Gasparilla Intl Film Festival 2011

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 09:37

Written by L E Shannon

The 5th annual Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) runs March 24 - 27, 2011 at the Tampa Theater, Cinébistro Hyde Park and Muvico centro Ybor in Tampa, Florida.

From a mere 40 films in 2007 to over 100 films in 2010, GIFF has grown into a strong, independent festival with an impressive array of entertainment icons. From the beginning, their mission has been to educate, inform, entertain and create cross culture diversity through the art of film. In addition, they feel "an obligation to create a level playing field for both veteran and amateur filmmakers by creating a film acquisition market in Tampa Bay."

This year's Career Achievement Award goes to Tom Berenger, and his film Platoon, directed by Oliver Stone, will be screened. This is the film for which Berenger earned his Academy Award nomination.

The 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a familiar face, M. Emmet Walsh, the quintessential "working actor" with over 100 films and 150 TV appearances to his credit -- and he's not done yet. Roger Ebert had once pronounced his "'Stanton-Walsh Rule', which states that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."

The Opening Night film is The Music Never Stopped, directed by Jim Kohlberg (based on the story "The Last Hippie" by Oliver Sacks), which was screened at Sundance this year. Using the power of music, a father struggles to bond with his estranged son, who suffers a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With J.K. Simmons, Julia Ormond, Cara Seymour, Lou Taylor Pucci, Mia Maestro.

The Closing Night film is Square Grouper: the Godfathers of Ganja, directed by Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys). The film is named for the bales of marijuana thrown overboard or out of airplanes in South Florida in the 1970s and 1980s. The film exposes the business as run by three different entities, and handles the subject matter in a somewhat lighter vein than the cocaine film. The director and producer will attend the screening.

Other Special Events:

Never before in the history of motion pictures has a film been directed by someone who is completely blind -- until now. GIFF hosts a live discussion with the world’s first blind film director, Joseph M. Monks, for his first official live appearance to discuss his first film, The Bunker. Attendees can meet Joe, hear his story, his process, the hurdles he overcame, and learn how it became possible for people without sight to direct a feature film, a process which Joe had to invent. Clips from the film and the trailer will be shown.

Other screenings include:

The latest film from Mario Van Peebles, Black, White and Blues. A talented blues musician in his 30s meanders through life working menial jobs in Texas. After one of his many drunken nights, he learns from a mysterious man that his grandfather died and he must travel to Huntsville to accept his unclaimed property. With Michael Clarke Duncan, Taryn Manning, Tom Skerritt, Kiele Sanchez, Melvin Van Peebles.

Several documentaries cover bands:

Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues
dir. Robert Mugge
The earthy blues repertoire of Ted Drozdowski and Rob "R.L." Hulsman, the Nashville-based Scissormen.

Color Me Obsessed
dir. Gorman Bechard
The band The Replacements is regarded as the most influential, always drunk, self-destructive and brilliant rock band of all times, as told through the eyes of their fans, followers and fellow musicians.

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
dir. Lev Anderson & Chris Metzler
Fishbone rose to become one of the most original bands of the last 25 years. A combination of punk and funk, they defied genre and challenged the racial stereotypes and political order of the music industry and the nation. Laurence Fishburne narrates. The director will be in attendance. 

Other documentaries include:

Carbon Nation
dir. Peter Byck
Whether one doubts the severity of the impact of climate change or just don’t buy it at all, this compelling film illustrates how solutions to climate change also address other social, economic and national security issues. The director and producer will attend the screening.

Hot Coffee
dir. Susan Saladoff
Stella Liebeck spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. Corporations have spent millions distorting the case to promote tort reform. Big business, aided by the media, "brewed a dangerous concoction of manipulation and lies to protect corporate interests," as told by "the stories of four people whose lives were devastated by the attacks on our courts." The director will attend the screening.

Narrative films include:

Win Win
dir. Thomas McCarthy
A struggling attorney who volunteers as a high-school wrestling coach, takes on the guardianship of an elderly client in a desperate attempt to keep his practice afloat. When the client’s teenage grandson runs away from home and shows up on his grandfather’s doorstep, Mike’s life is turned upside down as his win-win proposition turns into something much more complicated than he ever bargained for. With Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young.

The Red Machine
dir. Stephanie Argy & Alec Boehn
At the height of the Great Depression, a young thief is forced to help a US Navy spy steal a brand new device used by the Japanese military to encode its top-secret messages. During the mission the two discover that they are pawns in a larger game. With Lee Perkins, Donal Thoms-Cappello, Meg Brogan, Eddie Lee, Madoka

The Removed
dir. David McElroy
College students need some cash, and sign up for what seems a simple paid research study.  But they unknowingly volunteered their bodies as human collateral in an ongoing covert US Military experiment to test weapons of mass destruction. They quickly try to come up with a plan to escape. With Daniel Baldwin, Phillip Edward Van Lear, John Turk, Jake Hames.

Education Panels are held at Muvico Centro Ybor and include:

• Got Talent?
• Made A Fantastic Film, Now What?
• The Road To Success: The Actors Panel
• The New Digital Age
• Cinema Can Change The World

For more information, visit GasparillaFilmFestival.com.

About The Gasparilla International Film Festival
The Gasparilla International Film Festival, one of Florida 's largest independent film festivals, is operated by the Tampa Film Institute, a full-time 501(c)3 organization dedicated to advancing film education and community involvement in film in the Tampa Bay area. The 2010 Festival was the most successful festival yet with nearly 2,000 attendees a day and films and filmmakers from all over Florida and all over the world.  

Gasparilla International Film Festival
March 24 - 27, 2011

Tampa Theatre
711 N. Franklin St.
Tampa, FL
(813) 274-8981
tampatheatre.org

CinéBistro
1609 W. Swann Ave
Hyde Park
(813) 514-8300

Muvico Centro Ybor
1600 E. 8th Ave
Ybor
(813) 242-0365

plus other venues

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