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‘Great deal of pride:’ Florida Film Festival returns to Central Florida with celebrity guests

33rd Annual Florida Film Festival runs from April 12-21

Florida Film Festival 2023 pictured above. (Florida Film Festival)

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Film Festival is back at Maitland’s Enzian Theater, with satellite shows at Regal Cinemas, Winter Park Village.

The festival received more than 2,811 submissions from 101 countries.

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Of those submissions, they selected 171 films to be featured.

“It gives us a great deal of pride to produce one of the finest regional film festivals in the U.S. right here in Central Florida. There is such a diverse audience for film in the greater Orlando area, that allows us to program such incredible films from all over the world,” said Matthew Curtis, programming director.

He explained the Florida Film Festival has even been a starting point for many filmmakers over the past three decades.

“Early works by Christopher Nolan, Sean Baker, Chloe Zhao, Sian Heider, all of whom went on to major artistic and commercial success, that is what really means the most at the festival, to have these filmmakers here at the launch of their careers, interacting with our audiences.”

The festival will have some familiar faces. Actor and comedian John Cleese, along with actress Natasha Lyonne, will participate as celebrity guests.

Actor Natasha Lyonne poses for photos to promote the series "Poker Face," in West Hollywood, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Opening night will also feature the film, “Rachel Hendrix,” directed by Florida Film Festival alum Victor Nuñez and starring Lori Singer.

This year’s theme is called, “A Road Trip for Yer Mind.”

“This year, we celebrate the diversity of films and shorts that will take you on a journey unlike any other. Each short program, feature film, and party is a unique stop on this cinematic road trip, offering a spectrum of perspectives and narratives,” said Deanna Tiedtke, director of Public Relations.

One of those perspectives and narratives includes the film, “Lady Parts.”

The indie film is a dramedy about a woman’s battle with health care and how her loving but overbearing parents help her through recovery after a surgery. Click here to see the trailer.

"Lady Parts" is making its debut at the Florida Film Festival in Maitland and Winter Park. (Lady Parts Film, LLC.)

“We are a micro-budget project, all working on this because we believe in the message of the film. We proudly have a majority female-identifying crew including director, writer, and cinematographer,” producer Meghan Griesbeck said.

The goal of the film is to raise awareness about women’s health issues and make sure others know they’re not alone.

“I struggled going through many doctors before I could get a diagnosis and then was in even more of a struggle to find treatment afterwards. I wrote ‘Lady Parts’ to finally put content out there that would help so many others feel less alone in their struggles, and normalize what can be hard conversations. Sometimes just having something to relate to can change everything,” writer and executive producer Bonnie Gross said.

“Lady Parts” premieres at the Florida Film Festival on Sunday, April 14, at the Enzian Theater at 5 p.m. and on Wednesday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at Regal Winter Park Village.

“Visibility is important. If just one person could see it and walk away learning something new, or finally feeling seen and heard, then we have done our job,” director Nancy Boyd said.

Information on purchasing festival passes can be found here.

You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below:


About the Author
Brooke Savage headshot

Brooke is a news producer and has been with News 6 since January 2018. She grew up in Coral Springs and graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. Before she came back to Central Florida, she worked in Fort Myers.

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