The Gasparilla International Film Festival has grown steadily since its inception in 2007, expanding this year to 10 days of screenings, workshops and parties and adding the "International" to its name. The fest kicks off Thursday night (Feb. 26) at Tampa Theatre with Rod Lurie's much-buzzed-about Nothing But the Truth (inspired by the Valerie Plame/Judith Miller case) and a tribute to a good old-fashioned movie star, Terry Moore (famous, among other things, for having once been married to Howard Hughes). The roster of films includes prizewinners from Cannes and Canada, a world premiere starring Val Kilmer, powerful documentaries and lots of local connections.
And, amazingly enough, it's all getting put together by a crew of exhausted volunteers and one paid part-time employee.
"You think it's amazing?" says Eric Odum. "My accountant and my bank account think it's amazing, too."
Odum, a commercial real estate investor, has been a "significant lender of time and money" to the Gasparilla filmfest over the three years of its existence. And this year has been a tough one; the fest lost both its presenting sponsor, Wachovia Bank, and its executive director, John Rosser.
According to GIFF board member Chad Moore, the bank told the festival in November that it would not be able to provide the sponsorship money GIFF had been counting on. As for Rosser (who blogs about film for Creative Loafing), neither he nor Odum are offering details about what happened. Odum says, simply, that, "it was time for us to go our separate ways."
Odum says that for the festival to continue after this year, money will have to be raised to support two year-round full-time staffers. Right now, in addition to himself and Moore, there are about 20 volunteers working 20-40 hours a week. "We can't keep this pace up." He's confident that the festival will attract ticket-buyers — he's predicting attendance of 10,000 — but ticket sales alone can't insure the future. And he knows what such an event can do for a region; he came to Tampa from Miami, where he saw the filmfest become "one of the cultural cornerstones for everything happening" in the city. That's what he hopes GIFF can become as well.
But is that what keeps him going? Why spend so much time and money on something with such an intangible return?
"I probably need to be medicated, to be honest with you. I'm not sure."
It does seem clear, though, that what drives Odum and Moore and the rest of their team is a love of film. They speak enthusiastically about their favorites, especially the foreign-language films that might not have a chance to be shown here otherwise, like the Cannes Jury Prize winner Il Divo and the Canadian-made Amal, which was filmed on location in India and is up for several Genies (the Canadian Oscars). But GIFF also knows that Tampa Bay audiences like local connections, so films like Misconceptions, filmed in Pinellas, and The Streak, about Brandon High's championship wrestling team, are on the roster, too. And there's the obligatory dose of famous, or semi-famous, names; besides Terry Moore, the festival is bringing in Armand Assante, who stars with Val Kilmer in The Steam Experiment.
It's about giving audiences "dessert and broccoli at the same time," says Odum. Whatever your tastes, this year's festival promises a full meal.
See reviews and video of selections from the Gasparilla International Film Festival.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2009.