Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Just when I think that the last thing Tampa needs is another film festival, along comes the Gasparilla Film Festival to change my mind.  Scheduled for February 28 - March 4, 2007, this independent film festival will showcase more than 40 films in the following categories:

• Latin Panorama - films with a Cuban twist 
• New Horizons - films that more directly focus on the arts 
• Fun & Fear - a mix of comedies and horrors 
• Short Films - including family - friendly and music video 
• Special Screenings - Featured American indies 

Here’s part of the press release:

The 5-day competitive festival will be juried by reputable filmmakers and journalists who are industry professionals. Separate juries will be used for both the Latin Panorama section and the New Horizons section.   

Jury and Audience Awards will honor the following categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture -Short, Best Picture - Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Latin Film, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Homegrown Music Video, and the Young Filmmaker Award.  Other award categories will also be presented at the Cuban Club Theater on Sunday, March 4.

The festival will take place at venues in and surrounding Ybor City - Tampa’s National Historic District and Latin Quarter. The festival will begin its celebration of independent film with a VIP reception and “An Evening With…”, an intimate film screening and discussion with Special Guest at The Tampa Theatre. 

GFF Executive Director Sherri Simonetti, known locally for organizing the annual Back to School Bash, has hit the ground running. The film fest will soon be accepting submissions and they hope to have the film submission guidelines up on their website shortly. For more information, email info@gasparillafilmfest.com or visit http://www.gasparillafilmfest.com/. 

(cross-posted at Tampa Film Fan)

Possibly related posts (auto-generated)

• happy birthday tampa film review (1)
• cigars in ybor (2)
• ybor fire is arson (3)
• update on the independents’ film festival (0)
• tasty yuletide dates (1)