Sarasota Film Festival award winners announced
“Best Summer Ever,” a movie that puts a new spin on the teen musical genre, won the best narrative jury prize at the 2021 Sarasota Film Festival, which was presented at the CMX CinéBistro Siesta Key and online April 30-May 9.
The film by Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smittelli featured eight original songs and a cast and crew made up of people with and without disabilities.
Eden Wurmfeld and Margaret Munzer Loe’s “Chasing Childhood” won the documentary feature jury prize. The jury award for best U.S. narrative short went to “Harana” by Marie Jamora. Said Hamich’s “The Departure” was named best international short, and David Baram’s “One All the Way” won the prize for best documentary short.
SUMMER LOVING Wilson and DeVido play starry-eyed teens in Zeno Mountain Farm s Vermont-shot musical. Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming and not always easy to sort through. Lately, everybody s been talking about
Best Summer Ever, a musical that was produced and shot in Vermont by Zeno Mountain Farm, a Lincoln nonprofit that runs retreats and camps for people with and without disabilities. Directed by Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli, the movie features Hollywood talent in front of and behind the camera. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, who have a home in Vermont, show up in cameos as TV journalists and count among several celebrity executive producers.
Best Summer Ever — A Magical Musical Movie Milestone For Disability Inclusion forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Best Summer Ever is a feel-good musical and a big win for disability inclusion David Oliver, USA TODAY
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Imagine a world where people with disabilities didn t have to talk about their disabilities. A world where they re just people.
That s the big takeaway from Best Summer Ever, (available now on DVD and on-demand) a musical rom-com in the same vein as Grease, High School Musical and Footloose that features a mixed cast of people with and without disabilities.
The feel-good film stars Shannon DeVido ( Difficult People, Insatiable ) and Rickey Wilson, Jr. as its romantic leads, Sage and Tony. The pair meet at a summer dance camp before going their separate ways, only to end up at the same high school where their worlds collide in a chaotic but ultimately cathartic fashion. And of course, songs help tell the story.
âBest Summer Everâ Review: Not Just Another Song and Dance
A largely disabled cast leads this charming teen musical.
Rickey Wilson Jr. & Shannon DeVido in âBest Summer Ever.âCredit.Chris Westlund, Alexa Carroll and Kent Willard/FreeStyle Digital Media
By Calum Marsh
Best Summer Ever
Musical
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âBest Summer Everâ is a high school musical. It isnât âHigh School Musicalâ â itâs better. Tender and exuberant, it includes set pieces modeled on âFootlooseâ and âGrease,â and feels closer to those films in spirit than to the Disney Channel. This is the kind of movie that vibrates with the energy of the people who made it, whose enthusiasm radiates from the screen. The actors and filmmakers seemed to have had an extremely good time bringing âBest Summer Everâ to life. Watching it made me happy.