Going Behind The Scenes of Sunscreen Film Festival

From left to right: actress Chelsea Luna, actress Ema Tibbetts, local sound mixer Marty Ramirez, actress Anne Do, actress Pang Thao, and actress Dani Bui.

We danced, we laughed, we cried, and we had a really good time. After four days and three nights of festival fun, the 19th Sunscreen Film Festival came to a close at AMC Sundial 12 on Sunday, April 28, as another success. 

This year’s festival featured over 200 films, which producer, unit production manager, and Sunscreen Film Festival board of directors member Cameron Brumbelow told Uncovering Florida is a record. On top of that, there were a total of 13 workshops, three parties, and three red carpets. On opening night, Brumbelow said that this year’s festival would draw in a crowd of about 6,000 to 7,000 people.

In an interview with the founder of Sunscreen Film Festival, Tony Armer, Uncovering Florida also learned that this year’s festival is estimated to have “around a 3 million dollar impact” on the local economy. According to Armer, “people are flying in from around the world”, not just from around the country, to attend Sunscreen. This anticipation could be felt from the start of the festival.
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Opening night, Thursday, April 25, began with a grand red carpet event, where media companies performed interviews and camera crews captured attendees dressed in chic attire strolling down long, bright red carpets. In addition to the two main red carpets at the front of the theatre, there was a separate, more metaphorical, red carpet for a documentary called "The Guru", which was shown at AMC on Friday morning. During the red carpet event, Uncovering Florida was able to interview a few of the actors who had roles in films that would be featured throughout the following days.

"The Guru" star George Farah on his documentary's red carpet. Photo by Ema Tibbetts.

In an exclusive interview, local actress and producer Pang Thao told us about her role in a comedic short film shown on Friday during the Made in Florida Shorts Block Part I at 10:00 a.m. called “Everyone Will Die”. This was her third year coming to this film festival, and she “definitely” recommends that people come out and experience Sunscreen.

Uncovering Florida also spoke with actor Drew Oliver from the short film “Hello Stella”, which was shown on Sunday during the Made in Florida Shorts Block Part II at 11:00 a.m. This was his second year at Sunscreen, and according to him, this festival is “a lot of fun”. He pointed out that “no one has to be here; everyone wants to be here”, making it even more impressive that thousands of people came to AMC Sundial 12 just for the festival.

With this in mind, it is important to note that Sunscreen was run by volunteers. Uncovering Florida actually got the opportunity to speak to several of these volunteers, including singer Kevin Carmant and singer Patrick Powell. 

Carmant has been attending Sunscreen for the past several years, and he keeps coming back for the “immersion” and “community”. On the first day of the festival, he told us that he knew he was “going to walk away with more love and passion than [he] walked in with”. As for Powell, this was his first time ever attending Sunscreen, and he described this festival as “wonderful”, saying that he was “excited about everything…everything altogether”.

In addition, we interviewed actress Chelsea Luna, who was working at the red carpet for "The Guru". This was her first year at Sunscreen too, and she would “highly recommend” that people come and witness this festival for themselves. She expressed that she likes “seeing all the other actors and actresses, seeing all the other people come out to enjoy the movies, and just seeing how happy they all are to be dressed up and enjoy each other's company”.

Once the red carpets had been rolled up, Uncovering Florida attended the opening night party at Nova 535. Two food trucks parked onsite to provide dinner and dessert, and both an indoor and an outdoor bar served drinks. One food truck offered Greek cuisine and the other sold ice cream that multiple attendees raved about. 

Food trucks lined up along the patio of Nova 535 for the opening night party. Photo by Ema Tibbetts.

Inside Nova 535, a DJ booth overlooked the banquet space from the balcony, but unfortunately, there was not a dedicated dance floor between the tables in the main room for those who wished to dance. The primarily EDM-style beats were also too loud to be background noise yet too quiet for anyone to hear the pop songs mixed into the track over the attendees trying to network. 
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After opening night, the activities over the following three days included a constant array of short films, feature films, and workshops all happening between theatre #1-4 at AMC Sundial 12. From Friday to Sunday, Uncovering Florida personally viewed some of these films and attended several of the workshops

Sunscreen showed just about every genre of film available and had separate time blocks for short films categorized by college-made, high school-made, comedy, documentary, and so on. While it was not possible for Uncovering Florida to be in multiple theatres at once to see all of the short films, a few films that stood out came from a comedy block and a college-made block. These films were titled “NEXT”, “Just Passing Time”, and “Changing Strides”, and they were notable for their captivating depth and gravitas.

After watching a variety of short film blocks, several attendees expressed confusion about the categorization of some of the films. For example, especially during the comedy blocks, a handful of the films, while well-done, seemed to lack comedic value to the point that it felt as though they belonged in a different category. A couple of the “comedies” even caused the audience to cry sorrowful tears alongside the actors in the films.

Then, shown separately from the short films, feature length films were offered throughout the festival days. There was enough buzz around feature films "I feel fine." and "The Green Flash" that a second screening was added for both later on in the festival. The opening night feature film "Bau, Artists at War" also resonated with the audience.

Local sound mixer Marty Ramirez shared his experience after watching a number of the films. Commenting on one of the Florida-made short film blocks, he stated that he “liked all of them” but said that a few of the submissions “were just too dang loud”. In addition, according to him, "Bau, Artists at War" “was excellent”, “heartwarming”, “sweet”, and “a tear-jerker”. 

In between seeing films, Uncovering Florida attended workshops about different aspects of the film industry, including screenwriting, lighting, the making of a documentary, the legal side of things, and how to take a film from a concept to the big screen. Actor, executive producer, and owner of Clearwater-based K75 Stunt Academy David Siracusa told Uncovering Florida that although he enjoys the movies, he truly comes to Sunscreen “to get educated”, describing how the “breakout sessions are fantastic” because Sunscreen always chooses “incredible people” to be panelists and how the “level of knowledge you get here is unlike anything [he has] experienced at any of the other festivals”.

The first workshop we went to, which was about screenwriting, featured a panel of five industry professionals who spent the first portion of the workshop speaking on their craft before opening up the floor up to the audience for questions. The panel took turns answering everyone’s questions, offering valuable advice, and ultimately encouraging everyone to pursue their passions.
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All of the workshops that we attended were run in this open and friendly format. The panel was casual and conversational with the audience members, who had to pass a branded cube that contained a microphone, which was affectionately referred to as the ‘cube of fate’, around the theatre in order to ask their questions. It was a ‘talking stick’ of sorts that aided in the organization of the workshops. 

'The Cube of Fate'. Photo by Ema Tibbetts.

Even after the workshops, the panelists were happy to have festival attendees come talk to them, ask further questions, and take pictures. Despite being big names, on a local level at the very least, these professionals were very approachable. They served as another exemplification of the passion within this industry. 

Later on in the festival, following the lighting workshop, Uncovering Florida was afforded the opportunity to speak with panelist and founder of Lightwave Media Christian Cashmir, who has been coming to Sunscreen since its inception 19 years ago. During our interview, he talked about how he recently shot one of his feature films, "Mother Nature and the Doomsday Prepper", here in the Tampa Bay Area. He also recommended that anyone who is interested should come out to Sunscreen, stating that he had invited everyone he knows to attend the festival.

Furthermore, regarding the workshops, we spoke to actor and podcaster Jessica Viviane, who appreciated the workshop that covered artificial intelligence in relation to filmmaking “because it showed a whole nother side of how [AI] can be used as a tool to assist and enhance”. However, she felt that the “actor’s workshop promised a wide range of topics but fell a little flat in delivery” even though “it was still fun to be around fellow actors and get some expert insights”.

Beyond the opening night festivities and ensuing daily films and workshops, there was the Friday night filmmakers party and Saturday night awards ceremony that doubled as a closing night afterparty. The former was a 70s disco themed soirée held at The Birchwood, and the latter was a fancy western themed event held at The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art. 

The disco ran into a similar problem as the opening night party. The volume of the music was somehow too quiet and too loud to make it clear whether or not attendees were intended to dance, and the dance floor was non-existent. Despite that fact, just like on opening night, this did not stop a few people from getting their groove on and dancing like no one was watching. 
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As for the decor, there was a disco ball centerpiece on the middle table, 70s-themed drink stirrers, and a few other pieces, but the minimalism did not seem to sell the theme overall. That being said, the photo booth with hats, glasses, and signs to use as props was a cute touch for the party.

Photo booth photo from the 70s party.

The awards ceremony was a beautiful, formal event with live music, featuring talented singers from the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism who entertained the attendees while they enjoyed a complementary Italian buffet and open bar. As for the awards themselves, "Bau, Artists at War" won three, the most out of any other film. 

The majority of the winning films had representatives present to accept the award, but a few did not. For the winner in the best international short film category, a film titled “The Monopol”, Tony Armer made a special announcement that the filmmakers could not accept the award in person themselves as they are Ukrainian and had been drafted into the war.

At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the stage was opened up for anyone who wished to go and sing karaoke. Cake was also served on the buffet table, and the guests were free to mingle until midnight, when many people left to go to after-afterparties and prepare for Sunday, the last day of films, workshops, and other festivities.

Of all the things Uncovering Florida experienced at Sunscreen Film Festival, we would agree with Patrick Powell that the best part was not any specific day or film or workshop; it was “everything altogether”. The magic of Sunscreen is the festival as a whole. It is the passionate people, the networking, the themed parties, and the company of thousands of like-minded creative individuals that makes it so noteworthy. 

It is this passion that brought people with celebrity status like actress Rachel Paulson, casting director Rose Rosen, actress Eugenie Bondurant, and producer Marty Poole out to the festival this year.

As Cameron Brumbelow noted in his interview with us, next year is the 20th Anniversary for Sunscreen, and they plan to go all out. According to Armer and  Brumbelow, planning for this major anniversary will start  immediately. 

All in all, Sunscreen Film Festival is a must-see event if you ever get the opportunity, and we are excited to see how they raise the bar next year.
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Article by Ema Tibbetts