Sarasota Film Festival's Starry Night on Lido Key

For the past week and a half, Sarasota rolled out a virtual sea of "red carpets" for it's annual spring film festival. This year's big name draws were Oscar winning actors Christopher Plummer and Geena Davis, along with a host of other budding film makers, producers and directors from across the country.

Night Under a Thousand Stars

We managed to steer clear of most of the glitz. But curiosity and proximity got the better of us as we were drawn to the Night Under a Thousand Stars, the festival's Friday night, April 15 offering, at the Ritz Carlton on Lido Key's southern shore. Although star gazing, other than those in the sky, was sparse, Sarasota's glam set turned out in force; the younger crowd  swelled by dozens of budding Ringling School filmmakers and an equal number of photographers scouring faces for a glimpse of Hollywood glamor.

Performance Art in a Bubble- Ritz Carlton Pool

Our evening began with a short trolley ride along Ben Franklin Drive from the Lido Beach parking lot. Smart thinking on the festival planners part. We got our pictures taken on the ubiquitous red carpet, and strolled out onto the Ritz-Carlton's upper deck, which provided a magnificent overview on such a perfect evening.

In the pool below, a performance artist was, well, performing in an inflatable ball. Nice start. Stella beer and some sort of sweet rum punch concoction, made with orange juice and simple syrup, were included with the $100 a throw tickets, along with a paucity of hand passed hors' d'oeuvres. Mini-sliders, small tasty burgers, were a hit and seemed to be about the only appetizers that weren't in short supply. If you wanted any other beverage, alcoholic or not, pricey drink tickets could be purchased.

Mini-sliders and a shrimp on a stick thing

Not that we're complaining, much. Maybe just a little. At a C-note apiece for entry, a drink ticket or two might be tossed in next year. And we heard some low key grumbling too, about chasing down those ever elusive "light-bites" of chow.

As for the stars, we whiffed on Geena Davis, who apparently made a brief carpet appearance. Our bad for not staking out the entrance, and instead thinking about our stomachs. A small fireworks show capped off the festive evening. Missed that, too. We were smugly on the trolley back to our car, proud of ourselves for beating traffic.  Guess we're just out of practice navigating the nightlife scene. Or getting older. Or both.  

Geena Davis and Husband Reza Jarrahy on the carpet
Photo: Herald Tribune

All was not lost. We stopped off at Venezia, the Italian trattoria on the Circle, for a slice and a nightcap. Nice joint.  Didn't see any stars there, either. But hey, we had an adventurous evening. That's saying something.

~BT