What makes our White House even more special is that it’s part of the community.  People bring food to share, most often you can donate whatever amount you’d like at the door for the musicians, and there’s always an assortment of wine and cheese to accompany the performances.

The artists who grace this White House with their talent are always astounded at the sound that reverberates within the beautiful three-story structure.  At the same time that the musicians are performing, artists in other mediums are on the stage, painting, sculpting, creating pieces as the music inspires them.  It’s not just a living room, it’s a real ‘living’ room. 

The Glazer family are also musicians, who still occasionally perform for their friends and neighbors. This is how Timucua began, with Glazer tearing down the walls of his original home to make room for the ever expanding audience.

Says Benoit himself, “it feels like a house, it feels like a church, it feels like a venue, it feels like all of these things combined”.  If you’ve never been there, you must go because you’re in for a sensorial treat.  If you have been to the White House, you’ll marvel at the design that went into this venue.  You’ll more fully understand why you perceive its innate specialness every time you walk through the front doors. Returning from its 2015 worldwide debut, The White House Overture is a short and sweet musical treat that honors the musical visionary as well as the artists who appear at this special Central Florida venue.

War Tails began its journey not as film but as a labor of love by two dog-loving neighbors, an American and a Ukrainian, who saw how Ukraine was being devastated by war and wanted to help the dogs there.  American retiree Dan Fine initially went to Ukraine to help the animals, with some assistance and direction provided by Humane Society International as well as White Angels.  Fine was making short videos to document the exploding tragedy to those back home.  He became convinced by a filmmaker that he had the pieces of a documentary, which, when completed, became War Tails. But you can be certain that making a film was completely secondary to Fine's purpose.

In the U.S., rabies is a fatal viral disease that is contained by vaccinating your pets.  In Ukraine, rabies has begun running rampant because of the number of animals abandoned by war.  In addition, the vets there simply can't keep up with the overpopulation of dogs and cats.  In order to completely contain the virus and birth rates, more than 500,000 must be vaccinated and sterilized in the next four years. 

Fine journeys throughout multiple devastated Ukranian cities with Krystyna, a Ukranian citizen and an absolutely fearless woman, trying to help these victims. You're mistaken if you believe their mission is just about animals.  Rabies can be communicated to humans, with the infected dying a horrible, painful death, so this involves more than helping abandoned dogs and cats.

Dan and Krystyna catch and contain the petrified animals and bring them in to makeshift clinics, where they are treated by veterinarians.  Their goal is to vaccinate a few thousand animals in multiple cities. Krystyna crawls into cement ducts, goes into abandoned, mine-ridden fields and had been bitten on multiple occassions, yet she and Dan persist with their mission.  You'd think War Tails was going to be tragic in light of the situation, yet it was ultimately very positive and will resonate with anyone who ever loved an animal. 

And if you're interested in helping be part of the solution, contact the E.U.  Tell them you are concerned about animals in Ukraine and ask if they can help. 

No One Asked You stars Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of The Daily Show, and is a call to action to support women's rights after SCOTUS cut those rights to shreds in 2022 with the elimination of Roe Vs. Wade.  It's also an outright demand that media stop shirking their responsibility and start covering women's health issues.  

The film is a tragicomedy.  On the one hand, well-known comedians like Margaret Cho, Sarah Silverman and more, hilariously take the stage in various cities for the Vaginal Mystery Tour to help raise money which will, though the Abortion Access Front, provide health care to U.S. women in Republican states whose cities have become medical deserts.  There is no health care in those cities; the only option for medical assistance is driving hours across borders.

The other part of the film takes us into the clinics that are on the front lines of the battle.  We meet the healthcare workers and doctors who are now unable to continue providing medical care to their patients.  Whose budgets have been slashed.  Who fight the lies being pushed by the religious right regarding choice.  Whose clients are forced to pass through rows of men armed with placards and bullhorns, proselytizing about nothing that should concern them, just to see their doctor. We hear from pregnant women who have been coerced into entering facilities under the guise of 'medical offices' when, in fact, there are no medical personnel in attendance, but only staffers with pamphlets.  

If you're sitting by and watching your rights being taken, and remaining silent, you're going to be complicit in your own enslavement.  No One Asked You uses humor as a temporary balm for what has become a deadly serious issue in America. The doc was recently picked up by Jolt Film, to be made available to a wider audience.

Public Defender was the final doc I was able to screen at the Festival. It tells the story of a public defense attorney based in Washington D.C. who has elected to defend the cases of the January 6 insurrectionists.  Heather Shaner has spent over 40 years defending people who can't afford an attorney.  She believes everyone is entitled to a trial.  She was formerly a social worker and wants to not only see the best in people, but to educate them on how to be better human beings.    

You may leave the film as incensed as I was, by the way in which the defendants are taught by Shaner to manipulate the Court to receive the least amount of prison time - if they actually get any significant sentence at all.  After their trials, one defendant appears to remain somewhat ambivalent regarding Trump's actual loss of the race, even though that was part of their plea for leniency. Perhaps this is the point of the doc, to elicit a reaction, to promote discussion.  Heather believes her clients are "not a danger to society".  Well, that remains to be seen.  The doc is well made, Heather's clients are well represented by the filmmakers, they're allowed to speak their piece.  Heather believes that the person who is actually responsible for provoking the insurrection has yet to be held accountable, and that negligence of the rule of law should anger us all, regardless of party.  But that does not excuse the actions of the January 6th insurrectionists, who, according to one of her clients, might actively participate once again. 

Lisa Blanck is the Associate Editor / Movie Reviewer for In Focus-Magazine.com and is a member of the Critics Association of Central Florida.  Her background includes 30+ years of digital editing for NBC and CBS News affiliates.  She also edits national promotional spots for Matter Of Fact, the #1 nationally syndicated news & information program.  For 30+ years she has covered the Florida Film Festival & the World Peace Film Festival, and has additional award-winning experience in advertising, marketing, promotions and live special events with MTV Networks.