The coming-of-age story has long been a Hollywood obsession, and tales of the risk-ridden career path of professional artists has been a understandable and persistent fascination for filmmakers as well. And yet, as Frances Ha played to a Closing Night crowd at the Sarasota Opera House this year, it felt as if something completely fresh and new was being projected on the screen.
You are in luck. The June issue of SRQ magazine hits newsstands tomorrow, where you can read all of our print coverage of the Sarasota Film Festival this year. That includes interviews with organizers, filmmakers and Q&As with some of the biggest stars, as well as fantastic photography of this year’s event.
And you can find additional material here. We will be publishing new content at SRQBacklot.com tomorrow, coinciding with the drop date for the magazine. Have fun reliving SFF 2013.
We rushed the award winners up last night after the announcement on closing night, but we have details now from the press release from the festival. Behold, the winners of all the awards at this year’s Sarasota Film Festival: Continue reading
Barbara Kopple, Mariel Hemingway, Lili Taylor, Griffin Dunne, Mickey Sumner, and Suzanne Clement all were honored at yesterday’s Filmmaker Tribute Luncheon at the Sarasota Yacht Club.
Lili Taylor has played a variety of characters on the silver screen from a romantic lead in Say Anything to a kidnapper in Ransom to a mother who refuses the benefits of modern medicine in The Cold Lands. But while every character may seem cut from a different cloth, the actress says she has to find the humanity in every one of them before she can bring them to life.
“If I can’t picture a character eating cereal in the morning, they are not human to me,” she said.
Taylor spoke with Sarasotan cinephiles at a special In Conversation event at Florida Studio Theater on Friday, a day after the North American premiere of Tom Gilroy’s The Cold Lands at the Sarasota Film Festival.
As Mickey Sumner walked into the Sarasota Yacht Club, she was giddy about being invited to the Tribute Luncheon as an honored guest. “This is the first time I’ve won gotten an award ever,” Sumner said. Sumner was honored with the Breakthrough Performance trophy by the Sarasota Film Festival for her work in Frances Ha, the Closing Night film this year.
She was one of six filmmakers this year celebrated at the Tribute Luncheon, which also saw statues handed to Lili Taylor, Mariel Hemingway, Barbara Kopple, Griffin Dunne and Suzanne Clemente.
Mariel Hemingway participated in this year’s first installment of the “Conversation Series” tonight at FST’s John C. Court Cabaret. Mostly chronologically, the actress reviewed her career and provided insight into her experiences, thoughts and mental outlook concerning her work and family dynamic.
From Mystic Pizza to The Cold Lands (a competition film in the Sarasota Film Festival this year), Lili Taylor has brought to life characters with unusual perspectives on the world onto the screen. When the actress sits down for the In Conversation series Friday, expect her to discuss the many different personas she has represented in movies as varied as Born on the Fourth of July and High Fidelity.
“I’ve done all sorts of things,” she told SRQ Backlot. “I have been in a spectrum of different roles, and I’m glad about that. It means i have experimenting.” When she takes the stage at Florida Studio Theater, she plans to discuss that wide acting range with an audience.
“I just want to have a talk that will get people thinking and to share some thoughts,” she said. Continue reading
