Sarasota and Florida Filmmakers

Roommates and so-called friends make a small bet that turns into a high stakes battle through movie genres to decide who is the better storyteller.

Screened as part of the Ringling section.

World Premiere. Curry Scent is a fresh tale of a young immigrant family that comes to Florida in search of the American Dream. As they navigate the pitfalls of their new life abroad, doing menial jobs that many new immigrants find themselves forced to do, they still find humor and an overriding desire to succeed in their new life. The story focuses on Geetha, the young daughter and center of her eight-member family as she navigates the dating world in hopes of finding a suitable match to legitimize her visa. In her journey she encounters the forces it takes to understand what she loves about her country and at what price she is willing to forsake it. Told with uplifting humor and a variety of situations, from their cramped living quarters to her various excursions on which the entire family seems to participate, Curry Scent is a genuinely feel-good story about a serious topic that will resonate with people of all ages and backgrounds.

In his hit one-man show, Sarasota actor and storyteller Scott Ehrenpreis told his humorous yet profound story of living with mental illness. And now the show has made it to the big screen. Clowns Like Me reveals the fascinating, heartbreaking, ultimately uplifting true story of Scott’s personal journey as he struggles against OCD, bipolar disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, social anxiety and depression. Scott discovers that being on stage – and now in front of the camera – gives him the power, even for just a bit of time, to step into the light and leave the shadows of his mental health struggles behind. In case you didn’t see the stage show or want to re-experience it (and who can blame you), you are in for an experience that will make you think differently about the stigmas tied to mental health while keeping you consistently entertained.

East Coast Premiere. Inspired by a true story, The Man in the White Van delves into the eerie underbelly of a seemingly idyllic 1974 Florida town and follows the harrowing experience of young Annie Williams (Madison Wolfe), a spirited girl whose carefree existence is turned upside down as she becomes stalked by an ominous man in a white van. The tranquility of Annie’s world, from her love of horseback riding to her leisurely strolls home from school in the nearby woods, begins to crumble as the menacing van inches closer and closer. As her parents’ skepticism increasingly grows, Annie finds herself psychologically isolated, and on Halloween night her worst fears materialize. Headed by a stellar cast, the feature debut of director Warren Skeels is a gripping exploration of terror, paranoia, and the fragility of security in a place where darkness lurks beneath the surface. Based on actual events of the serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr., the film captures a bone-chilling story of a young girl’s unimaginable horrors and every parent’s worst nightmare.

Drawn in by the haunting spectre of the Florida panther, Nat Geo photographer Carlton Ward and a coalition of biologists, ranchers, conservationists, and Indigenous Peoples find themselves on the front lines of an accelerating battle between forces of renewal and destruction that have pushed the Everglades to the brink of ecological collapse.

Shane Wiskus is a top collegiate gymnast who dreams of going to the Olympics. But when the COVID-19 pandemic postpones the games, his university uses the crisis as a pretext to cut the program. Shane is forced to train independently and yet still manages to win the Nissen Emery Award at the end of the year, the NCAA’s highest honor for gymnastics.

In Attendance: Steven Nye, Director; Shane Wiskus, Subject

An Iranian girl decides to remove her Headscarf/Hijab in a life changing situation.

Those We Carry is a snapshot of a mother and daughter’s last 24 hours together as they travel to the wilderness of California so the mother, who’s terminally ill, can die with dignity.

Christina and Sara find themselves stood up while they wait for their online dates to arrive. What happens during the course of the evening surprises them both. It’s a story about connection, self-empowerment, and the joy of spontaneity.

When a long flirtation between two co-workers comes to a head durning a revealing lunch break in the park, who gets to walk away with their head held high?

When a phone scammer makes one last late night call, the woman on the other end gives her much more than she bargained for.

A young man tries to grow an oak tree by combining soil, an acorn, and the ashes of his dead father.

Faced with immigrating to the US from Cuba alone as children – via a secret program called Operation Pedro Pan that received over 14,000 children between 1960 and 1962 – this short documentary follows two former “Pedro Paners” who agreed to share their insights and contemplations on the impact this event had on their lives and what we all have to learn from it today.

After getting her heart broken, Inés decides she must end it all… that is, until her perfectly planned suicide is interrupted by the ghost of her chatty Cuban neighbor.

“Hidden Gems” is a documentary film about African American male business owners’ struggles and triumphs in the business world. Through personal anecdotes and interviews, the film delves into their unique challenges as African American men, highlighting their resilience and determination to overcome obstacles and achieve success.

This punk rock fairytale doubles as a portrait of Shoog McDaniel — a fat, queer, and disabled photographer working in and around northern Florida’s vast network of freshwater springs, the state’s source of precious drinking water. For over a decade, Shoog’s photographs have transformed the way fat people view themselves and how a fat phobic society views fat bodies.

A Day in the Life of a thirty-something immigrant caught in a rut. He lives in a place where everyone speaks a different language and no one understands anyone else. When his wife asks him to buy ice cream, his day unravels as misunderstandings sink to absurd misadventures. A satirical view about a day where the effects of a new immigrant’s mounting hardships and dizzying realities all converge into one big mess. The Subtitles Are Color Coded: Serbian (white) Spanish (yellow) Broken Serbian or Broken Spanish (orange) English (not subtitled)

A daughter comes home for the weekend to look after her father, ailing with Dementia. The appearance of a mysterious woman shines a light on their changing parent-child power dynamic, threatening to throw their world out of orbit.

When a 15 yr old boy does not get the support he needs from his parents he finds an unexpected friendship with a lonely, elderly neighbor.

In the distant future, the Climate Crisis forces mankind to evacuate Earth and head to space with the hopes of colonizing a new world. The trip is long and lonely, but a dating system has been created to allow Earth’s remaining survivors to communicate and hopefully find love. Connection tells the story of Lauren, a self-made woman, who uses the dating system to find a connection that might save more than her heart.

After the loss of her unborn son, Amy creates an artificial intelligence to cope and learn with.

Inspired by true events and shot on location at LAX airport, “Bienvenidos a Los Angeles” tells the timely story of Imani, a Nigerian single-mother living in Los Angeles, who offers to help a perfect stranger reunite with her son. In doing so, Imani learns this simple act of kindness threatens to jeopardize her own path to citizenship.

After receiving a mysterious letter, a wayward son returns to his childhood home to wrestle with a dark family secret.

After meeting in their therapist’s office, two women battling their own mental health issues form an unlikely friendship when one helps the other confront a pregnancy scare.

Daniel Rosa, a teenage Puerto Rican-American, doesn’t feel like he quite fits into his extended family due to his different cultural upbringing. His mother and only confidant- Evie, tries thrusting him into the deep end when they attend a family holiday party in hopes for her son to connect. But when Daniel discovers a tragic truth about his family his world and identity gets flipped upside down, posing the question of who he wants to be and who he should be.