Sarasota Film Festival Opens with Awesome Film and Huge Gala Party!

April 14, 2018 | Laura Bell Adams | SRQ Scoop

Absolutely marvelous! That is the only way I can describe opening night of one of the biggest events in our town, the Sarasota Film Festival.

Our crew started out in the late afternoon at one of our home bases, Primo-Ristorante! (The other home base is the Swordfish Grill & Tiki). Chef-owner Maurizio Colucci and Manager’s Afaf and Minal put out quite a spread. We ate, had a cocktail or 2 and then Uber’d over to the Sarasota Opera House.

Each year, the opening night pageantry gets better and better. We walked the red carpet and met so many nice people. Oh, our licensed drone pilot, Laura Bell Adams got some really nice shots. We hung out for awhile and then went in to the historic opera house to watch the opening night film, “Class Rank”, starring Olivia Holt, Skyler Gisondo, Kristin Chenoweth and Bruce Dern. This comedy was awesome and you’ll fall in love with the characters.….. if you get the chance, go see it. It opens in theaters May 11, 2018.

After the film, we all walked across the street to the Block Party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the festival! Great music, food, cocktails and some very cool people. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our opening night crew of Laura Bell Adams, Shelby Hartshorn, Bob Slicker, Katrina Cox, Joni Luckenbill, Michelle Teeter, Maurizio Colucci, Jodi and Todd Schwarzenbach had a ball!

The night flew by! We took an Uber home with so many great memories of the evening. The Sarasota Film Festival runs through April 22. There are so many great films, parties, interviews and more.