Screen legends Sophia Loren, Olympia Dukakis and George Hamilton will all visit the Suncoast this year for the Sarasota Film Festival. At a special press and sponsor event at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Wednesday, organizers for the annual independent film celebration announced these stars, along with other celebrities and cinephile favorites, would accept awards and promote films at this year’s event. The festival runs from April 1-10 this year, a day after the festival brings Loren in to receive a Legend Award on March 31.

Other People, a film starring Molly Shannon and Bradley Whitford that earned rave reviews at Sundance, will open this year’s festival at an April 1 event, while The Congressman, a movie penned by real U.S. Rep. Robert Mrazek, will help close the festival the following weekend. The latter film brings actors Hamilton and Treat Williams to town along with the congressman. Rosie Perez will come to town with Narrative Centerpiece Five Nights in Maine and participate in an In Conversation event, and actor Matthew Modine, who narrates the Closing Weekend Documentary The Brainwashing of my Dad, will attend a special screening of the war classic Full Metal Jacket.

Programming Director Michael Dunaway said he was especially proud that the festival this year will unveil a new nonfiction honor, the D.A. Pennebaker/Chris Hegedus Award. “These are some of the greatest living documentary filmmakers,” said Programming Director Michael Dunaway. The two directors will be in attendance with the Documentary Centerpiece Unlocking The Cage, which follows an attorney’s efforts to give trapped animals personhood rights. Beloved documentarian Barbara Kopple will come to town to present the pair with their namesake award.

Josh Radnor will also be in attendance with a special screening of Liberal Arts while actress Rutanya Alda comes to town for a special screening of cult classic Mommie Dearest. Local faves like Jess Weixler will also attend. 

Actress Kate Lyn Sheil and director Robert Greene will come with the locally significant Kate Plays Christine, a film about the on-air suicide of Sarasota television news reporter Christine Chubbuck. “We do not take this lightly and see it as a real healing moment in this community,” Dunaway said, noting many people, especially within the press, knew Chubbuck and were here when the tragedy grabbed national headlines.

There will be a focus on mental health this year, and a continued celebration of female filmmakers. But Dunaway said for this, his second year programming the festival, the greatest change from last festival will simply be in curating a program more strongly attuned to the tastes of local cinephiles. “I am so much better prepared to program this year. Last year, I never really had any contact with the audience of Sarasota, and now I feel much better informed.”

Read more, including galleries from the event and a complete listing of films, at SRQ Backlot.