Black Tie Untied

+ Tropical night
Hundreds of filmmakers, actors and film festival attendees had a ball at Sarasota Film Festival’s Cinema Tropicale Friday, April 12, at the Sarasota Yacht Club.

The annual celebration took the place of past year’s “Night of a Thousand Stars,” held at Michael’s On East — the event soon outgrew it’s home and changed into a tropical theme. Many in attendance wore bright colors and island style attire. Big Night Out played music poolside and professional dancers from Empire Ballroom showed guests how to rumba, salsa and cha-cha.

SFF guests enjoyed seafood paella, empanadas, shrimp, and vegetable egg rolls and finished with ice cream topped with berry compote. The special drink of the night, sponsored by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, was called “Tito's Rico.”

Near the end of the evening the see-through walkway over the pool turned into a catwalk for a mini fashion show featuring some of the best outfits created for the iConcept fashion show.

Check out the video below of dancing to Big Night Out and make sure to check out all of the Observer’s coverage of the film festival online. 

Photo Galleries:
• Opening Night
• SFF Tribute Luncheon
• Cinema Tropicale
• SFF Filmmaker Awards and Closing Night Film

+ Yee haw!
The more than 400 guests took part in the 12th annual Cattle Barons' Ball Saturday, April 13, at Gettel Acura.The evening was all about giving “cancer the boot” and many who attended wore cowboy boots, hats and other Western accessories.

While the event has previously been held at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota and Michael’s On East, Chairwomen Kelly Gettel and Anne Weintraub wanted to change things up and host the event inside the Gettel Acura dealership. The auction area and bar were outside and the dinner was held inside the showroom.

The evening also allowed guests to have their pictures taken in the Wells Fargo wagon, the ability to bid on a wide variety of silent auction items and dancing music by Jonathan Cortez. There was also a fun “mystery wine bottle” which allowed guests to pay $50 and pick a random bottle packed inside a burlap sack. The sacks included bottles and a gift certificate inside, with the total sum of the two ranging in price from $50 to $200.

The live auction was also a big success with four dinners being sold for a dinner at Michael and Terri Klauber’s home and the lease on the a new Acura went for $10,000.

See photos from the Cattle Barons’ Ball online and check next week’s Diversions for more coverage of the event.