Florida Film Festival movies: ‘Virtually all’ will be released
When “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” played the Florida Film Festival in April, a limited number of people could see it. The poignant documentary about children’s TV host Fred Rogers, a Rollins College grad, screened just twice.
The situation changes Friday, when the story of the star of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” begins a commercial run in Central Florida. The film starts at Enzian in Maitland, then will expand to other local theaters.
This year’s festival brought attention to a wide range of 183 films, including 55 features. But what happened to them after that?
“Right now, about 50 percent of our features have a distribution deal in place,” said Matthew Curtis, the festival’s programming director. “Obviously that does not necessarily mean that they will get a theatrical opening in Orlando. But at the end of the day, virtually all of these films will end up released in some way, perhaps not so much in theaters, but certainly on iTunes, PBS, Hulu, Netflix, etc.”
Some films returned to play Enzian, the festival hub. They included the horse drama “Lean on Pete,” the horror anthology “Ghost Stories” and the documentary “RBG” about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“Tully” with Charlize Theron opened wide in May. Openingnight selection “American Animals” was released earlier this month. The documentary “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” has a July release.
Films with local connections are taking different approaches to distribution. The documentary “Long Time Coming” described Florida’s 1955 Little League Championship, which was played in Orlando. The Pensacola Jaycees and the Orlando Kiwanis met in one of the first integrated Little League games in the South.
Director Jon Strong said the film was being submitted to film festivals and would play curated screenings with panel discussions about race and reconciliation.
“One cool thing is that the film is actually going to play at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in late July,” Strong said. “As the nation’s library, a place of education and learning about people, history and the world, I don’t know if there’s a better place to hold a screening for our film.
“Streaming and TV are goals after a festival run and other edu-