Castille Landon directing Burt Reynolds, Amy Smart in Palmetto production

From memorable roles in films like Sex Ed and Paradise, FL and in television series like The Ghost Whisperer, Castille Landon has kept busy as an actress for close to a decade. But as she embarks on directing her second feature, which will be filmed entirely in the Palmetto area, Landon now sees a long future behind the lens. “As an actor, so much of your job is sitting by the phone waiting for a call that probably isn’t coming,” she tells SRQ. “I was working a lot, doing about three movies a year, but that still totals 20 to 30 days a year working. That was frustrating and I felt out of control of my own life.”

Now, Landon’s attentions are focused on directing And Then There Was Light, a film starring screen legend Burt Reynolds (Smokey and the Bandit)and Amy Smart (The Butterfly Effect, Road Trip) and written by Landon. The movie, about a young girl who begins to lose her eyesight after a horse riding accident, will be shot largely at the Southeastern Guide Dogs campus in Palmetto, as well as a nearby horse farm and other local spots.

Skyway Film Festival Unveils Programming: Horror in the Main Slate, Keeping it Local and the Business of Showbiz

With screenings set to commence in little under two weeks time, the Skyway Film Festival this morning unveiled programming for its inaugural run, slating over 50 films, including narratives, documentaries, features and shorts for the festival’s three-day run, as well as multiple workshops led by industry professionals in the Skyway Labs series. Among the festival’s guests, director Dan Myrick will be in attendance with a special retrospective screening of his horror film-turned-phenomenon, The Blair Witch Project, followed by a Q&A session.

Paradise, FL Crew Wraps Shoot in Southwest Florida

Filming just wrapped for the feature-length Paradise, FL, a movie about a Cortez fisherman dealing with an addiction to pills and a troubled family life, just wrapped production this week. Now filmmakers are looking toward a hefty editing process and bringing the story to viewers.

“We’ve high hopes, as any independent film does,” said writer-producer Tony Stopperan. “Our aim is to hit the film festivals circuit and make a splash. With rich performances, excellent directing, production value realized through superior design and utilization of ‘functioning’ locations, and a strong story we should make waves, waves that belie the relative youthful team at the helm of this picture and the limited budget.”

Leah Meyerhoff explores excitement, danger, fantasy in I Believe in Unicorns

Little girls love unicorns as surely as big girls love bad boys. The stark contrast between fantasies built on innocence and those driven by lust seems the driving force between Leah Meyerhoff’s first feature film I Believe in Unicorns, which screens at the Sarasota Film Festival next week. A compelling exploration of character combined with a strikingly different use of stop-motion cinematic techniques sets the movie apart and brings audiences a glimpse at Meyerhoff’s distinct point of view as a filmmaker.

“I am hoping a 16-year-old version of myself finds this film. I wish I’d seen this when I was coming of age,” Meyerhoff says.