Oscar-nominated actress receives career achievement award, participates in Conversation With series and has new movie showing Three decades after visiting Bradenton to film one of her first movies, Virginia Madsen returns to the area in celebration of a career that’s since earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

The “Sideways” actress will receive a career achievement award at Sarasota Film Festival and participate in the festival’s In Conversation With series Saturday. She also co-stars in the centerpiece film “1985,” about a gay man struggling to come out to his parents (Madsen and Golden Globe-winning “The Shield” star Michael Chiklis) during the early years of the AIDS crisis.

In a phone interview with the Herald-Tribune, Madsen said part of what attracted her to the film was her familiarity with the era the film depicts. “I was a very young person during that time when nobody knew what AIDS was,” Madsen said. “Now I knew more about it because I was an actress and I’d already had a couple of friends die. But people outside of my community, it was just talked about in hushed tones and they still called it ‘gay cancer.’”

At the same time, she felt the movie had a relevancy to today’s world despite its period setting. “This story is not just about 1985,” Madsen said. “This story is still going on now because there’s still young people who can’t come out to their family, there’s still families who don’t want to talk about their identity of their kids.”

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This year the OUTshine Film Festival in Miami is celebrating 20 years of inspiration, education, escape and community in queer filmmaking. What began several names (more on that here) and two decades ago is a must on the queer film fest circuit with screening venues in and around South Beach, TK films over TK days, and events and parties for the Opening Night film, Centerpiece Film, producers and filmmakers, Ladies’ Spotlight Film, Men’s Spotlight film, young people, filmmakers and lovers of Flash Gordon.

The OUTshine Film Festival’s 20th anniversary season will include over 50 films, multiple panel discussions with filmmakers and talent, and more than 15 parties and events throughout the week-long festival. Festival program in its entirety is available here and as a download. For all the information, go to OUTshineFilm.com.

1985

Director: Yen Tan, USA
Closing Night Film, East Coast Premiere
Inspired by the award-winning short of the same name, 1985follows Adrian (Cory Michael Smith, Gotham), a closeted young man returning to his Texas hometown for Christmas during the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Burdened with an unspeakable tragedy in New York, Adrian reconnects with his younger brother and estranged childhood friend as he struggles to divulge his dire circumstances to his religious parents played by Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis. Shot in luscious black & white, 1985 is a beautiful, powerful film both in story
and style.

Sarasota Film Festival has announced two celebrity guests and its opening and closing films, with their famous directors attending as well. The film festival, which takes place April 13-22 and celebrates 20 years in 2018, made the announcement Friday before its full lineup reveal on Wednesday.

Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen will receive a career achievement award during the closing weekend and have her new film “1985,” about a man’s fears of coming out during the AIDS crisis, screen at the festival. Madsen received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in 2004′s “Sideways” and has appeared in numerous other high-profile movies, including David Lynch’s science-fiction epic “Dune,” horror cult favorite “Candyman” and Robert Altman’s final film “A Prairie Home Companion.”

The festival will open April 13 at Sarasota Opera House with “Class Rank,” a comedy about two high school students who team up to take over the local school board, directed by Eric Stoltz, who will attend. Stoltz is better known as an actor, including roles in “Pulp Fiction,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and his Golden Globe-nominated performance in “Mask.”

The closing night film, to be shown April 21 at Sarasota Opera House, will be “Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow,” a documentary about NASA’s 60-year history by filmmaker Rory Kennedy.

ABOUT THE SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL

The 20th annual Sarasota Film Festival, which will take place from April 13th to April 22nd, greatly appreciates the support of its corporate sponsors, including the Amicus Foundation, The Famiglio Family, Regal Entertainment Group, Art Ovation Hotel, and Mutual of Omaha Bank.

Held annually in Sarasota, FL, The Sarasota Film Festival emphasizes the best in cinema alongside exciting programs and events, with more than 200 films screened each year including features, documentaries, shorts, and kid-friendly picks. Entering our 20th year, we’re proud to bring the best new and established independent filmmakers to our Festival with local and kid-friendly programs that showcase our idyllic Gulf Coast community.