Filmmakers flocked to to the Gulf Coast this weekend for the launch of the Sarasota Film Festival, speaking well of a community where the makers of independent cinema get held in high esteem whether they bring a movie ready for broad release or a short film with a niche audience. “Filmmakers want to have a movie in Sarasota,” says producer Sandy Stern. “It’s one of the more name-y festivals right now.”

Stern attended one of the first Sarasota Film Festivals 20 years ago and returned to the community Friday with the Opening Night film Class Rank, directed by Eric Stoltz, so the homecoming seemed especially relevant to the producer. Stoltz, too, said the reputation of the Sarasota event proceeded his arrival, and after the screening of the film he called the Sarasota Opera House viewers the best audience the film has enjoyed so far. “They laughed at all the right places,” Stoltz says. “It was great.”

On the red carpet before the kickoff event, filmmakers for much smaller productions also relished in the flood of flashbulbs. “This is great and wonderful. It’s kind of a big deal, at least it feels that way,” says Tracy Holcomb, whose film Cracking Aces: A Woman’s Place at the Table tells the story of famed female poker players.

Director Elizabeth Chatelain, whose Sundogs tells the story of a single mother dealing with financial hardship after the North Dakota oil boom, came to Sarasota as part of the Through Women’s Eyes program. She said the care Sarasota takes to give voice to filmmakers leaves her inspired. “There are so many voices not heard in the industry—women are one and minorities are one—and it’s just so important to hear from different parts of the world and country,” she says.

Festival organizers, who have been as hard at work on a new permanent facility in Sarasota as on the festival proper this year, say the event in its 20th year continues to excite every spring. And the reputation as a place to foster filmmakers remains a major part of the organization’s mission. “We insist upon it,” says SFF President Mark Familglio, who during the evening touted a screenwriting event at the Hermitage and impressive programming. 

The Sarasota Film Festival continues through Sunday. 

Laughter filled the hall of the Sarasota Opera House on Friday so often that audiences for director Eric Stoltz’s Class Rank missed numerous lines of dialogue that followed one-liners in the high school comedy. The take on the hopeful activism of American teenagers will screen at theaters nationwide starting May 11, but filmmakers brought the pleasing 

The film tells the tale of teenage School Board candidate Bernard and his enthusiastic campaign manager Veronica, played respectively by Slyler Gisondo and Olivia Holt. Stoltz told SRQ he felt drawn to the script by the characters’ awkwardness and eagerness. The characters fill archetypical roles—Bernard could be seen as a civically minded Lewis from Revenge of the Nerds with Veronica a version of Election’s Tracy Flick with an eye on the Supreme Court—yet they follow an atypical story arc, not so much evolving as characters as they expand their ambitions to include such pedestrian concepts as personal happiness.

Bruce Dern, playing Bernard’s reclusive grandfather, steals scenes with wry humor with a sense of anger laying behind every wise crack, while Kristin Chenoweth plays the surprisingly wise motherto Veronica.

The film hits theaters at a time when a group of real-life Florida teenagers seize American political dialogue, but Stoltz shies from comparisons. His movie follows high school students unhappy with the use of class rank and the insistence on including French in the foreign language curriculum, not the heavy issues around gun violence that drew Parkland students into national notoriety. But Stoltz still hopes his film might inspire action in youth. “Perhaps the teenagers and younger kids who see it will feel something, and say the adults have screwed this up long enough,” Stoltz tells SRQ.

The director also laments how comic book films have taken over the box office. Of course, a high school rom-com doesn’t exactly shake up the language of mass cinema. The movie also can employ superficial laughs to cover less-than-authentic plot devices, including the policy issue name-dropped in the film’s title. I’m uncertain of any schools that keeps the class rank of its top students in a graduating class secret, but believing momentarily that a school would proves essential to feeling anything at this film’s emotional climax.

All that said, few seemed to leave this film disappointed, and there’s something to be said for kicking off a week of challenging cinema with a movie everyone in a diverse audience of cinephiles can enjoy. 

There has been a lot of misinformation and mischaracterization about the planned improvements at the Lido Beach Pool and Pavilion, which has been causing concern in the community. My hope is that I can provide some clarity about what is really happening.

Before I describe what is actually in the plans, I wanted to give a little background on how we got to this point. Plans for what to do with the pool, concession and pavilion were conceived about seven years ago as a response to the likelihood that the pool was going to close due to its condition and non-use. So, an ad hoc committee of the Lido Key Residents Association was formed to come up with ideas for how to save the pool and pavilion, which had fallen into disrepair. In 2012, the ad hoc committee made a presentation to the Sarasota City Commission, including a proposed site plan that included a wish list of amenities they would like to see at the pool and pavilion. The wish list included enhanced food service, cabanas at the pool, a Tiki bar, more seating, a splash pad for children and a children’s playground. In addition, the residents’ presentation suggested the entire facility should be run by one entity. At that time, the economy was still depressed, which meant that the City did not have the money to make the improvements. Encouraged by the residents, the City Commission decided to look for a concessionaire/operator who would be willing to make the improvements and form a public/private partnership with the City.

In 2014, the City advertised this opportunity, spelling out what the City wanted to accomplish for the residents.  Only two vendors responded. One of them only wanted to do a restaurant. The other group was willing to do the entire revitalization project. Thus, they became the preferred prospective concessionaire. Since 2014, they have been working on creating a plan that is acceptable to the Lido Key Residents Association and other City residents. There have been numerous community meetings. After each one, the concessionaires made modifications to their plan based on the feedback they received.

The actual plan is to renovate the existing buildings, including the restrooms, and add improved seating to the patio area. A new restaurant is not being built. There will be table service, but there will also be a walk-up counter for those who would just prefer to order some food and take it with them back to the beach. A thatched roof will be added over the open patio area to provide more shade. In addition, just off the patio there will be a 30-seat tiki bar.

For those who would just like to sit or bring their own food, there will be picnic tables with umbrellas in the open area just West of the patio heading toward the water, but within the dune area.

In the pool area, there will be cabanas that can be rented for the day. However, they are only one option at the pool. The pool can still be enjoyed without having to rent a cabana. There will be seating, some shade, and a splash pad for children. There will be a charge for access to the pool, just as there is now.

The green area in front of the pavilion will have three age-appropriate playgrounds and picnic tables with umbrellas, so that parents can sit and watch their children play. There is no charge for the playgrounds or any of the amenities outside of the pool area.

The value of the improvements will be tracked and expected to be significant. This public/private partnership is expected to create a positive cash flow for the City. The entire facility, including the bathrooms, will remain open and accessible to the public as it has always been.

Liz Alpert is a Sarasota City Commissioner. 

Brooke Chase Associates has ranked among America’s best recruiting firms in 2018 for the second year in a row, according to Forbes and Statista. Also, there was a dramatic improvement in ranking, having risen from #177 to #116. Forbes has teamed up with market research company Statista to produce, for the second year, an annual ranking of America’s best recruiting firms. The list is divided into two categories; one for the top 250 executive search firms specialized in filling positions with salaries of at least $100,000 and another for the top 250 professional search firms focused on placing positions with salaries of less than $100,000. To determine the best recruiting firms, Statista surveyed 30,000 recruiters and 4,500 job candidates and human resources managers who had worked with recruitment agencies over the last three years. Firms could not nominate themselves. More than 14,500 nominations were collected, and firms with the most recommendations ranked highest. 

Brooke Chase Associates

The Junior League of Sarasota held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Sailor Circus Sarasota this past weekend to commemorate the completion of recent improvements. The League’s New Member Class of 2017-18 has dedicated its time and resources to breathe new life into the grounds of Sarasota’s beloved Sailor Circus, a pillar in the local arts community that provides after-school circus training to students ages 8 to 18. The New Member class set out to refresh small buildings with repairs and a new coat of paint, updated landscaping, added outdoor seating and some whimsy with circus silhouettes and a new color scheme using Sailor Circus’s blue and white and the signature Junior League red. The New Member Class raised the majority of funds needed for the project with a fundraiser held at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre on February 7. Sponsors of the project include TJ’s Landscaping & Tree Service, Sherwin Williams, Snider’s Painting and Home Wood Craft. The Junior League of Sarasota is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. 

Junior League of Sarasota

Wanda Kerr of RE/MAX Alliance Group has received her Florida real estate broker license. Her continuing training is part of an ongoing commitment to professionally and expertly serve her clients, the real estate industry and community at large. Kerr has 25 of experience in local real estate sales. Her efforts have won her the Certificate of Excellence in Real Estate by Broker Agent Advisor for achievement, potential, leadership, ethics, community value, experience, capability and trust for her service. She is an agent in the RE/MAX Alliance Group Sarasota office at 2000 Webber. RE/MAX Alliance Group is the #1 RE/MAX franchise in Florida and the #16 RE/MAX franchise in the United States. The company also placed among the REAL Trends Top 500 list and RISMedia's Top 500 Power Brokers. 

RE/MAX Alliance Group