MOVIES

'Spring Breakers,' 'Beach Bum' director Harmony Korine to attend Sarasota Film Festival

The director will receive the Trailblazer Award from the festival and take part in a discussion after a screening of his latest film "Baby Invasion."

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Sarasota Film Festival has added another name to this year's lineup of celebrity guests — a director with ties to Florida, including partially filming one of his best-known movies here in Sarasota.

Harmony Korine, director of the Sunshine State-set and shot "Spring Breakers" and "The Beach Bum," among other movies, will receive the Trailblazer Award at this year's festival, which takes place April 4-13. He will also show his latest film "Baby Invasion" on April 12 at New College, and take part in a moderated discussion after the screening.

Korine initially rose to fame as the screenwriter of the 1995 Larry Clark film "Kids," following a group of teenagers in New York City, which sparked controversy due to its stark depiction of sex and substance abuse and was rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association, ultimately being released into theaters unrated. Korine made his directorial debut with 1997's similarly controversial "Gummo," followed by films such as "Julien Donkey-Boy," "Mister Lonely" and "Trash Humpers."

He then made a relative move to the mainstream with the 2013 wide release of "Spring Breakers," following a group of college students (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, Korine's wife) who go on spring break in St. Pete and cross paths with a local drug dealer and rapper (James Franco.) Largely filmed in Pinellas County, the movie also shot scenes at New College and Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota.

Korine followed "Spring Breakers" with the 2019 stoner comedy "The Beach Bum," shot in South Florida and starring Matthew McConaughey in a cast that also includes Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron, Isla Fisher, Martin Lawrence, Jonah Hill and the late Jimmy Buffett.

Harmony Korine, right, is pictured here with Snoop Dogg and Matthew McConaughey, the stars of Korine's 2019 South Florida-set and shot film "The Beach Bum." Korine, who also directed the partially Sarasota-shot "Spring Breakers," will attend this year's Sarasota Film Festival, where he will receive the Trailblazer Award and participate in a moderated discussion following a screening of his latest film "Baby Invasion."

In recent years, Korine founded the creative company EDGLRD, which released his Miami-set experimental crime film "Aggro Dr1ft," shot entirely in infrared and co-starring rapper Travis Scott. The film is inspired by video games, as is "Baby Invasion," which is filmed in the style of a first-person shooter game and follows home invaders whose faces are swapped with those of babies.

Korine will join previously announced festival guests including Victor and Giuliano Hazan, the respective widower and son of the late Italian cookbook author and Longboat Key resident Marcella Hazan who is the subject of the opening film "Marcella," and singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff, who executive-produced the closing film "Lovers." Sarasota Film Festival sparked controversy of its own when it unveiled a poster of an AI-enhanced Florida map with references to the "Gulf of America" and the "51st state," which the festival's chairman claimed was satire.

For more information on this year's festival, visit sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.