24 Karats | Mort Laitner

24 Karats by Mort Laitner
My Fallsburgh Central High School buddy, Anita Greenberg, (She is a real macher in the Tampa Bay area) emailed me:

Good news! The committee (Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival) has made final selections and will be showing “The Stairs” along with a movie “The Women’s Balcony.”

Will find out what the next steps are.

The Festival is in April. We have our pre-festival meeting on March 6 when I will find out

the date and location it will be shown.

Congrats!

24 wins!

How do I express my gratitude?

The number 24 is ripe with meaning:

twenty-four karat gold;

two dozen roses;

24/7/365;

the number of elements found in the

human body;

Bruno Mars 24 Karat Magic.

First I’ll spend 24 minutes researching about the TBJFF.

The Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival is celebrating its 21 anniversary. It is the second oldest festival that has accepted “The Stairs” Only the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival has it beaten out with 32 years under its belt.

This is only our second acceptance at Jewish-themed festival. The first was an Israeli festival. (The Near Nazareth Film Festival.) We have been rejected by a good number of Jewish film festivals. This fact surprised us. But I have concluded that the Israeli film most likely gets a large percentage of acceptances from this genre.

Pure speculation on my part, maybe they just don’t like the movie.

For those who are thinking about going, here is what TBJFF website teaches us:

The Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival (TBJFF) is dedicated to using film for its contemporary and popular value to celebrate Jewish culture and reflect the diversity and richness of the Jewish experience. The festival seeks to use the power of film to entertain, educate and challenge conventional perspectives on complex issues facing the Jewish people and global community alike.
The TBJFF is a celebration of the finest international films that focus on Jewish themes and is one of the most inclusive and pluralistic Jewish events in the greater Tampa Bay area. The festival delivers an extraordinary collection of gripping dramas, thought-provoking documentaries, eclectic shorts and offbeat comedies depicting Jewish life from different times and places and appealing to everyone from the most discerning film critics to family audiences. Selected screenings are enhanced by providing a dynamic forum for audience dialogue with distinguished actors, producers, writers and other expert panelists.
Founded in 1995, the festival has quickly grown in size and reputation, welcoming moviegoers from across the greater Tampa Bay area. The outstanding films are shown in venues in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater and attract moviegoers from every social and economic background from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties and beyond. As attendance increases from year to year, the festival attracts not only a larger audience but also a more diverse one, reaching an increasingly multi-cultural and multi-generational (and especially younger) demographic.
The Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival is produced by the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation and the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties. We hope you will find our web site informative and interactive. See you at the movies!

Here is Everfest’s Take on TBJFF:

The Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival celebrates excellence in films that showcase the diversity of the Jewish experience. Featuring films in a variety of genres, the festival screens documentaries, comedies and shorts that all share a similar theme. Since its inception in 1995, the festival has gained a huge amount of momentum, with attendees coming from all over the Tampa area.

Here is Mort Laitner’s Take on Acceptance:

All twenty-four elements that make up my body want to say:

Thanks Anita for being a pure 24 karat friend.

Thanks TBJFF for your acceptance. Two dozen long-stemmed roses are on there way.

Thanks the cast and crew of “The Stairs” for performing 24 Karat Magic in taking my short story and making it an award-winning film.

Thanks Blake for working 24/7/365 on this project. Love Dad.