Sarasota Film Festival officials knew there would be excitement about presenting an award to Sophia Loren and bringing Olympia Dukakis in for an In Conversation event, and indeed those events have generated press and ticket sales leading into the festival. But Programming Director Michael Dunaway has been pleasantly surprised to see enthusiasm for up and coming stars like Josh Radnor, in town with The Seeker, and Jess Weixler, back at the festival with Money. “These are people who are friends of mine and whose work I admire,” he said, “and I’m excited to see the community embrace them so much. Their work is worth the attention.”

Excitement for the festival ramps up tonight with the SFF Kickoff Event, An Evening with Sophia Loren, when the actress picks up a Legend award. It will continue Friday evening with the Opening Night Party, when Other People screens to a Sarasota audience, and will continue through the Closing Night Film, The Congressman, which will bring actors George Hamilton and Treat Williams here. In the meantime, a host of independent films will screen to smaller audiences at Regal Cinemas  Hollywood 20 in Downtown Sarasota and other venues. And Dunaway notes that a significant number of high-profile films, including Spotlight film Kate Plays Christine, will get major billing this year. “To see Sarasota produce films that opened at Sundance, that’s exciting,” he said. “The community at large is celebrating the film community here.” 

A major focus of the festival this year will be mental health issues, an interesting follow-up to last year’s emphasis on homelessness. Dunaway said he also views the festival this year as somewhat of a mental reprieve from the madness of a trying election year. The festival will seek to bring lightness to the campaign season as well, rebranding its traditional Cinema Tropicale party as Cinema Politicale event for one year only. “The idea we can all get together and make fun of ourselves and make fun of each other and still be civil at the end of the day in a year such as this is an important thing.” 

A full schedule of events and films can be found at sarasotafilmfestival.com.  

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J.E. Charlotte Construction, a Venice-based construction company, started the renovation within an existing 49,000-square-foot building for three doctors’ offices.The building houses offices for the medical practices for Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, Dr. E. T. Arne Jr., Dr. Holly Barbour, Dr. Stephen Culp, DaSilva Anti-Aging, Dr. Steven Fineman, Dr. Kenneth Henson, Dr. Brett Hirsch, Partner’s Imaging with Dr. Richard Goldberg and Dr. Roman Rozin, Dr. Bart Price, Dr. Petra Travnicek and Dr. Mark Walter.  The $350,000 renovation project includes interior finishes to the building, including new drywall partitions, paint, cabinets, flooring, lighting, acoustical ceilings, HVAC modifications, plumbing and electrical rework. The 11-week project is slated for completion in mid April 2016. The Venice-based builder constructed the original office building in 2004-05 and is giving a facelift to the currently vacant second and fourth floors. 

J.E. Charlotte Construction

Taylor Morrison is now selling in Bellacina by Casey, an Esplanade Community. Bellacina is the national homebuilder’s new active lifestyle community in Sarasota County. Located on an approximate 165 acres in Nokomis, the gated neighborhood is slated to include more than 300 single-family and detached villa homes. 

Taylor Morrison

The City of Sarasota completed an urban forestry improvement project at North Lido Beach utilizing a grant awarded by the U.S. Forest Service Urban and Community Forest Grant Program. The City in 2014 received a grant for $10,000 to remove invasive Australian Pines and plant native trees at North Lido Beach and matched the grant with slightly more than $10,000 to complete the project. 

Sarasota City Commission