After countless days and hours of design and production creating a plethora of marketing materials for the Florida Film Festival, it will finally be time to slow down — if only for a bit — to enjoy the great movies and events the Festival has to offer.

These next ten days of discovery are something I look forward to every year. Sitting in the dark with friends and strangers–probably with an adult beverage in front of me–watching stories unfold from aspiring and accomplished filmmakers alike. The documentaries are always fascinating, but I’ve heard from Festival folks, like Chris Blanc, that the narrative features this year are really strong. And the festival review I read in the Weekly backed up that claim.

Already on the agenda for this weekend is the opening night film, Paper Man, and party Friday night, where I know there’ll be good eats when I see that the Ravenous Pig and 4 Rivers (among others) will both be there servin’ up vittles. Saturday, I’ll start with seeing the Academy Award Nominated ‘The Secret of Kells.’ That might be the only movie I can catch because I’ll be at the Lee Bros lunch and talk. Then it’ll be on to the Tennessee Williams ‘Family’ Reunion dinner at 6:30. Sunday, I’ll miss the brunch, unfortunately, but I”ll try to catch No 4. Street of Our Lady and Con Artist that night.

What more can I san than, psyched!

Cover of this year's Film Festival program

Interior of the Film Festival program

Interior spread of the Film Festival program