For as long as we can remember, everybody and their sister's been clamoring for the Bay area to have its own high profile international film festival, just like the ones organized these days by virtually every city with a population over 3,000. After all, if even sleepy little Sarasota can manage to pull off two of these suckers every year, what's the problem with Tampa? Well, a lot of prayers were answered last year with the appearance of the first annual Tampa International Film Festival, a 10-day event featuring more than 20 critically acclaimed films from around the world. The movies were a mostly wonderful lot, culled from prestigious film festivals such as Toronto and Berlin, and many of the TIFF screenings were premieres for Florida and even the Southeast U.S. Best of all, the festival turned out to be as well organized as it was creatively designed, resulting in a debut year that was successful enough to ensure repeat performances next year and, hopefully, for a long time to come. Local cinephiles might rightly argue that the Tampa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival's been doing a variation of this sort of thing for years, but, good as that festival is, the new kid on the block seems to offer even more promising prospects. With its visionary approach, consistent quality control and overall commitment to the art of cinema, The Tampa International Film Festival is the most important event of its kind ever produced in the Bay area. Runner Up: Tampa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
Tampa International Film Festival, 813-253-3333, ext. 3425 or http://tampafilmfest.ut.edu.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.