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Jun 9-15, 1999

Jun 9-15, 1999 / Vol. 15 / No. 23

Bring it on home

The Blair Witch Project was a terrific but risky choice as the kick-off entry in the eighth annual Florida Film Festival that commenced last Friday night at Maitland’s Enzian Theater. The homegrown breakout hit was obviously a favorite of the more clued-in members of the opening-night audience, who showed up with official “Project” pins affixed…

Steve Schneider

Preserve in a jam

Clarence Hoenstine is trying to create a park and nature trail in east Orange County. People want it, insists the Orange County commissioner. It’s the kind of thing the county has a long policy of supporting. But some environmentalists don’t want it. And the St. Johns River Water Management District says Hoenstine is treading on…

Ericson, Edward Jr.

Study hall

This is a little late in coming, but it’s worth relaying the definitive action taken by the Orange County School Board on the matter of school uniforms, as reported in the district’s own news release following its May 25 meeting. Under the heading “Uniform Dress Code and Safety Issues to be Studied,” the release reports:…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Air attack

Conservative religious groups who think they can win over gays and lesbians to their hetero lifestyle had their unfiltered message shut out by Central Florida’s dominant broadcast outlets during last week’s Gay Days events. But they did succeed in buying commercial time on news-talk radio WDBO-580 AM, as well as PAX-TV, the family-oriented channel launched…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Stage fight

Seminole County sheriffs last week served warrants on Club Juana owner Mike Pinter and the three women who revealed all during their May 28 performance at the club of the play Les Femmes Fatale. But the charges didn’t come under the county’s anti-nudity ordinance, which prohibits full nudity except for “bona fide performances.” Rather, Pinter…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Where’s the fire?

In April, several fire trucks speeding down the Massachusetts Turnpike with sirens blaring and lights flashing, en route to help battle a brushfire around the town of Westfield, were delayed a few minutes when a toll taker insisted on charging each driver. A turnpike spokesman said the toll taker had been counseled. Near misses In…

Chuck Shepherd

Drug museum: Just say no

Step right up, folks, for the thrill of a lifetime! You won’t believe what you’re gonna see inside this tent — it walks, it talks, it smokes, it snorts! It’s all part of the brand new museum built by the Drug Enforcement Agency. And the best part of attending this carnival sideshow of the “war…

Jim Hightower

Crazy for you

Don’t you love the things you hate? I hate lots of things, and they bring me as much pleasure as the things I love. Salsa is the perfect example. I love salsa. The taste, the musical name, the way you can feel the cilantro in your nose. I’ll throw it in everything from burritos to…

Liz Langley

Can we like porn for its mind?

Some things about porn don’t change. Renting a triple-X movie still tends to make people a little funny-acting and self-conscious (shoe-gazing, stammering, rehearsed nonchalance). That’s part of the point: the little fluttering tide of anticipation. Watching porn might not be an especially big deal anymore in some circles, but let’s hope it stays more charged…

Theresa Everline

See saws — and other unexpected folk art

Art often works to transform the way we look at the world around us. New exhibits at the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art exemplify that principle by turning saw blades into canvases and bits of scrap wood into sculptures. Beginning June 17, one room will house painted saws and scythes by Florida-based Jacob Kass,…

Theresa Everline

Valencia nurtures theme of life

Playwright Kristine Thatcher’s award-winning “Emma’s Child” is the kind of domestic tragedy that one might expect to see on the Lifetime network. It’s about Henry and Jean Farrell, an upwardly mobile couple, who make arrangements to adopt after 13 unsuccessful years of trying to conceive. All is well until Robin is born hydrocephalic with little…

R. A. Bell

Rare flower on the film scene

It gets its name from a blue, four-pointed flower that grows in the high mountains of Austria. “It’s very hardy, very rare, and exceptionally beautiful,” Enzian Theater executive director Peg O’Keef says of the independent cinema’s namesake. “It’s representative of the spirit of Enzian — that we provide things that are extra special, not necessarily…

Sandra Carbone

Feeding the frenzy

Making plans for a dinner and a movie is easy stuff, but it’s a challenge when you’re trying to build pit stops into an all-day marathon of cinema.. And that’s a typical scenario during the Florida Film Festival. You see one movie and before you know it, you’re hooked, trying to grab some chow before…

Colleen Moore

Highlights! Camera! Action!

Your subscription to Premiere magazine will not prepare you for the Florida Film Festival. Neither will regular viewing of “Entertainment Tonight” or E!, whose star-studded, high-gloss coverage of the Cannes and Sundance conclaves has been largely responsible for introducing the concept of the cinematic convergence to the general public. With the majority of their attention…

Steve Schneider

Festival facts

Last week, a lineup of expert witnesses testified in the court case brought by Sultaana Freeman, the Muslim woman who was fighting for her right to wear a veil in her driver’s-license photo. Authorities on both sides of the issue discussed the merits of Ms. Freeman’s claim that she should be allowed to maintain her…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Cruising after life in the fast lane

The past year may have been a case of too-much-too-soon for The Denizens. The Orlando five-piece was flying high in a flurry of record-label interest, industry showcases, prestigious opening slots and media coverage. They got all the right attention from all the right people. But amid the hoopla and the expectations, The Denizens started to…

Mark Padgett

Where to see more than just Seymour

Far be it from us to suggest that you look away from the screen for one second during this year’s Florida Film Festival. You paid your money, you deserve to see a full show. But truth be told, stealing the occasional glance at the human drama going on all around you will teach you more…

Steve Schneider

Scene stealers

Selected highlights of the 1999 Florida Film Festival social calendar: Student Filmmaker After-Screening Bash, 4 pm Sunday, June 13; Harold & Maude’s Espresso Bar. After their pet projects are unveiled at Enzian, corner tomorrow’s bright young auteurs for an informal chat. Pepper them with the favorite queries “Where did you get financing?” and “What kind…

Steve Schneider

Torito’s rises with the heat

As the mercury rises, there’s no better time to indulge in Mexican food. After all, that’s the climate in which the cuisine took shape. Torito’s is an inventive option that sprouted up at 1200 Lee Road. Seating is limited but it’s comfortable with roomy tables and chairs. Among the appetizers, the shrimp cocktails are served…

Colleen Moore

Once too orphan

“Annie,” a piece of musical fluff by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, is a play that is endlessly performed by amateur and community theaters around the country. But the staying power of its simplistic and cartoonish message of hope and optimism, as embodied by a raffish 11-year old orphan girl during the Great Depression, is…

Al Krulick

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