RED ALERT REMINDER: This is the Big Show, everyone, and at all happens at the Sarasota Opera House! See our stars and filmmakers on the red carpet. Enjoy an amazing and fun presentation honoring our top liners! See a spectacular screening of Joe Berlinger’s documentary UNDER AFRICAN SKIES detailing the epic journey of Paul Simon to South African for the creation of Graceland, his biggest release, which helped shine a light on the very culture that apartheid sought to wipe out and his emotional and thoughtful return 25 years later to revisit this [...]

I bet your head’s spinning just from that title. I know mine is! Wow, we have Penelope Ann Miller today at her IN CONVERSATION, at the FILMMAKER TRIBUTE AWARDS and at the Q&A for her film THINK OF ME! Let’s start with a PLAN AHEAD suggestion then hit it hard with quick look guides to today’s big events and today’s films with filmmakers in attendance! Please note, we have fantastic audio interview with the director and producer of ARCADIA and the director and star of THE UNSPEAKABLE ACT in their entries in today’s film picks! PLAN AHEAD! IN CONVERSATION WITH [...]

April 22, 2012 3:00 PM The Church of the Palms 3224 Bee Ridge Rd. Sarasota, FL 34237 Buy tickets now!

I show up for Opening Night of the Film Festival the way I show up for most things in life: unprepared, awkward, and not sure if I remembered to put on deodorant. Had it been a normal night, I wouldn’t sweat it (pun intended), but tonight is big. I’m not only wearing a dress and hobnobbing with Sarasota’s finest; I’m also introducing my secret boyfriend to the world. Thank goodness the opening film is a comedy. Before I proceed with the night’s events, allow me to introduce the secret boyfriend. [...]

- Something catch your fancy? Here are links to Kirsten’s mentionables: Suncoast Boat Show/Marina Jack   Wilde Healthy Kid’s Day Sarasota Family YMCA  Justin Layman Album Release Show The Rusty Hook  Sarasota Film Festival  Cinema Tropicale Closing Night Film w/Filmmaker Tribute Awards Wrap Party @ Darwin’s on 4th Half Shell Oyster Bar  Sarasota Yacht Club  Siesta Key Rum  Youth Arts Festival  Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County Step Out Sarasota’s BBQ Step Out Sarasota

Final day of Matinee Madness! All tickets before 5 PM only 8 bucks! Wow, where to start? Incredible movies? Check! Spectacular events? Check! It’s like a three ring circus today at SFF (and could that possibly have been a not so segue to spotlighting today’s 5:30 PM screening of THE SHOW MUST GO ON at the Sarasota Opera House, a riveting documentary about Sarasota’s own Flying Wallenda Family?) Yep, you got me! I had the pleasure of speaking with that film’s director plus Tino Wallenda and several members of his family about [...]