Sarasota Film Festival announces this year's celebrity guests, movie lineup

Sarasota Film Festival has unveiled this year's lineup of movies, as well as an Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning or nominated roster of celebrity guests.

The 26th annual event will return April 5-14, with tickets and passes on sale March 22. This year's opening night film is "Bull Street," following a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as her estranged father's family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Loretta Devine), facing local politics, an unwavering judge (Amy Madigan) and the town's past. Madigan, additional cast members and director Lynn Dow will attend the festival and participate in a post-screening discussion.

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Madigan's accolades include Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her role in 1985's "Twice in a Lifetime," as well as a Golden Globe win and Emmy nomination for the 1989 TV movie "Roe vs. Wade." Her other credits include "Field of Dreams," "Uncle Buck" and numerous films with her husband, fellow actor Ed Harris.

The closing night film will be "The Listener," the latest directorial effort by Steve Buscemi, starring Tessa Thompson as a helpline volunteer. Buscemi, who attended Sarasota Film Festival for four consecutive years from 2007 to 2010, will return to the festival to take part in a post-screening Q&A.

Buscemi may be best known as an actor in films such as "Reservoir Dogs," "Fargo," "Armageddon," "The Big Lebowski" and "Ghost World" (which he received a Golden Globe nomination for), as well as TV shows including Emmy-nominated roles on "Boardwalk Empire," "The Sopranos" and "30 Rock." However, he is also a longtime film and television director, dating back to his 1996 Independent Spirit Award-nominated feature "Trees Lounge."

Sarasota native Austin Abrams, whose credits include the hit HBO show "Euphoria," will receive the Rising Star Award at the festival, which also host a centerpiece screening of Abrams' new movie "The Line" (also one of the last films featuring his "Euphoria" co-star Angus Cloud, who died last year.) Abrams has appeared on other shows such as "The Walking Dead" and "Dash & Lily," and in films including the upcoming "Wolfs," starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Centerpiece screenings will also include "This is a Film About the Black Keys," a documentary about the titular rock band that recently premiered at South by Southwest, and "The Man in the White Van," a thriller set in 1974 Florida starring Sean Astin and Madison Wolfe and directed by Warren Skeels (a producer of the formerly Sarasota County-set and shot MTV series "Siesta Key.") Other films with local connections include "Curry Scent," about "a Bradenton-based Indian immigrant family desperately grasping for the American Dream"; “Into the Spotlight: The Jake Ilardi Story," about the Osprey resident turned professional skateboarder; and "The Mammoth Hunt," about Lithuanian theater director and Sarasota resident Jonas Jurašas.

As usual, the lineup features several movies coming off recent premieres at other acclaimed film festivals such as Sundance (U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner "Porcelain War" and Audience Award winner "Daughters") and Cannes (Ken Loach's "The Old Oak.") There will be also short films, with a showcase of all five of this year's Best Live Action Short Film Oscar nominees (including the winner, Wes Anderson's "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar") and Best Documentary Short Film Oscar winner "The Last Repair Shop."

“I could not be more thrilled with the depth and quality of the films that make up the lineup for our 26th annual edition,” Sarasota Film Festival Chairman and President of the Board Mark Famiglio said in a statement. “It is incredibly special that we also have the opportunity to honor a young talent in Austin Abrams — whose work has spanned prestige television to independent film — and to welcome him back to the community that helped launch his passion for the arts. We are proud to continue supporting film education, and to help spur creative output and tourism in the greater Sarasota area through the festival’s partnerships this year with Ringling College of Art and Design, Art Advocates, and many more local institutions.”

For more information on this year's festival, visit sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by  subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Film Festival 2024 Steve Buscemi Amy Madigan Austin Abrams