel.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, he is a nominating and voting juror for The Cinema Eye Honors for Non-Fiction Filmmaking and a former blogger for indieWIRE, a daily news site for the indie film community.

If you attended last season’s staged reading of the adaptation of the William S. Burroughs’ “Queer,” then you’re familiar with the kind of programming of which Hall is capable. He helped organize the event, which included dialogue readings by actors Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, Ben Foster and Lisa Joyce.

His promotion bodes well for SFF.

Hall is well connected, and if his indieWIRE blog archive is any indication, he has impeccable taste in film.

+ Booker High tuxedo thief still on the lam
If someone walked off with the concert tuxedos and gowns that belong to Booker High School’s jazz ensembles, please, by all means, return the garments.

For seven years the school has sent its jazz musicians to Boston to participate in the Berklee High School Jazz Festival. The competition has earned the school 11 first-place wins.

To help pay for the February trip, the music department has always hosted an annual fundraiser, but now it’s organized a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 14, at the school’s Visual & Performing Arts Center to help cover the cost of the missing concert attire.

According to Assistant Principal Joshua Leinweber, the outfits have been missing for months. School authorities have reviewed hours of video footage trying to identify the clothing thief, but so far nothing has turned up.

Says Leinweber: “We don’t want to send our kids to compete at this festival not looking the part.”

HOT TICKETS
West Coast Civic Ballet
Sarasota’s other ballet company will present its Holiday Dance Performance at 7 p.m. Dec. 17, at the Booker High School Visual & Performing Arts Center, 3201 N. Orange Ave. Led by Artistic Director Deborah Vinton, the program will feature dances from “Cinderella” and “Les Patineurs,” in addition to tango and contemporary works. A special pre-performance tea party will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 355-5117 or visit westcoastcivicballet.org.

Fuzión Winter Fundraiser
Fuzión Dance Artists will join forces with singer Sharon Scott and percussionist Scott Blum for its Winter Fundraiser at 8 p.m. Dec. 10 and 2 p.m. Dec. 11, at The Glenridge Performing Arts Center, 7333 Scotland Way. If you’ve not seen this contemporary dance troupe in action, you best get tickets to this show. Choreographer/founder Leymis Bolanõs Wilmott’s work is mesmerizing. For tickets, call 552-5325 or visit gpactix.com.