Another Year of Unique and Inviting Features at Sarasota Film Festival

Rory Kennedy

SARASOTA – Spring is here, which if you're a local movie fan, means you can look forward to another year of the Sarasota Film Festival. In its 16th year, the SFF has once again put together a compelling schedule of films and yet again, the most difficult part might be deciding which ones to see. Here's a look at some of the most anticipated films that will be showing at this year's event.

Former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Bobby Kennedy's youngest daughter, Rory, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker best known for Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, will open the festival April 4 at Van Wezel with her newest film, Last Days in Vietnam, which documents the efforts of a small group of Americans who take diplomatic matters into their own hands when their South Vietnamese allies face death or imprisonment in the face of the United States' withdrawal.

Charlie McDowell’s The One I Love will screen as the Closing Night film on Saturday, April 12 at The Sarasota Opera House. Struggling with a marriage on the brink of collapse, a young couple escapes for a weekend, only to discover an unusual dilemma in this film starring Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss with Ted Danson.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

John Slattery's God’s Pocket, which stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his last completed roles, tells the story of a guy who gets in over his head when he tries to cover-up the accidental death of his stepson.

Andrew Rossi’s Ivory Tower will join God's Pocket as the festival's two Centerpiece Films. Ivory Tower is a documentary that asks whether the sky-high cost of a college education is justified or has an equivalent value in today's society.

Richard Shepard's Dom Hemingway stars Jude Law as an expert safe-cracker released after 12 years in prison who's looking to recover what jail-time forced him to leave behind in this promising offering in the oft-hilarious British gangster genre.

The SFF has also added John Magary’s debut feature The Mend to the festival schedule. The film, which received warm reviews at the South by Southwest Film Festival, stars Josh Lucas and Stephen Plunkett as brothers reconnecting over a couple of strange days.

SFF 2013 Breakthrough Award winner Mickey Sumner (Frances Ha) co-stars. The Mend will screen on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Regal Hollywood 20 in downtown Sarasota.

For a full schedule of the 180-plus films to be screened at the Sarasota Film Festival, visit the SFF website.