Major stars. Local films. Beachfront events. With the unveiling of the Sarasota Film Festival program for 2015, organizers seemed to answer a call for the return of high-wattage star power for the event while simultaneous offering long-desired support for regional filmmakers. The line-up was publicly released at a press event at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Wednesday night.

Actresses Jane Seymour (Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman), Cloris Leachman (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Blythe Danner (Meet The Parents) topped a long list of confirmed talent attending the festival this year. All are accepting awards, as are filmmakers Oren Moverman and Tom Browne. With a list of stars that includes Rachel Weisz, Ben Vereen, Jess Wexler and Mickey Sumner, both young and legendary Hollywood seem represented in a guest list that SFF President Mark Famiglio promises will only grow by the time the festival dates, April 10 through 19, roll around.

And while the festival in recent years has eschewed calls for prioritizing star power over high-quality programming, new Programming Director Michael Dunaway said he appreciated a desire for recognizable faces on the red carpet. "Part of why we all love film is the glitz and glamour and the starstruck feeling that you get when you see a great film and a great performance," Dunaway said. "There is nothing wrong with your heart beating fast when you meet someone whose performances have meant something to you."

But as local filmmakers cheered details about Florida films in the shorts and features category, it was clear bringing in talent was not done at the expense of the area film community. A dozen shorts filmed in the Sarasota area were included in the program this year. The most anticipated announcement in area cinema, though, may have be that the festival will host a world premiere of Paradise, FL, a film shot entirely in Southwest Florida and directed by local filmmaker Tony Stopperan. "The festival has been a friend to me as an artist," Stopperan said, "and to be shown in the community that supported us financially, through production and post-production, and for Sarasota to give us a platform and honor us with this, it's incredible." 

Read complete coverage at SRQ Backlot

SRQ Backlot

Sporting yellow rubber gloves and an orange bandanna tying her hair, Annie Saunders sits, tired, on a red bucket in an elevated glass-walled cell on the lawn of the Ca d’Zan. Armed with a bucket and squeegee, she’s been washing the aquarium. The audience watches as she appears to gather herself, then the water rushes in around her feet, filling the cell and closing over her head as a chorus of screams erupt from the surrounding speakers. This is Holoscenes, the latest public art and performance project from artist Lars Jan, on display at the Ringling Museum until Saturday.

Meant as a comment on climate change and rising waters, following the events of Hurricane Katrina Jan found himself “riveted” by the scenes of destruction and “comparatively frail human figures at the mercy of surging waters,” the artist said in a statement. When Hurricane Sandy brought the water to his apartment door in Brooklyn seven years later, Holoscenes began – a series of performances featuring divers and dancers engaging in everyday activities as the waters rise and recede, often negating the effort.

The performances strike a delicate balance between structure and improvisation, according to Pablo Molina, who joined Jan four years ago and helped engineer the aquarium and write the software directing the water flow. “There’s a general narrative, but it varies with the undulations of the water,” said Molina. “It’s an improvised performance between us and the performers.” He and his team keep close eye through the performance, making sure the waters behave.

Back in the aquarium, Saunder floats face-down like a corpse, hair wisping freely in the current. The bucket and tools bob like detritus in rhythm. The water drains as Saunders awakes, swims and somersaults, before her feet find purchase on the bottom. She sets to cleaning, angry and frustrated now, flinging gouts of water from the bucket and splashing the walls.

The performances were derived from videos from around the world of people going about their lives and carrying out ordinary tasks, resulting in scenes that feel all too familiar before being swallowed by water. A site-specific performance, the lawn of the Ca d’Zan was chosen specifically because rising sea predictions say the first floor of the historic building will be underwater well before the century ends. “Aesthetically, it’s a beautiful work of art, sometimes humorous and sometimes strangely profound,” said Ringling Museum Curator of Performance Dwight Currie. “But you also ask yourself what are you going to do when the water begins to rise.”

For Annie Saunders, she believes the audience will bring most of the meaning with them, interpreting the piece from their own perspective, but she also believes that socially conscious art such as Holoscenes can bring about desired change. “When you’re in a real place in real time with a real person doing something dramatic and unusual,” said Saunders. “You can elicit a certain gut reaction that statistics don’t achieve.”

Lars Jan’s Holoscenes will be on the lawn of the Ca d’Zan until Mar 28, with performances Thurs-Sat at 12pm. 

Goodwill Manasota has announced its 2015 Board of Directors. Effective Mar. 18, Rob Morris was elected as chairman of the board, with outgoing chair Steve Boone receiving the honorary title of chair emeritus. Peter Crowley is chair-elect and Drayton Saunders will serve as secretary/treasurer. Directors include David Bassett, Debbie Douglas, Sandy Kirkpatrick, Art McClellan, Alan Maio and Richard Wharton. Lifetime members are Stu Gregory and Senator Marlow Cook. 

Goodwill Manasota

The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program has announced Sherri Swanson and Scott and Virginia Lloyd-Jones the newest winners of Blue Dolphin Awards, acknowledging local champions of Sarasota Bay. Swanson works as a senior environmental scientist for HDR Engineering and is recognized for her volunteer support of the Sarasota Bay Water Festival, the region’s largest public event focused on the welfare and recreational amenities of Sarasota Bay. The Lloyd-Jones are retirees from Sun City Center being recognized for their ongoing volunteer support of the award-winning SBEP Bay Guardians Program. 

Sarasota Bay Estuary Program

Founded in 2003 by Jim Miller, JMX started out as a small, local company in Sarasota has evolved into becoming the world’s largest online-only retailer of Amish furniture.  JMX teamed up with GrowFL in 2013, and revenues grew by 106% in 2013 and again by 59% in 2014. Today, employees have more than doubled to 24 and earnings have surged to nearly $6M. JMX is considered one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States, making the 2014 Gulf Coast 500, Inc. 5000, and Internet Retail 1000 lists.  

JMX Brands