Fun for every budget

“If you are a film maker and you can’t pay rent this month, don’t avoid coming to this film festival” says General Manager of the Florida Film Festival Chris Blanc.  The Florida Film Festival, or FFF, will be coming to Orlando from Friday April 9th through Sunday April 18th.  It one of the top 25 film festivals in the country and films from this festival go on to the Academy Awards.  But  don’t let the ticket prices or the prestige of the Academy Awards intimidate you from coming to this festival – there is plenty for every budget.

Free events

From 11am-12:30pm on Friday April 9th, there will be  The Art of The Producer Forum where two-time Academy Award nominee Richard Gladstein (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Bourne Identity) will be answering questions about how to produce movies.  Also,  Kodak will have several free workshops about how to work with Super 16 Film.  You should be marking your schedule now – they are available at the Enzian Theater or online at FFF website.

Shorts program

If you can not make it to more than one movie why not try a shorts program. You can see up to 5 or 6 movies with $10 ticket.  For example,  you can support local  filmmakers by attending Florida Shorts: The Best of Brouhaha, which are locally made films that won the once a month film festival known as FILMSLAM at the Enzian.  Even if you can’t make it to the forums, “One of the truly exciting things about this festival is that we are going to be live streaming it from our website,” says Blanc.  LIVE STREAMING, Now there are no excuses.

Don’t be shy

“If you are serious about making film, you will never learn if you are shy,” Blanc adds “come and meet the film makers, you never know, one of them might give you a ticket to their movie. “  This will be a networking event not to be missed by producers, designers, financiers, nerds, comedians, geeks, actors, wanna-be actors, and anyone looking to interact with other people about their art.  If you do meet a film maker and you don’t know what to say “just ask the film makers about their film, they love talking about themselves,” says Blanc.

With over 160 movies to choose from this year, Blanc says “This is the strongest film selection I have ever seen here,” and they are available a’ la carte.  You can choose which films you want to see for around $10 or you can spend as much as $600 for a Platinum Pass. Also, try to catch a couple of celebrities while you are there including Emma Stone from Zombieland, who will be there  opening night to show off her new movie Paper Man.

Stay tuned for some reviews of films we screened before the festival. Also,  please be sure to tip the staff who work hard to bring us this quality festival and remember: nothing in this world is for free – except Production Apprentice, of course.

For more information go to www.floridafilmfestival.com

Behind the scenes of the Enzian with Chris Blanc, General Manager of the Florida Film Festival.