27th Sarasota Film Festival offers fresh flicks, communal screenings

When Sean Baker accepted his Oscar for best director for the film "Anora" at the 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony on March 2, he made a plea to the audience watching on their small screens at home — to watch movies in the theater with other moviegoers.

“We are all here tonight because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theater," Baker said. "In a time in which our world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever: It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home.”

But in a busy world where streaming content is available 24/7 on a myriad of devices, Baker's wish may be unrealistic. The movies playing at the multiplex are often too violent, special effects-driven or formulaic to spark the sense of wonder that Mia Farrow experiences watching Fred Astaire dance with Ginger Rogers in Woody Allen's love letter to Hollywood, "The Purple Rose of Cairo." 

To that end, Baker urged filmmakers to "keep making films for the big screen" and distributors to pay attention to the theatrical releases.

Amid the pessimism about the future of communal moviegoing, the film festival stands as a beacon of hope. Whether it's Sundance, Santa Fe or Sarasota, film festivals feature curated programs of documentaries, shorts, foreign and independent films, local premieres of Hollywood films and big-screen presentations of films headed for online streaming channels such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Paramount+.

What's more, events such as the Sarasota Film Festival bring people of different ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and political persuasions together in a communal setting. In a fractured world, that kind of experience is growing more rare, particularly outside the classroom and the church. 

An oasis of cinema during a busy season

Maybe that's why the Sarasota Film Festival is such a beloved event. At a screening of the documentary "Luther: Never too Much" at the Regal Hollywood 11 during last year's festival, a woman turned around and announced to a patron sitting behind her: "This is my time. I spend the whole week going to the movies. Once I get the dates of the festival, I tell friends and family not to visit during that time. I freeze meals so I don't have to cook for my husband."

This year, the festival unspools from April 4-13 at various venues around town, including The Ora, Ringling College of Art and Design, New College and the upscale theater Cinebistro, always a favorite venue.

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SFF's opening night film is Peter Miller's "Marcella," about Italian chef and cookbook author Marcella Hazan, who spent the last years of her life on Longboat Key. The screening will be attended by the director as well as Victor Hazan and Giuliano Hazan, who will participate in a talkback with the audience at The Ora.

The closing night film is the Florida premiere of Taylor McFadden's "Lovers," about two women who return to their hometown to attend the memorial of a friend who has died by suicide. They meet up with some interesting characters at the local dive bar.

McFadden will attend the film and participate in a Q&A conversation. Singer-songwriter and executive producer Nathan Rateliff will perform following the film's April 13 screening at New College's Sainer Pavilion.

The centerpiece film of this year's festival is the world premiere of the MGM+ hit series, "Godfather of Harlem," starring Forest Whitaker as Bumpy Johnson, a Black gangster who is fighting against New York's mafia families for control of Harlem.

Two artists connected with "Godfather of Harlem" — showrunner and creator Chris Brancato and actor Rome Flynn — will be honored with the Innovation in Television Award and the Rising Star Award, respectively, on April 12. 

"I could not be happier about the exceptional films featured in this year's lineup for the 27th annual Sarasota Film Festival," said SFF Chairman and President Mark Famiglio. "As always, we're committed to advancing film education and fostering creativity, while also boosting local tourism through our valuable partnership with New College of Florida."

In the past, the SFF has set up in the Regal Hollywood 11 on Main Street, making it easy for festival patrons to move from one screening to another. In a telephone interview, Famiglio said there were concerns about cleanliness at the theater. "Last year, we had to buy seat covers," he said.

There will be no screenings at Burns Court Cinema this year, he said, because the Sarasota Film Society, which runs the theater, "makes it difficult" to hold festival presentations there, he said. 

New venues feature ample parking

"We're thrilled that The Ora is available as well as auditoriums at New College and Ringling College," he said. Located next door to the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, The Ora opened in February 2024 at 578 McIntosh Road. The 30,000-square-foot building is among the area's largest event venues and has plentiful parking, which can be hard to find in downtown Sarasota.

Films with local interest at the SFF include the Florida premiere of Wendy Lobel's "Anxiety Club," which features Sarasota comedian Tiffany Jenkins and examines the stressful lives of standup comics, and "My Guardian Angel," directed by Nya Chambless, a 15-year-old student at Booker High School.

The 25-minute film, which was produced with help from public donations, was inspired by Chambless' real-life experience of losing a friend to illness in elementary school and watching her classmate be bullied. 

As in previous years, the SFF will host a competition for both narrative and documentary features. There are five films in the narrative competition — David Fortune's "Color Book," about a single father raising a son with disabilities; William Shockley's "Long Shadows," a period Western co-starring Dermot Mulroney and Jacqueline Bisset; "The Summer Book," Charlie McDowell's adaptation of Tove Jansson's novel about a young girl's friendship with her dying grandmother; Ricardo de Montreuil's "Mistura," about an elite French-Peruvian socialite who discovers a new way of living; and "Lovers."

Documentaries have traditionally been one of the strongest sections of the SFF. Docs are often overlooked by mainstream theaters so there is little opportunity to see them on the big screen.

This year's documentary competition includes Tony Benna's "Andre Is An Idiot," about a man who tries to stay positive in the face of a terminal diagnosis; Don Hardy's "Bar," about a competition at the Culinary Institute of America in New York's Hudson Valley; Ken Nolan and G.B. Young's "The Davion Effect," which follows a child in Florida's foster care system; Sasha Wortzel's "River of Grass," a meditation on Florida's Everglades; and Kim Snyder's "The Librarians," set on the front lines of the culture wars in states such as Florida and Texas. 

As in past years, there are sidebars grouping together films of special interest, inlcuding the arts, food and drink, the African-American experience, Jewish focus, LGBTQ+ issues, animation and Florida. 

In addition to "Anxiety Club" and "Long Shadows," this year's featured Spotlight Films include Jessica Palud's "Being Maria," about actress Maria Schneider, who achieved fame for her edgy performance opposite Marlon Brando in "Last Tango in Paris," and Jill Campbell's "Beyond the Gaze," about the creation of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue franchise.

Fans of classic films won't want to miss "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," the French musical written and directed by Jacques Demy with music by Michel Legrand. Released in 1964, "Umbrellas" stars Catherine Deneuve as a shopgirl who falls in love with a handsome mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. 

Released during the heyday of Hollywood musicals such as "The Sound of Music" and "My Fair Lady," "Umbrellas" brought the genre down to a human scale, but was not appreciated by American audiences at the time. 

Legendary film critic Pauline Kael made a case for the film's timeless beauty in a 2000 interview, saying, “One of the sad things about our times, I think, is that so many people find a romantic movie like that frivolous and negligible. They don’t see the beauty in it, but it’s a lovely film—original and fine.” 

You can stream "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" anytime at home or on your phone, but watching this pastel-soaked confection on the big screen surrounded by fellow moviegoers is a powerful experience. The Oscar-winning director Baker knows what he's talking about.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of "Luther: Never too Much."