What's Hot in CF: The Florida Film Festival and My First Radio Interview

Friday the 13th is my lucky day. I was born on Friday the 13th. Today is already turning out to be a good one. My new column (second week) is up today on Alternet, Ten Amazing Things The World Learned This Week, AND this afternoon my FIRST RADIO INTERVIEW is going to air on WMFE!

Usually I do a segment called "What's Hot in Central Florida," but since the Florida Film Festival starts today I got to do something very different and interview FFF and Enzian Theater programming director Matthew Curtis (who was a great sport in being my very first radio interview subject).
Matthew and I covered some great stuff in our 3-and-a-half-minutes, which you can hear LIVE today at 4:30 pm or by clicking HERE to go right to WMFE, and you have to listen to it to hear who the BIG CELEBRITY GUESTS are going to be!!! Of course, as in every interview, there were a lot of things we talked about that didn't get into the mix, inevitable with something as vast as the FFF, here's an added-bonus-extra some of the things Matthew and I discussed and some of the movies I really think you'd like to check out....because I'm going to!

- There will be 169 films from 31 countries and about 60-70 filmmakers, some of whom bring actors and other talent with them AND this year audiences can SKYPE with filmmakers at some of the screenings, a new techno-component to the FFF!

- Shorts program 5: Animated shorts & features!! Everyone knows animation is one of my favorite parts about the Festival and I can't wait to see this year's shorts & feature! Last year one of the shorts in the program The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won an OSCAR!! It was so exciting to see the filmmakers on stage and think "OMG - I met that guy!" (Brandon Oldenberg, who was here at Regal WP showing the film). This year the festival will also show the Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris looking forward to that!


- Documentaries! So many I'm psyched about, starting with I'm psyched about are Jiro Dreams of Sushi a documentary about a tiny sushi restaurant in Japan - seats only ten people - said to be the best sushi in the world. Sushi fans - and who isn't one? - are sure to melt over this one.

 - Bury the Hatchet another one I can't wait to see, about the Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs, the descendants of runaway slaves who were harbored by  Native Americans in the Louisiana bayous -  amazing! Not just a history lesson but a glimpse into the beautiful diligence of carrying on a tradition of honor - with Mardi Gras music and costume style.

 -  One film that sounds like it's going to have serious echos of the Trayvon Martin case is Beating Justice: The Martin Lee Anderson Story about a boy who went into the juvenile detention system...and ended up dead. Surveillance video told another story, one of violence and injustice in the state of Florida, so sadly like what we're seeing in the headlines again, a must-see, especially now.

- An Affair of the Heart has it's world premiere tomorrow - a doc about Rick Springfield but mostly about the rocker/actors loyal fans who have stuck with him all these years, PLUS Rick is going to be playing at the Plaza in Orlando this week to boot! Filmmakers Melanie-Lentz Janney and Syvia Caminer already have a bang-up success with this film - it's the FFF's fastest film ever to go on standby and Matthew says "I think people are coming in from Australia to see this..." and it's right in your backyard, so check it out! 

 - Another music doc I'm curious about is Paul Williams: Still Alive. If I'm going to drown in anything I'd like it to be 70's nostalgia and I remember Paul Williams, from TV, from Phantom of the Paradise, and can't wait to see the clips from his appearances of yore and what he's like today. Jobriath A.D. about the glam-rocker who was supposed to out-Bowie Bowie and kind of...fizzled. I wonder if this isn't going to be the Anvil the Story of Anvil of this year's festival.

- Finally one last feature and it's playing at midnight!!: God Bless America, which sounds like one of the darkest of dark comedies and which made me laugh so hard at the press preview I was a little embarrassed...I mean, it is about a homicidal maniac. Imagine a mix of Falling Down and Heathers only haaaaa-larious. Can't wait.

- There's so so much more you'll want to know about much more AND you have to listen to the interview to hear who the big guests are going to be! I know I'll see you there sometime this week!!