Florida filmmaking legend Victor Nunez will be a guest of honor at this year’s Florida Film Festival at a screening of his acclaimed drama Ruby in Paradise, the movie that launched Ashley Judd’s career. The festival’s line-up was announced Wednesday, and Nunez is the stand-out guest filmmaker on the program. After Ruby in Paradise, Nunez went on to film “Ulee’s Gold,” and has been the most distinct Florida voice in all of cinema over the course of his long indie film career. Films directed by famous actors will be a focus of this year’s festival, with movies by Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, Oscar winner Natalie Portman, Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, as well as Eva Mendes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Liv Tyler, Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly, Denis Leary, Gerard Depardieu, Christopher Llyod, Christina Ricci, Julia Stiles and Rainn Wilson have films in the FFF line-up. Oscar winner James Man on Wire Marsh’s documentary Project Nim will open the festival. It’s about a chimpanzee raised as a human baby as part of a sociological/psychological experiment. Some 21 world premieres, four North American premieres, seven films shown for the first time ever in the United States and 39 titles never before seen on the East Coast will be featured in the 20th anniversary edition of the festival, which this year runs April 8-17.
Source: Orlando Sentinel