Fort Lauderdale Hosts Its 28th Film Festival

 

The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) now in its 28th year announces its official line-up for the event running October 18 – November 11, 2013.  This years festival will show over 175 American Independent films and World Cinema during the month-long cinematic event with competition categories and awards. As in the past, the festival will include Red Carpet World Premiers, Galas and special celebrity appearance.  The coveted Career Achievement Awards will be presented to Anna Paquin and Lea Thompson and Lifetime Achievement Awards to Tab Hunter, Ed Asner and Ann-Margret.  

The lineup of films has special entries from over 35 countries including Russia, Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Canada .  Some of the features with all-star casts this year include:  John Well’s  August: Osage County  with Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham.  Dave Frankel’s British comedy One Chance with Colm Meaney and James Cordon, Mike Newell’s Great Expectations starring Jeremy Irvine, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter; John Turteltaub’s Last Vegas starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline and Nebraska stars Bruce Dern, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk and June Squibb.

The Opening Night Entre Nous Black-Tie Extravaganza, themed after The Great Gatsby, will be hosted at the lavish 18,000 square foot waterway home of philanthropist Steve Savor. Opening weekend also offers a care-free Chairman’s Cruise and Brunch aboard the Sun Dream yacht, the Caprice.  The Centerpiece Party will be held at the historic Maxwell Room in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Set to kick-off the festival on October 18 is the Southeast Premiere of Free Ride starring Oscar® winner Anna Paquin.  Executive producers, Steven Moyer (True Blood) and Mark Larkin, producer Cerise Hallam Larkin and writer and director, Shana Betz will be in attendance.  Free Ride, a true crime story, is Betz’ directorial debut. The story centers around a single mom caught up in the Fort Lauderdale drug trade during the late 1970s while trying to make a better life for her two girls.

Closing weekend will feature an Awards Gala to be held at the Westin Diplomat Resort on Hollywood Beach.  A live performance by Grammy Award winning artist, Michael Bolton and a special presentation Lifetime Achievement Award to the multi-talented actress, Ann-Margret will be included in the extensive highlights of the evening.

Closing Night Film on November 10 is the Southeast Premiere of Mark Schmidt’s Walking with the Enemy based on a true story and heroic life of a young man swept up in the horrors of WWII.   Aided by the woman he loves, he disguises himself as a Nazi SS Officer and uncovers the truth of Hitler’s ‘final solution.’ In a race against time to save his family and thousands of others, he embarks on a journey filled with suspense and danger.

World Premieres include Arthur Luhn’s feature House Across The Street starring Eric Roberts (USA), Matthew White’s documentary The Upside Down Book (U.S./Germany/France), Jon Sumple’s fascinating extraterrestrial doc extraordinary: the stan romanek story, Kenneth Shapiro’s The Making of Great Voices Sing John Denver (USA), Gus Cantavero’s documentary A Drop of Water (Cambodia), Brian Bayerl’s The Case (USA-Japan),  Aneel Ahmad Checkpost (Pakistan), Alyn Darnay’s feature Krissy Belle (USA-Florida), Mike Glier’s thriller The Last Hit (USA-Snshine Celluloid), and Neil Golin’s feature Run, Stinky, Run (USA-Florida).

U.S. Premieres include Ben Stassen’s  African Safari 3-D, Thierry Gaytan’s documentary The Cocaine Route (Columbia/France), Pourya Azarbaijany’s feature Everything is Fine (Iran),  Andrzej  Jakimowski’s feature The Geographer Drank His Globe Away (Poland), Andrzej Jakimowski’s Imagine (Poland), Natasha Merkulova’s and Alexey Chupov’s feature Intimate Parts (Russia),  Agnes Obadia’s feature Josephine, Single & Fabulous (France), Christopher Payne’s feature Love Tomorrow (UK), Momcilo Mrdakovic’s  Mamarosh (Serbia/Germany/Hungary), Charles Wilkinson’s documentary Oil Sands Karaoke (Canada), Antonin Svoboda’s docu-drama The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich (Austria), and Laurent Tuel’s feature Tour de Force (France).

If you would like to attend the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, you can check out their website for film information, dates, times and tickets at fliff.com.