wcw APRIL 2022

sarasota film festival continued
most intense
and
unique relationships
between
people
who rarely
meet: music
artists
and their
fans. Featuring
Indigo
Girls, Vijay Iyer, and Talib Kweli.
Spotlight On Sarasota
Playing Through
dir. Balbinka Koreniowska
(USA), 2021
Late in her career, Ann Gregory
finds the courage to be the first
woman of color to enter the USGA
Women’s Amateur. She collides
with Babs Whatling, a privileged
white woman from the south who
is searching for her own identity.
The Fabulous Ohs:
The Marriage And
The Music
dir. Kathryn Parks (USA), 2022
Inside the musical journey of
a small-town composer and a
strong-willed singer/librettist who
dared to spend a lifetime chasing
their dreams together. A story
captured on film by their daughter
in Sarasota.
Documentary Features
Devil Put The Coal In
The Ground
dir. Peter Hutchison and Lucas
Sabean (USA), 2021
A cautionary tale of unfettered
corporate power, and an elegy to a
vanishing Appalachi told through
the personal stories of native West
Virginians.
Mission: Joy -
Finding Happiness In
Troubled Times
dir. Louie Psihoyos (USA), 2021
Deeply
moving
and laughout-loud
funny, His
Holiness
the Dalai
Lama
and Archbishop
Desmond
Tutu share
science- backed wisdom of how to
live with joy in troubled times.
The Automat
dir. Lisa Hurwitz (USA), 2021
Once upon a nickel, before fast
food, one
American
restaurant
empire
was unstoppable.
Experience
the
untold
story of
“The Automat,”
a
documentary film directed by Lisa
Hurwitz and starring Mel Brooks.
Female-Led Florida Shorts
Wake
dir. Katie Leary (USA), 2021
World Premiere. A woman struggles
to wake up from an increasingly
traumatizing loop of dreams.
The Den
dir. Jessica Aquila Cymerman
(USA), 2022
A psychological
thriller
following
Myna
O’Neill, an
ambitious
New York
stage
actress,
as she
navigates a
manipulative and toxic relationship
with her idol, Jamie Bock.
Lioness
dir. Molly E. Smith (USA), 2022
Barricaded in a motel room, a
mothers determination and primal
instincts kick in to protect her
child’s innocence.
La Casita De La Mariposa
dir. Samantha Ferrand (USA), 2021
As a child, Renee’s mother promised
she’d grow up to marry a
prince. Instead, Renee found herself
married to a monster.
Moon Dust
dir. Naida Joanides (USA), 2022
An aging circus performer seeks
to learn the true significance of
the gift her mother gave her the
night of the first moon landing.
Sirens Of The Swamp
dir. Hali Gardella and Emery
Matson (USA), 2021
Two
sirens,
banished
to the
swamps
by their
mother
Venus,
dream of
making
it big in a
rock band.
Only problem is: they keep killing
their audience.
LGBT+ Shorts
情 人 Qingren
dir. Sean Patrick Higgins
(USA), 2021
A 19th century American Railroad Financier
and Chinese Emigrant-Worker
ensnare one another in a dance of
interdependence, love, and guilt.
Masaru
dir. Rubén Navarro (USA), 2022
A Major League Baseball player
discovers his passion for Japanese
traditional dance and is confronted
with the choice of embracing
his true identity or continuing
masking behind the pressures of
family, loyalty and honor.
Hear My Voice
dir. Daniele Guerra (UK), 2021
Mike’s opera career and love life
have stalled. During yet another
gay hook-up, he sees the apparition
of his grandmother: will she
make him change?
Show Pony
dir. Meghan Lennox (USA), 2020
Kate tries an adult ballet class
and becomes infatuated with the
teacher, Laura- until she discovers
a hidden side to Laura she struggles
to accept.
A Summer Place
dir. Alexandra Matheou
(Cyprus and France), 2021
In a city overtaken by oligarchs and
a real estate boom, two women
find themselves lost at sea. Each
will end up saving the other, in all
of life’s most unexpected ways.
Better Days
dir. Fran Herrero Ansoleaga
(Spain), 2021
Five LGBTIQ+ refugees seeking
asylum in Spain look into the lens
to share their fears, doubts, and
certainties, but they can all now
say, “It gets better”.
Socially Distanced Shorts
The Show Must Go On
dir. Paul Grant (USA), 2021
At the height of the pandemic,
Broadway’s resilient community
comes together to create the infrastructure
to supply frontline
medical workers with desperately
needed hospital gowns.
For the full schedule, visit: https://
www.sarasotafilmfestival.com/.
SPOTLIGHT ON:
Local Filmmaker
Presents Sarasota Parents’
Marriage and Music
An award-winning
Sarasota Filmmaker,
Kathryn Parks’
new documentary
“The Fabulous Ohs:
the Marriage and the Music”
will have its world premiere at
the 2022 Sarasota Film Festival.
The forty-five minute film follows
the story of her parents,
Sharon Ohrenstein and David
Ohrenstein, two Sarasota-based
performers and musical artists
who find romance and song as
they embark on a lifelong pursuit
to bring their original music to
the world. The 42-year marriage
Behind the scenes, Cinematographer Dylan
Jon Wade Cox, Sharon Ohrenstein, David
Ohrenstein, director Kathryn Parks, Filmed at
West Coast Black Theatre in Sarasota, 2021.
Photo by Goddess Imagery Photography
of the pianist/composer and
singer/librettist included raising
three children while performing
as the duo, The Fabulous Ohs,
and eventually transitioning into
writing and producing original
musicals and operas. Parks
directed, produced, and edited
the film with cinematography by
Dylan Jon Wade Cox and music
by David and Sharon Ohrenstein.
Sarasota Film Festival Programmer
Rodney Piatt calls the film
“joyful, personal, and uplifting.”
“The Fabulous Ohs” will have an
in-person showing on April 4 at
7:45pm at the Sarasota Municipal
Auditorium and is available
for virtual screening throughout
the festival from April 1-10.
“The Fabulous Ohs” is Parks’
third film and first documentary,
and marks her third film premiering
at the Sarasota Film Festival.
Previous films, “Her Place”
(2020) and “50 Words”(2018),
were short narratives and
each awarded the honor of
Best Florida Film at the Bonita
Springs International Film Festival
and numerous other festivals
across the state.
The documentary takes us
inside the musical journey of a
Sarasota composer
and a strongwilled
singer/librettist
who dared
to spend a lifetime
chasing their
dreams together.
The film weaves
together current
and past interviews
of the couple
while Parks
watched and
selected content
from more than
40 archived VHS
tapes and DVDs of
concerts, gigs, and
original musicals.
It also focuses on the lasting legacy
of David’s parents’, both Holocaust
survivors as expressed
through his music.
“In my adult years, I’ve come
to realize my parents’ story is
one that is completely original
and truly inspirational,” Parks
explained. “They live far from
the artistic mecca of New York
City and yet managed to follow
their calling while raising a family.
Now, they are writing new
musicals with strong female
leads, and they are still chasing
their dreams as they reach into
their 60s and 70s.”
The film also features an original
score by her father, David
Ohrenstein, who is awoken every
night by a muse, compelling
him to sit at the piano and write
out a new melody before he goes
back to bed. Parks was joined
by cinematographer Dylan Jon
Wade Cox, a Florida photographer
and cinematographer, and
story producer Elise Rodriguez,
a Cuban-American performer,
teaching artist, and creative professional.
Sharon and David Ohrenstein
will be attending the screening
alongside their daughter and
director, Kathryn Parks.
26 WEST COAST WOMAN APRIL 2022