Sarasota Film Festival: Reel Big Fest

Watching Sarasota Film Festival lead programmers Michael Dunaway, Derek Horne and Caley Fagerstrom talk about movies is like witnessing a theological debate. Asked to choose some of their favorite selections in this year’s lineup, each person gives a different answer.

Horne picks the surrealist film “Viktora,” Dunaway champions “White God,” and Fagerstrom trumps the quirky short film “Dolphin Lover.”

Their picks are representative not only of their differing viewpoints but of the selection process itself. 

Armed with years of film festival experience — Horne worked for and/or attended the Sundance Film Festival for 21 years — the trio is constantly on the hunt to bring the best new films to Sarasota. In addition to films submitted to the festival, Dunaway and company are on the lookout for new films gaining buzz at festivals such as Sundance, Cannes and Toronto.
This year’s Sarasota Film Festival, from April 10 through 19, will feature more than 200 narrative, documentary and short films at various locations around town.

So how do they sort through hundreds of film submissions and new releases and whittle them down to the final lineup? Lack of sleep is one option. Another avenue is modern technology. The first thing Horne does every morning is check his phone for Google alerts from film distributors.

“As soon as someone acquires a new film or discusses releasing a new film, I know about it,” he says.

The official film submission dates are Sept. 15 through Jan. 9. Then the SFF screening committee views every film from local, national and international directors, and the top selections are sent to the lead programmers (Maggie McKay rounds out the programming roster).  

The next step in the selection process involves each member of the programming team bringing his or her unique background and interests to the discussion. For instance, Fagerstorm serves as the festival’s short-film expert. Despite the films’ briefer duration, Fagerstorm insists short films are every bit as engaging as their feature-length counterparts.

“I think that film is transportive in a way that other art forms are not able to be, and that sort of transcendent experience that’s possible in film is very special for me. Those are the kinds of experiences I want to continue to bring to the people in Sarasota.”

— Michael Dunaway, director of programming for the Sarasota Film Festival

Rough drafts of showing schedules are sketched out and reworked, and movie merits are debated — all in the name of bringing the best and widest selection of films to Sarasota.

Fagerstrom, originally from Sarasota, is the connective tissue between the tenure of former director of programming Tom Hall and the current programming staff. (Hall retired from his post after last year’s festival; Dunaway was hired to replace him in January.) This is Fagerstrom’s fifth festival; she started as an intern. Her peers describe her as the calm core of the often chaotic programming storm.

“I just make sure everything is organized and nothing slips through the cracks,” says Fagerstrom.

Dunaway, who lives in Atlanta, was exposed to world of independent cinema through his father, a professor emeritus of Mercer University’s French language department. Dunaway would sit in on the classic French films his father showed in his classes.

This love of film led him to pursue a career in journalism, and he became the editor of Paste Magazine’s film section as well as a film director himself.

“I think that film is transportive in a way that other art forms are not able to be,” says Dunaway. “And that sort of transcendent experience that’s possible in film is very special for me. Those are the kinds of experiences I want to continue to bring to the people in Sarasota.”

One thing that sets major film festivals such as Sundance apart from the Sarasota Film Festival: year-round events and programming. Dunaway hopes to do the same with the Sarasota Film Festival — turn it from a one-week event in April to an organization with a continual presence in the community.

“I want to stay right here for a long, long time with this festival,” Dunaway says. “I’m really excited moving forward over the next few years to continue to bring the kind of programming that is going to thrill people and give them those transcendent moments.”

Local connection
With one of the major focuses of this year’s festival being Florida films, there are numerous of examples of filmmakers, producers and actors from the Sunshine State making an impact in today’s independent film circuit. One example is the short film “Slut” (showing at 9:45 p.m. April 12). The story focuses on a naïve young Texas girl who reinvents her look to impress the boys in her town, but, unfortunately, attracts the attention of a murderous sociopath. This horror-drenched morality tale was directed by Chloe Okuno and produced by Lisa Gollobin. Gollobin is the granddaughter of Longboat Key resident Charlotte Gollobin.

“I heard about the festival for years,” says Lisa Gollobin. “My grandmother lives on Longboat Key, and I’ve been down a few times but never during the festival. She would always send me links to everything going on at the festival, like who was coming and what kinds of programs they were having, so when it came time to send our film ‘Slut’ to festivals, Sarasota was one I had to get into.”

Cinema Survey

Who is your movie hero?
Derek Horne: Sundance Film Festival — “This year was my 21st year attending in a row. I started going as a patron, then volunteered there and eventually started working as staff. I’ve gone since taking classes of students there. I grew up with that Sundance type of independent film that has a lot of heart and humanity in them. That’s what inspired me to go into film and where I caught the film bug.”

Caley Fagerstrom: Tom Hall, the previous executive programmer. “He was my mentor. When I first started out at the festival I was an intern, and after that I worked in the programming department and he just helped along all the way. He showed me how festivals were run and how to program films.”

Michael Dunaway: “If I had to choose one it’d probably have to be Terrence Malick (above), but Francis Ford Coppola would have to come awful darn close. And I’d be remise if I did not mention Morgan Spurlock. When I was a very unproven filmmaker who had never done a feature before, Morgan agreed to put his name on my first film. He’s not only been encouraging, but he’s been so generous in lending his name, which is valuable. Every time I see him I say I’ll be thanking him from the Oscar stage one day.”

What is the last movie that affected you or changed you?
Fagerstrom: “It’d probably be ‘White God’ (above), which is a part of our program. It’s just an amazing film. I definitely recommend everyone go se it. They’ll be blown away by it.”

Dunaway: “There were two at Sundance that we actually have here. One is our narrative centerpiece film, ‘The End of the Tour,’ by James Ponsoldt. I can already tell how much that film has changed me and changed my outlook on things. It’s a deeply thoughtful movie. And also from Sundance, I saw this amazing documentary called ‘Cartel Land.’ If you’re not amazed and shocked by that movie, I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t imagine a better film than that to shake you up and make you see films in a different way.”

Horne: “I still am deeply affected by Richard Linklater’s ‘Boyhood,’ and I’m still shocked it didn’t win an Oscar. It had so many truths packed into it that spoke to me. I started out in my career with short films, and it’s made up of a bunch of short vignettes, so format-wise it speaks to my love of short films but also my love of deeply human stories we can all identify with.”

How would you describe your relationship to movies?
Horne: “I tend to relate to film on an emotional and heart level first. So, I tend to like films that satisfy the need for some sort of emotional catharsis or have a human story that I can relate to or gives me some sort of truth about the human condition.”

Dunaway: “I’m like a drug junkie chasing that high when I walk into a theater. I think, ‘Is this going to be that moment when I find a new great film?’ As far as specific types of films that I like, people who have read my writing in Paste have commented that there are two words that I always use when I really like something: open-hearted and audacious. And indeed those two things really thrill me, and if it can be both, I love it.”

Fagerstrom: “I just enjoy all types of films and, especially for shorts, I like to find a good mix of genres and types to show here. From drama, comedy to horror and risqué, I just love all kinds of films.”