Orlando oasis: This is Really It

Each of the feature documentaries in competition
 got a full page in the Florida Film Fest catalog

Florida Film Festival in Orlando (April 5-14) was our second U.S. festival for the new documentary, BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton, and I was the only one of our team who could make it there.  It was an amazing experience, full of insights, surprises, and celebrations.

With my bro-in-love John Reimann, sister
Alice Reimann and mother Helen Silha

One great thing was, my family joined me for the first screening, a matinee on Saturday April 6, at the Regal Theater in Winter Park.  The audience was small – maybe 50 – but spirited.  My mother, sister, and brother-in-law finally got to see the completed film on a big screen with good sound and picture.

We drove back to Sarasota, Longboat Key exactly, where my family has taken winter vacations since I was 14, and celebrated my birthday on Tuesday the 9^th.  We also swam, walked the beach, and toured the colorful private rooms in the Ringling mansion.

Birthday dinner - dinner & photo by John Reimann

The view from the tower of the roof tiles at
Ca D'Zan, John & Mabel Ringling's mansion

Mabel Ringling's rose garden

A winged lion at the Venetian style Ringling Mansion

I returned to Orlando for four days of spectacular movie-viewing and partying with other filmmakers and with our wonderful “street team” of students (David, Nate, and Brittany) from Florida Central University, who posted and distributed cards and did radio and web publicity for the film.

Our second screening was at the fabulous Enzian Theater,
where you can lounge on couches and eat
(or dance) on tables.

Among the films I loved:  Nina Davenport’s First Comes Love. Jeremy Workman’s Magical Universe, Jamie Meltzer's Informant, plus lots of short films.

On Friday, I participated in a panel on filmmaking artfully moderated by Rollins College professor Denise Cummings.  

Getting ready to go onstage to introduce BIG JOY

Saturday was the awards brunch at the Enzian, and BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary!  That was a great surprise.  And it was wonderful that T.R. Boyce and Andrew Mudge's The Forgotten Kingdom won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature.  They participated with us in the 2012 Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) Labs for first-time filmmakers.