Press Releases

Gena Rowlands And Seymour Cassel Honor Film Great At The Florida Film Festival

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Orlando, FL – (April 1, 2010) – The 19th annual Florida Film Festival announced two-time Academy Award®-nominated actress Gena Rowlands and Academy Award®-nominated actor Seymour Cassel will honor the late independent film pioneer, John Cassavetes, with a rare 35mm screening of this three-time Oscar®-nominated breakthrough classic, Faces (1968).

The Florida Film Festival, sponsored by Full Sail University, will take place April 9 through 18, 2010.

The event, “A Cassavetes Evening with Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, featuring Faces,” will take place Friday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. Rowlands and Cassel will be present after the screening for a question and answer session with attendees. Gena Rowlands appears courtesy of the Visiting Artists Program of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Cassavetes is one of the great pioneers in American cinema verité, and Faces is regarded as one of the landmarks of cinema that changed the face of independent film. Rowlands, who was married to Cassavetes for 35 years, co-starred in the film, and Cassel, who was nominated for an Oscar® for his role in Faces, also appeared in seven other Cassavetes films.

“This is an important opportunity to honor, salute, and remember a man who devoted his life to independent filmmaking,” said Henry Maldonado, President of Enzian and the Florida Film Festival. “Cassavetes embodies the essence of what Enzian is all about – an organization that serves as the home for independent films in the Central Florida area. This event will make for a very special and unique piece of Enzian and Florida Film Festival history.”

Maldonado continued, “Also Seymour is a member of our National Advisory Council and therefore a great friend to Enzian. Faces will appear among the movies in the Festival’s special curated program titled, “Film Sweet Film: A Collection of Home Movies.” Plus Seymour was kind enough to share special memories of Cassavetes in a piece to be published as part of the sidebar.”

Individual tickets for “A Cassavetes Evening with Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, featuring Faces” are $20. Platinum Pass Patrons will get a chance to meet Rowlands and Cassel at a private reception. Platinum passes grant access to all Festival films, including guaranteed admission into all “Evening with…” events. To purchase, visit http://www.FloridaFilmFestival.com or call (407) 629-1088 ext. 225, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. through 7 p.m.

Rowlands will also serve as a panelist on a women in the industry forum titled, “Perseverance: Women In The Industry,” and sponsored by Women In Film & Television – Florida. This event will take place Thursday, April 15 and is free and open to the public.

The Florida Film Festival is a core program of Enzian, a nonprofit organization which exists to entertain, educate, inspire, and connect the community through film. 2010 marks the 19th year of the Festival and Enzian’s 25th anniversary. Combined, Enzian and the Florida Film Festival have served more than 1.5 million guests, premiered thousands of films and hosted hundreds of celebrities including Academy Award winners Paul Newman, Oliver Stone, Christopher Walken, and Jon Voight.

Primary Sponsor

Full Sail University (http://www.fullsail.edu) has been recognized as an award-winning institution with over 34,000 alumni, and has served as an educational leader for those pursuing careers in the entertainment media industry. Graduate credits include work on OSCAR®, Emmy® and GRAMMY®-winning projects, best-selling video games, and the #1 grossing U.S. concert tours. Full Sail currently offers 29 degree programs and proudly welcomes over 8,400 students from 50 states and 57 countries. Full Sail was most recently named “Best Company” in the 2009 Orlando Business Journal’s Reader’s Choice Awards.