Movie News
Highlights include M. Cahill’s Porcupine starring Jena Malone and the HBO Music Box documentary Listening to Kenny G, and there’s good news – both Malone and Kenny G will make appearances at the festival, which takes place both in-person and virtually from April 1-10 in Sarasota, Florida.
“We are thrilled to welcome our film-loving community back to the Sarasota Film Festival to enjoy this year’s robust selection of narrative and documentary titles together in the theater,” said SFF chairman and president iglio. “After two years of limited in-person engagements, we are honored to host a number of distinguished guests and filmmakers on the beautiful Florida Gulf Coast for a 10-day event, complete with a variety of engaging Q&As, conversations, and panels featuring diverse voices from across the industry.”
A screening of Porcupine will kick off day one of the festival. The narrative feature tells 
the true story of an adult woman (Malone) who puts herself up for adoption. Malone herself will be honored with the Sarasota Film Festival Excellence in Acting Award and will participate in an “In Conversation” discussion. Festival attendees can also catch a free outdoor community screening of another one of Malone’s films – Joe Wright’s 2005 film Pride & Prejudice.
On April 7, the festival’s Documentary Centerpiece film, HBO’s Listening to Kenny G, will be screened followed by an “In Conversation” discussion with director Penny Lane and Kenny G himself moderated by Rolling Stone’s Tatiana Siegel. Kenny G will also be honored with the Sarasota Maestro Award.
Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s Bleecker Street neo-Western drama Montana Story will be the Narrative Centerpiece film, starring Owen Teague and Haley Lu Richardson.
The festival will close with a screening of Russell Brown’s LOREN & ROSE, which stars Jacqueline Bisset and follows the indelible bond between a promising filmmaker and a storied actress looking to reinvigorate her career. Bisset will be there to receive the Sarasota Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and participate in an “In Conversation” discussion before the screening.
The festival will feature a Music Sidebar section, an African American Sidebar, a Spotlight on Sarasota program for feature films from the town where the festival takes place, as well as a short film program.
PORCUPINEdir M. Cahill (USA), 2021Fired from her seventh job in two years and estranged from her family, Audrey (Jena Malone) dwells in a distinctly modern solitude, relying on YouTube for companionship. One night a video rabbit hole leads her to the world of adult adoption, and she is pulled in, deciding to try it herself.
LOREN & ROSEdir. Russell Brown (USA), 2022A single meal frames this three-act story of the indelible bond between Loren, a promising filmmaker, and Rose, a storied actress looking to reinvigorate her career. From a lunch meeting to discuss a possible collaboration grows a years-long friendship between two people whose love of art, understanding of grief, and faith in life’s potential guide them through personal and creative hardships. Kelly Blatz and Jacqueline Bisset star with a chemistry that is at once authentic and intoxicating.
Sarasota Film Festival Sets 2022 Slate Including Porcupine and Listening to Kenny G
MONTANA STORYdir. Scott McGehee and David Siegel (USA), 2021From the acclaimed writer/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (WHAT MAISIE KNEW, THE DEEP END) comes a neo-Western with an emotional tremor hiding beneath it. Two estranged siblings (Haley Lu Richardson, Owen Teague) return home to the sprawling ranch they once knew and loved, confronting a deep and bitter family legacy against a mythic American backdrop. The fates of their ailing, unscrupulous father and a beloved old horse hang in the balance.