Earth Day really stressed me out this year.  First, my favorite commentator Chris Hayes (of ‘Up With Chris Hayes’) had me in a panic about climate change.  He said that it isn’t enough to wear organic cotton, take shorter showers, power down our computers, or use energy efficient light bulbs – even though his parent company, NBC, was plugging such individual actions all week with it’s “Green is Universal” campaign.  He said the “One Small Thing” campaign lets us off the hook; because, as he stated, “we cannot mitigate climate [...]

Two of the films I saw during the Sarasota Film Festival, ‘Dancing on a Volcano’ and ‘Trash Dance,’ each conveyed the importance of the arts in restoring our humanity.  Both films were personally recommended to me by Tom Hall, SFF Director of Programming; because I like to see documentaries with a theme of social justice. ‘Dancing on a Volcano’ tells the compelling story of Nadja Merino, a Jewish woman living in Austria who watched her privileged life slip away as the Nazi Party grew in prominence.  The title of the film refers to a foreboding night [...]

We attended the red carpet event at the Sarasota Opera House for Todd Solondz’s new film, ‘Dark Horse,’ which was the Centerpiece Film for the Sarasota Film Festival, and then hit Cinema Tropicale for a few hours at the Sarasota Yacht Club.  Both had me thinking about the role of our families in shaping our lives.  ‘Dark Horse’ was indeed dark, too much so for my mood.  I was looking for light fare before the Cinema Tropicale event; but as Solondz himself said, as he was introduced before the film, “you [...]

IN CONVERSATION WITH TODD SOLONDZ: NOON TODAY! AT SARASOTA HIGH SCHOOL! Moderated by David Carr (The New York Times)!  Have you ever met a filmmaker whose work opened your eyes to a way of looking at the world that was at once alien and strange and yet perfectly familiar and speaking to you in a language that you thought only you understood. TODD SOLONDZ is an auteur in the true sense of the word. His films are firestarters. They are also wonderfully human and accessible, brilliantly observed, funny, and breathtakingly real. He is the director [...]

  ‘V/H/S’  is one of those ‘movies within a movie’ kind of movie. Confused yet? You needn’t be. If you’re a horror head, living for the thrill of the hunt or the hunted, flash back to cult classics like ‘Creepshow’ or ‘Trick or Treat’ to get a hint of what to expect – a startling anthology aimed to send a shiver down your spine. What separates ‘V/H/S’ is the liberal use of a shaky camera – all the rage since indie filmmakers discovered it’s a great way to provoke anxiety, particularly when a film [...]

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 [...]