Downtown Orlando To Get Festival
(released
12/2/2004)
By Douglas Lorah
If you have been in downtown Orlando lately, you have seen the cranes beginning to push the condo towers into the sky. The construction has been booming for a few years, but the city is missing a heartbeat. That's where the arts come in to play.
One of the towers which broke ground last month will take over the dilapidated area recently known as the Jaymont Block. This development will contain residences, offices and most importantly... a 12 theater movieplex. This work is being done by downtown developer Cameron Kuhn.
Well, a movieplex does not an arts community make, but a film festival sure helps.
Enter local filmmakers Kurt Bauerle and Brett Jaffee, along with organizer Roger Chapin, downtown developer Picton Warlow and the previously mentioned Kuhn. These gentlemen are organizing the Orlando Film Festival.
They foresee the movieplex being the center of the festival with other screenings taking place at other locations in downtown. Don't be surprised if you see movies in bars and on rooftops. The festival is tentatively being planned for the fall of 2006 as a world class festival with everything Orlando has to offer.
Can they pull it off? Kurt and Brett's first film, Stuck, landed veteran actors Wendie Malick and Ken Howard. That looks like a good sign.
We'll let you know more... as it develops.
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