Ybor film festival adds dash of garlic
By SHARON WYNNE
Published April 6, 2006
The Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, in its fourth year, aims to bring independent films to a wider audience with free movies and a garlic cook-off to honor a Tampa-born film legend.
It runs through Sunday with 90 films and a rumored visit from actor Gary Busey. In addition, there will be a retrospective of the work of Tampa native Les Blank, 70, who will be on hand to screen 25 of his unique films.
Blank's works have won the British Academy Award for best documentary (Burden of Dreams, 1982) and honors at the Sundance Film Festival (In Heaven There is No Beer, 1985). His quirky look at the culture of garlic fanatics (Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers, 1980) was selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved in perpetuity. In 1990, Blank received the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award for outstanding lifetime achievement as an independent filmmaker.
The Hillsborough Community College Park at Palm and 15th Street in Ybor City will be the festival headquarters with schedules, tickets and entertainment. For information, see www.yborfilmfestival.com.
Other activities of note:
Family Night at the Movies in Centennial Park, Friday: Bring blankets to watch comedies, animations and two film shorts by Blank on a 45-foot screen. Guest appearance by T.V. Robot, and a film crew will be on site making a movie. Free popcorn, too.
The Yum Yum Garlic Cook-Off, Saturday: The smell of the stinky rose will hang heavy from noon to 4 p.m. in Centennial Park at the Ybor Arts Studio at Eighth Avenue and 18th Street. Chefs from area restaurants will honor the zesty spice with special dishes. The usual Saturday Market will be there, plus a wine and beer garden, bocce ball, Italian sausages, samples of garlic entries and music.
Tampa's own: One of the films premiering at the festival is 99, shot in the bay area using local actors who have since seen their stars rise a bit in Hollywood. In the film, a campus free spirit plans to steal back his tainted drug test specimen and replace it with a clean one. At the same time, the campus Lothario is trying to win a bet he made freshman year to sleep with 100 women by the time he graduated.
Starring in the film are Brandon Rodriguez and Bobby Campo, who had significant parts in the CBS movie Vampire Bats starring Lucy Lawless. Written and directed by brothers Paul and Peter Guzzo, the film premieres at 9 p.m. Saturday at Muvico Centro Ybor.