A state record of the use of financial incentives in the Fiscal Year 2013-14 shows the Central West Region, which stretched from the Sarasota area up to the Ocala area, as the site of far more incentive-qualifying film projects that eitehr the Panhandle or the Fort Myers-Naples region, though there are still more qualified projects in the Central East Region, which includes Orlando and Daytona Beach. South Florida remains the major area film money goes to in the Sunshine State. Data comes from the Florida Office of Film and Entertainment. 

Mark Famiglio this week can be found hob-nobbing with movie stars in his capacity as president of the Sarasota Film Festival. But on any given week, you might find the business mogul bringing an orphan drug to market, negotiating with World of Beer about a new location in Bradenton or countless other ventures. As of January, Famiglio held some level of ownership over 43 separate companies.

The New College of Florida grad has spent decades in the Sarasota area running companies like Cambryn Biologics, which right now is working now on a drug created to manage and treat clotting factor deficiencies, advanced wound healing and biosurgical hemostats. Famiglio’s work navigating the product through approval with the Food and Drug Administration forced him to miss the Sundance Film Festival this year. “It requires focus and attention,” Famiglio says of the approval process. “There are periods when it’s a mad dash, a 50-yard run, and then there are times when it’s a marathon.”

As for the festival, a point of pride this year for Famiglio is the launch of a new Screen Writers Colony in Sarasota similar to a successful effort at the Nantucket Film Festival, where Famiglio sits on the board. He has seen first hand what works best and what does not with the New England project, and hopes to see even greater success here with the effort. It could be seen as Famiglio’s grand finale, as he plans to retire as president this year. But then again, “I said that I was retiring two years ago, and that didn’t happen.”

Read more about Famiglio in this month’s issue of SRQ: The Magazine. 

Follow our wall-to-wall coverage of the festival at SRQBacklot.com

Manatee County Commission: The board meets Tuesday for a workshop on budget funding goals for this year and an update to the land development code. The workshop will be held at the Manatee County Administrative Center in Bradenton and begins at 9am

Sarasota County Commission: The board meets Friday for a joint session with the Charlotte County Commission. The boards will discuss River Road updates, the Englewood Archives, the Southwest Florida Regional Summit and other issues relevant to both commissions. The meeting will be held at the Charlotte County Administration Building in Port Charlotte at 1:30pm. 

Sarasota County Commission

For the first time in State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota’s history, the SCF Model United Nations team won the Outstanding Delegation Award, the top honor given at the 25th annual Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference in Charlotte, N.C., April 9-11. Representing China in a range of committees from the General Assembly to INTERPOL to the Security Council, the SCF delegation also received the Best Position Paper. Team members, including SCF students Jordan Foth, Anne Miller, Kristen Moreno, Carolina Montes, Matthew Ruch, George Vasquez and SCF Collegiate School student Carlyle Styer, competed with more than 300 college students from four-year universities and two-year colleges from across the country. 

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

Renee Hamad joined the Sarasota campus Community Board of the Florida State University College of Medicine. Hamad is active in several local organizations including Second Chance Last Opportunity, New College Foundation, the Sarasota Concert Association, SAFI and the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Hamad also is a member of the Steinway Society, the Sarasota Musical Archives, the All Children’s Specialty Care Center Guild of Sarasota and serves on the Ambassador’s Committee for Eckerd College’s Program for Experienced Learners program.Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Mrs. Hamad is fluent in three languages and is an accomplished pianist. 

Florida State University College of Medicine