MOUNT DORA HOSTS CENTRAL FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND

Move over Sundance.  Mount Dora will play host to the 13th Annual Central Florida Film Festival (CENFLO)  for three days in early September, 

Movie lovers are expected to trek from near and far to the small town known for its quaint downtown and low rolling hills for a weekend of  film screenings on September 7 through 9.  The three-day festival will screen 62 films selected from all genres including comedies, dramas, suspense, horror and adventure, at the 12-screen Epic Theatre just off U.S. Highway 441.   

All films will be screened twice during the weekend, so festival-goers will have a chance to see everything they want. Showtimes are slated to start in the mid-morning and run all day. Filmmakers in attendance will have time to talk with the audience about their films. The evenings are expected to feature at least one studio film screening with a celebrity host and talkback afterwards.

After films were submitted to the festival for consideration they underwent a rigorous judging process on specific criteria.   Films with the highest grades from judges were accepted into the festival. The festival will award a winning film from four finalists.

Individual movie tickets are $10 with daily movie passes costing $35 which allows access to all screenings on that day.  Die-hard movie lovers can opt for a $200 V.I.P. pass for access to all films for the entire festival.

There will be special appearances by: Mindy Sterling, featured in the Austin Powers trilogy, iCarly, Reno 911 and Desperate Housewives; Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, featured in Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes, Rising Sun and the James Bond film License to Kill, among others; and Jacqueline Siegel,  Central Florida resident and star of the 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles. She will be on hand to screen her sequel, The Princess of Versailles and to discuss the prevention of opioid abuse.  Get the complete schedule here.

The festival has come a long way since its debut year in 2005 at the Osceola Center for the Arts.  In 2013 it was named among the "Top 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" by Movie Maker Magazine.  

For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, click here. To get the area's top stories in your inbox once a month, sign up for the free monthly issue of Mount Dora Buzz here. ​​​​​​​

---