By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

At the poster unveiling at the Hilton Hotel last Thursday, Sept. 22, Festival Director Gregory Von Hausch announced the expansion of the 26th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (Oct. 21-Nov. 11). While Cinema Paradiso will act as the main hub, venues are expanding as far west as Sunrise and as far north as Muvico Pompano on Federal Highway. Info: www.fliff.com

Among the films premiering at the Muvico Pompano is the documentary about cowboys, Florida Cracker, and a WWII documentary titled Lost Airmen of Buchenwald. About 50 is a comedy about middle age. Newlyweds is a project from FLIFF25 honoree Ed Burns. The Last Rights of Joe May features Dennis Farina in a performance generating Oscar buzz.

Dennis Farina, Penelope Ann Miller, Piper Laurie, Senator George McGovern, Dennis Haysbert and son of acting legend Glenn Ford, Peter Ford, will be at this year’s festival. Ford has recently compiled his father’s biography, Glenn Ford: A Life and will attend a retrospective at Cinema Paradiso on Nov. 10. Besides selling and autographing his book, Ford will answer questions about his family (his mom is Eleanor Powell) after the screening of original 3:10 to Yuma, starring Glenn Ford in the Russell Crowe role.    FLIFF remains a vacation from ordinary film and a
celebration of our unique Florida culture. On Tuesday, Oct. 25, FLIFF will present The Legend of Ivan Tors, a documentary about the producer of such iconic Florida animal shows as Gentle Ben and Flipper. Sponsored by Carrabba’s Grill, this evening will feature a baked dinner alfresco in the courtyard. A regular sponsor of FLIFF, Carrabba’s also sponsors a monthly opera series at Cinema Paradiso featuring the works of Verdi and Puccini.

Released last week, Alice Cooper’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare should be considered a modern day Rock Opera. A sequel to the similarly-titled album rock classic from 1975,W2MN features Alice’s modern nightmare involving inferno, hip hop music, elevator music and auto tuners. For the most part, the W2MN music is fun, energetic and humorous with songs titled Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever and Ghouls Gone Wild. However, there are some tear jerking ballads (I Am Made of You, Something To Remember Me By) and two operatic moments worthy of the opera Don Giovanni. With the Miami Dolphins going zero and three this season, W2MN provides a comforting solace.

Plans by the owner of Florida House in Deerfield after purchasing the property at 504 S Federal of opening a 24 bed detox facility are apparently dead after city manager Burgess Hanson uncovered a technicality in zoning regulations. The neighborhood was totally against the idea and did not want it that close to residential homes. Read full story in the Observer Oct 6.

A former sheriff of Broward County passed away Wednesday, the Broward Sheriff’s Office chaplain told employees. Navarro was sheriff from 1985 to 1992. According to Wikipedia, “Navarro won election for sheriff in 1984. During Navarro’s tenure the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) approximately doubled to 3,000 personnel and its budget increased from $75 million to $200 million. Contracts were added for the BSO to provide law enforcement services to three Broward cities – Dania Beach, Tamarac and Deerfield Beach.^[1]”  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Navarro.

With his health failing fast, Navarro was escorted home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon by sheriff’s deputies, where he died about 2:30 p.m., surrounded by family and friends.

Navarro recently underwent a second surgery at Holy Cross Hospital for a recurrence of colon cancer. He was 81.

All BSO flags are at half staff, and personnel have been instructed by current Sheriff Al Lamberti to wear their mourning band.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Entry Form

EVERY WEEK the Observer and Paragon Deerfield give away 2 FREE movie tickets. Enter every week for your chance to win. Click the link above, this could be your lucky week.

DEERFIELD BEACH – Opponents of the city’s recently enacted utility tax thought they had more than enough petition signatures to force a referendum on the tax, but not enough were certified

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office said more than half of the signatures are  invalid.

Monday that only 2,894 of the 6,200 signatures submitted met the city’s requirements. The petitioners needed roughly 4,200 valid signatures to force the referendum, based on city charter rules.

“This petition was unique in that the city code required that it be the signature, the address and the precinct number,” Cooney said. “A lot of precinct numbers were either missing or incorrect.”

Rescind Unfair Taxes, the opposition group led by former Mayor Jean Robb and businessman Steve Krevoy, only have until Thursday to submit a valid petition.

The annual Dunn’s Run is almost here. It will be held Oct. 2 bright and early in the morning. The 5K Walk & 5-mile Run benefits Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County.

Pick up your registration packets for this year’s Dunn’s Run on Sept. 24 at Two Georges at the Cove, 1755 SE 3 Court, Deerfield Beach, on Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Panera Bread, 2101 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach, or online at www.Dunns Run.com.

Fundraisers also can earn prizes, everything from a T-Shirt to a Garmin Forerunner 610. For more information, visit www.dunnsrun.com.

Deerfield Beach’s Brandon Bejarano finishes 83rd in the 29th annual Spanish River Invitational Cross Country meet at South County Regional Park in West Boca Raton last Saturday. Bejarano ran a personal best 18:06.86 over the 3.1 mile course. Photo by Gary Curreri

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach High boys cross country coach Jerry Guthrie believes this could be the best team he has had in years.

“They are better than they have ever been to start the year, that’s for sure,” said Guthrie after his team finished 30th in the star-studded 29th annual Spanish River Invitational Cross Country meet at South County Regional Park in West Boca Raton last Saturday. “Our top guy (Brandon Bejarano) finished 83rd in this race, but he had a PR.”

Bejarano, a sophomore, whose previous best time was 18:20, ran 18:06.86 over the 3.1 mile course and has given Guthrie reason for optimism. The last time the Bucks boys’ cross country team reached states was in 2003.

“I think we have a good chance to go to state,” said Guthrie, who has coached the Bucks team since 2000. “I have already had coaches come up to me this year and tell me they think we have a good chance this year, given the way we started. I am looking for two to be in the 16s and three to be in the 17s and we will go to state. I am excited.”

In addition to Bejarano, the other boys’ finishers included Cleezy Andre, a junior (93rd overall, 18:14.58), sophomore Aaron Johnson (188th overall, 19:58.27),  junior Brian Johnson (201st overall, 20:28.99), junior Jourdin Andre (219th overall, 20:53.98), sophomore Perry Tony (226th overall, 21:00.85) and junior Ryan Lacava (241st overall, 21:33.69).

The Bucks finished with 758 points and it is something that was not lost on Guthrie and the team. They had higher expectations.

“It takes them down a peg and shows them they have a lot of work to do,” Guthrie said. “Even though we did well in our first race and we are going to do well in the county, they see, in order to go to state, they have to work harder. They are already talking about it. It is very good for them.

“I expected them all to do a PR and they all did except for one, and he doesn’t know what happened,” Guthrie added. “He’ll be back. He came in second in the first race we had and then he was second to last today, but you have bad days. He had sore legs and said he had nothing left.”

With no seniors in his top seven, Guthrie has high hopes for the squad.

“All of my kids are sophomores and juniors,” Guthrie said. “It bodes well for the next couple of years, and I think we will be there at the end of the season.”

Ely downs Taravella

Blanche Ely quarterback Darren Allen rallied his team from a 17-0 halftime deficit to defeat Taravella, 20-17, in a high school football game on Friday night. Allen completed 15 of 25 passes for 152 yards, threw two touchdowns and rushing for another. A 15-yard touchdown catch by Ely’s Jordan Fields with just under two minutes remaining was the deciding score.

Barry S. Anderson will be at Spooky Empire. Will you?

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

Last Monday night at Bru’s Room, the Deerfield Beach Reunion Committee adjourned for 10 years, making plans for the 40-year class reunion in 2021.

Many of us felt we had arrived at a domestic crossroads; one individual is buying her first house, some were dealing with their children graduating high school and  some are dealing with being the guardian to aging parents.

Opening tomorrow in limited release, My Afternoons with Margueritte is a beautiful and poetic French film about many characters at their crossroads. Gérard Depardieu portrays Germain, the town handyman who feels short-changed by life. His true solace is spent on the park bench with Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus), a 92-year-old bibliophile. Beyond talking about life, liberty and romance, the couple take pleasure in naming pigeons.

Told with flashbacks, Ger-main recounts having a verbally abusive mother. Margueritte becomes Ger-main’s mentor. Conflict ensues and Germain must set things right. Since the drama is not forced and the acting is subtle, this film becomes a pleasant cinematic choice.

For those seeking, instead, experiences of horror and terror, Spooky Empire’s Ultimate Weekend of Horrors will commence the second weekend in October. (www.spookyempire.com). The guest list now includes Malcolm McDowell, horror author Clive Barker and Barry S. Anderson, renaissance artist. Like Bill Hinzman, Anderson holds perfect attendance with Spooky Empire.

A “monster kid” from upstate New York, Anderson came to South Florida during Spring Break, got a regular job in Miami Vice and stayed here. He later joined Tom Savini’s special effects and makeup team on the set of George Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985).

He said, “This was a dream come true for a ‘monster kid,’ who grew up during the 60s and 70s watching Chiller Theatre every Friday and Saturday night while eating Jiffy Pop Popcorn!”

Besides a 17-year stint with Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, Anderson has contributed to the motion picture industry in a variety of films, from Hairspray to his recent independent feature shot in Orlando, Astro Zombies M4 Invaders from Cyber Space, which features a cameo appearance from his wife of 22 years, Chickie, and 9-year-old son, Miles.

Recently, he showed Miles the original Boris Karloff Frankenstein movies.  At first fearful of the monster, Miles later told his father, “The monster wasn’t bad, he was just looking for a friend.”

By Diane Emeott

Tuesday night, Sept. 20 was the second and final reading of Deerfield Beach’s 2011-12 Budget. It features a 1 mil drop in total millage – 5.7688 compared to 6.7688 last year. It also includes $6.2 million projected revenue from utility tax, slated to take effect Oct. 1.

Commission Chambers were packed for the one-hour-plus public hearing on the budget. Residents were very vocal, some with acrimonious comments.

See Story in full in Sept. 22 Observer newspaper. Video also available on ObserverTV.

Sean Smothers wins the Junior Golf Association of Broward County season-ending championship and the prestigious Julius Boros title, after finishing with a low stroke average of 74.25 for the summer. Photo by Gary Curreri

By Gary Curreri

Sean Smothers thought he could have shot a couple of strokes better here and there, but was happy with the way he played. As well he should be.

The Pompano Beach 15-year-old not only won the Junior Golf Association (JGA) of Broward County season-ending championship, but also captured the prestigious Julius Boros title after finishing with a low stroke average of 74.25 for the summer. It was his third tournament title of the summer.

“I just wanted to start off and make sure I kept myself in the tournament,” said Smothers, a Cardinal Gibbons High School junior, who is also a member of the school’s golf team. “It just gives me experience and how to deal with pressure spots. I will learn from what I did here. If I got myself in trouble, I came back after it.”

Smothers, who carded a 75-73-75-223 to win the tournament, has played in the Junior Golf Association of Broward County for the past five years.

“I look forward to Mondays a lot,” said Smothers, of the Monday outings when the JGA of Broward is played. “It is just a time to play golf and spend time with your friends. You get to play tough courses and you get good competition.”

Smothers said the summer tour helped him stay sharp for the high school season and hopes the Chiefs will be competitive in the districts when they finished fourth and narrowly missed advancing farther in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state series. He said they added two new players to the squad and that should help.

“This is great because there is good competition and you have to play solid to win it,” Smothers said. “I just try and play the course and, however I do, I do. If I start to play the opponents, that’s when I tend to mess up.”

Smothers also liked playing on the top courses in Broward County during the JGA of Broward.

“It is great,” Smothers said. “It seems like you have a huge advantage, even when you won’t be able to get on courses to play.”