Actress Julia Ormond to be special guest at film festival

Filmmakers and actors will be in St. Augustine for the 15th annual Saint Augustine Film Festival, taking place Jan. 9-12. Films will screen in Lewis Auditorium and Gamache-Koger Theatre, and in the Alcazar Room, part of City Hall in the historic Lightner Museum. The film list and tickets are available at staugfilmfest.com Forty films will play at the four-day event, featuring indie, international, local and regional filmmakers. Actress Julia Ormond is a special guest and Lifetime Achievement honoree. She will receive her award at noon Saturday, Jan. 11, in Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College — immediately preceding “Here's Yianni!” in which she stars. Tickets and more film details at staugfilmfest.com.

Ormond is an English actress who has appeared in film, on television and on stage. She is known for her roles in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Legends of the Fall,” “Surveillance,” “Sabrina,” “Witches of East End,” “Smilla's Sense of Snow,” “Rememory,” “Reunion,” “Ladies in Black,” “The East” and many others. Cast of “Here’s Yanni” includes: Joe Cortese, Ormond, Kevin Pollak, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts and Sofia Vassilieva. Among the feature films to be screened are: “Queen of the Ring,” “Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion,” “The Shape Of Things: The Dick Brewer Story” and “Here's Yianni!”

Filmmakers, actors and producers will be in St. Augustine in support of the films. Here’s a look: 

• “Here’s Yanni” — Ormond

• “Ocklawaha” — Stephen Robitaille, writer/producer

• “Unlikely Mermaid” — Lorraine Portman, director/producer/actress, and Margaret Nicholson, actress

• “The Green Flash” — members of the cast

• “Playing The Changes” — the filmmaker and actors

• “Stella Stevens” — Andrew Stevens, director/producer and son of Stella Stevens

• “Queen of The Ring” — Ash Avildsen, director/screenwriter and son of John Avildsen, who directed “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid” and other films; Emily Bett Rickards (pending); Gavin Casalegno (pending); and Aimee Schoof, producer

• “Women of The Watershed” — Scott Michael Barnett, director; Johanna Vega, producer; and Chloe Barnett, on-screen talent

• “Fielding Dreams” — James Gilmore, director; and Tracy Halcomb, producer

• “Against The Spread” — Mitchell Cole, director

• “Class of Her Own” — Boaz Dvir, director

• “The Wingwalker” — Alonso Alvarez, director/writer

• “Figures” — Rhett Cutrell, director

• “The Shape of Things” — Bob Campi, director; and Teri Tico, producer

• “Beyond Triathlon” — Chuck Malkus, co-director/producer; and Brian Bayerl, co-director/cinematographer

• “The Strange Dark” — Caleb Scott, actor

The Saint Augustine Film Festival partners with the SJC Cultural Events, Inc. and is supported in part by the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council and the St. Johns Cultural Council. Founding sponsors are Arnold and Barbara Grevior; annual patrons include Eileen and Jeff Schomburger, Jon Schwartz and Sheila Kolesaire, along with other business, private sponsors and supporters. Passes and Individual film tickets are available at www.staugfilmfest.com.