Michael Dunaway didn’t properly get into the film industry until he was 39. Eight years later, he serves as the new program director for the Sarasota Film Festival and his latest documentary 21 Years: Richard Linklater is among the New York Times Critics’ Picks. We spoke with the new festival face.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EVAN SIGMUND
Jim Crisp I grew up in Macon, Georgia, and unlike most Southern towns, there is an alternative theater called Theatre Macon that was founded by Jim Crisp. He understood the community he was in and gently pushed the boundaries of what the community was ready for, not all at once to where people would get burned out and he wouldn’t have effect anymore. By the late 1980s, he was doing meaningful plays about AIDS in a small Southern town. Now he has been doing it 30 years. People will see anything he puts on. I compare Jim to [former Sarasota Film Festival director] Tom Hall a lot. People in the larger festival world can’t believe what has been shown here because they have a stereotype that Sarasota is all senior citizens with conventional tastes. That is not true; we have an incredibly sophisticated and open-minded film community.
Soldier’s Boots My great uncle was one of the first paratroopers and was in an incredibly heroic unit, the 82nd Airborne. He fought and died in the Battle of the Bulge, and I have his boots. It is unusual because they would recycle those boots, but because it was the end of the war, they came home with him. My grandmother would say it was her favorite memento because she could see the shape of his feet in the boots.
Johnny Cash I first heard him on eight-tracks driving with my grandparents. I was in my 20s when American Recordings and the rebirth of his career came about. His music and persona are big influences on my life. One of my favorite songs is “Down There By The Train,” which is actually a Tom Waits song but there is also a Johnny Cash version, and it’s one of my favorite songs. He was the foremost interpreter of other people’s songs, and the American Recordings started out with [producer] Rick Rubin just sitting him down and telling him to just play other people’s songs.
The Man Who Ate New Orleans One thing I have kept through the years is the movie poster for my first film, The Man Who Ate New Orleans. Morgan Spurlock helped me make that film and that was very important to me.
Les Miserables I seem especially attracted to sweeping epics, and it seemed inevitable I would early in life see Les Miserables and fall completely in love. I saw one of the movies, then another one, then read the book and saw the musical, and another musical film. Looking back at it, from this age, I see the struggle between the concept of Old Testament God and New Testament God. The characters are wonderfully painted. I originally just thought it was cool and dramatic.
Fred Shuttlesworth autograph I have a script for a civil rights epic, much like Selma, and it revolves around what went on in Birmingham in 1963. It focuses on Fred Shuttlesworth, the most unsung hero of the movement. His widow is one of the producers on the movie, and he was a friend of mine before he passed away a couple years ago. I have a photo from 1963 of Fred and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy marching. Fred signed it for my wife and I, and if there is a fire in my house, you better believe that is one of the things I grab first before I get out. SRQ
