Wednesday, April 11-----The 9th edition of the Sarasota Film Festival, one of the most dynamic and fastest growing film events in the country, will kick off this Friday evening with its most ambitious and exciting program to date. The 10-day event, which features a mix of emerging talents, international cinema and salutes to cinema greats, takes place in the beautiful Gulf Coast resort city of Sarasota, Florida (home of some of the most glorious sunsets this ex-Floridian has ever seen). The Festival runs through April 22, 2007.

Kevin Bacon w/KielbasaThe mission of the Sarasota Film Festival is to present unique and quality cinema in a festival atmosphere that supports and encourages the filmmaker by supplying essential networking opportunities and open dialogue with intelligent, creative and inquisitive consumers of film. The Festival attracts audiences from local, national, and international markets as well as promoting Sarasota and the surrounding Gulf Coast communities as world-class cultural centers.

The Festival is again headed by the charismatic Jody Kielbasa, who has literally put this event on the international festival map, through his tireless efforts throughout the year in getting local support and in promoting the Festival at important industry gatherings. "Since its humble beginnings nine years ago, the Festival has become one of the ten best attended Festivals in North America", Kielbasa stated at the March 29 Press Conference announcing this year's program. "We’re no longer an unknown entity within the film industry, and we look forward to this year’s Festival being another landmark moment in our history.”

Tom HallThe course of the Festival took hold a few years ago when Tom Hall, a respected film programmer, was hired as Director of Programming, using his extensive network of contacts to bring top quality independent and international films to the event. This year, the Festival will be screening over 200 films from all over the world, culled from the best films that Hall and his programming team have seen at Toronto, Sundance and other major festival events.

A number of special events and celebrity salutes distinguish this year's program, making it the most starry-eyed so far in the Festival's history. We will be on the scene reporting on the excitement of the films, the filmmakers, the parties and the special events on this dedicated Online Dailies site. So, we invite you to log in regularly and get a taste of the excitement.

Sandy Mandelberger, Sarasota FF Online Dailies Editor