Festivals & Events
General Information about the Florida Film Festival
Hey, Florida Filmies! Have you heard about the annual international film festival that takes places in the Orlando area every spring?
For sure this isn’t a new event. The annual Florida Film Festival started back in 1991, and it’s put together by the Enzian theater, Orlando’s go-to theater for independent film. The Enzian is a not-for-profit cinema in Winter Park that plays independent films throughout the year. The Florida Film Festival carries out the theater’s goal of entertaining, inspiring, educating, and connecting the community through film.
The 2023 festival took place April 12-21.
Overview
The Florida Film Festival screens films of all kinds, including narrative and documentary features and shorts. Animated films and highly experimental new media works are also screened at the festival.
Programming also includes midnight movies, and educational forums, parties, and other events.
Special Events
Special events outside of the regular programming take place throughout the Florida Film Festival.
Each year, the programming team features a celebrity in film to join the “An Afternoon/Evening with…” event. Past guests include Peter Falk, Susan Sarandon, Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Emma Stone, Paul Sorvino, Tippi Hedren, Cloris Leachman, Gabriel Byrne, Famke Janssen, Jason Lee, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Leelee Sobieski, Steve Buscemi, Campbell Scott, and William H. Macy.
Awards
The festival awards both jury awards and audience awards. This festival has Oscar power: A win at the Florida Film Festival qualifies a film for Academy Award consideration. The festival is also one of only a few Oscar-qualifying festival for all three shorts categories: Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, and Documentary Short Subject.
Jury Awards / Narrative
Special Jury Award for Singularity of Vision
Special Jury Award for Screenwriting: Narrative Feature
Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature
Jury Awards / Documentary
Special Jury Award for Debut Feature
Special Jury Award for Excellence in Personal Filmmaking: Documentary Feature
Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature
Jury Awards / Shorts
Special Jury Award for Animation
Special Jury Award for Excellence in Narrative Short Filmmaking
Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short
Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short
Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short
Audience Awards
Audience Award for Narrative Feature
Audience Award for Documentary Feature
Matthew Curtis Audience Award for Best Short Film
Audience Award for Best Midnight Short
Audience Award for Best International Short
Audience Award for Best International Feature
Audience Award for Best Florida Short
Audience Award for Best Florida Feature
Festival Locations
The festival is held in the Orlando, Florida area. The Enzian theater is in Maitland, and the Regal is in Winter Park. (These locations are very close to each other, just in differently named sections of Orlando.) Orlando is in Central Florida, and is part of Orange County.
Screenings for the Florida Film Festival primarily take place at the event organizer’s theater, the Enzian. Screenings also are scheduled at the Regal Winter Park Village theater. Additional events take place at other venues, namely the nearby Eden Bar, the Winter Park Public LIbrary, and the campus of sponsor Full Sail Academy.
As of summer 2023, Regal Winter Park Village is under construction. There is a designated walkway with covered scaffolding from the street to the theater. Please be careful while walking in the area. Parking is also limited at the Winter Park Village shopping center.
Enzian Theater
1300 South Orlando Avenue
Maitland FL 32751
407-629-1088
Regal Winter Park Village
510 North Orlando Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
Eden Bar (at the Enzian Theater)
1300 South Orlando Avenue
Maitland FL 32751
(407) 629-1088
Festival Ticket Types
The festival sells access to the festival in three ways: passes, packages, and individual tickets. Attending the festival with a pass is the most economical method for attendees who plan on watching multiple films.
Regular films are the normally-priced screenings, which in 2023 were priced at $13 a ticket. Regular films do not include special events like the “An Afternoon/Evening with…” celebrity events. Producer passholders are given priority seating — they can enter the theater early — followed by Film Lover passholders, Matinee and Binge passholders, and then attendees with single tickets.
Even with a pass, admission might not be guaranteed. The Matinee and Binge passes do not include early admission, and all pass holders are advised to arrive to the showing 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time to ensure admission.
The following details were for the 2023 event. Please refer to the official event website for official details for tickets, available at https://www.floridafilmfestival.com/attend/tickets/.
Pass Types
The Matinee pass allows entry to regular films that start at 5:00 pm and earlier. Attendees with this pass can watch movies all day long throughout the festival. This pass does not include early admission.
The Binge pass allows entry to all regular films for the nine days of the festival, along with a program and t-shirt. This pass also offers the option to purchase tickets to the Programming Announcement Party. This pass does not include early admission.
The Film Lover pass allows early entry to all regular films with exclusive access to press screenings and other special events. This pass also offers the option to purchase tickets to the Programming Announcement Party and the “An Afternoon/Evening with…” celebrity events. Film Lover passholders also have access to the pre-fest press screenings, opening night film & party, filmmaker party, and awards party. In addition, there are lots of perks to the Film Lover pass, like the program and t-shirt, but also a swag bag and recognition in the printed festival.
The Producer pass allows access to all films, events, and parties, and a portion of the pass price is a tax-deductible gift to the Enzian cinema. Producer passholders have access to “absolutely everything” at the festival (RSVP might be necessary). In addition to everything offered Film Lover passholders, Producers will receive early notification of programming and special events, which also includes a special pre-show luncheon with the festival’s programming director.
Packages
Attendees can buy single tickets for regular screenings in bulk to save. Tickets are sold in packs of 5, 10, and 20.
Individual Tickets
Attendees who want to purchase tickets a la carte can do so by buying individual tickets. Single tickets can be purchased in advance or on the day of the show, if available.
How to Buy
Tickets can be purchased on the film festival’s website, at https://www.floridafilmfestival.com/attend/tickets/. In-person ticket sales are possible at the Enzian’s box office, located in Maitland, Florida at 1300 S. Orlando Avenue.