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The 2024 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival opened Nov. 8 with a screening of “Queen of the Ring,” writer-director Ash Avildsen’s biopic of female wrestler Mildred Burke starring Emily Bett Rickards, Josh Lucas, Walton Goggins and Gavin Casalegno. Marking the festival’s 39th year, the film commenced ten days of programming across seven South Florida venues, including the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to costume designer Bob Mackie.
Speaking from the red carpet Friday night, FLIFF chair Lisa Grigorian thrilled at this year’s programming. “We are so excited for this year’s festival,” Grigorian said. “We’ve got a hundred films from 35 countries — something for everybody.”
Attending the festival for the first time, “Queen of the Ring” costar Casalegno spoke about what resonated with him in Burke’s true life story. “I really wanted to make films that will make the world a better place, and I wanted to do more films that will make people think about just the world and their life and humanity after they finished watching it,” he said. “I feel like this movie does a great job at showing this underdog story … to actually win and change history for the better.”
“Beyond the Rush” producer Candy Potts, left, Heather Aboff, director/producer Robert John Sayegh, John Savage, Bill Barrett, and Jayce Bartok at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Michele Eve Sandberg Among those appearing on opening night were cast and crew members of “Beyond the Rush,” including writer-director Robert Sayegh and actors John Savage (“The Thin Red Line), Jayce Bartok (“Founders Day”) and Bill Barrett (“Fly Me To the Moon”). Sayegh explained that the film took 33 years to bring to the screen. “It’s taken a lot of work over my life trying to get over my addictions, getting sober, and trying to put together a story that deals with a lot of heavy issues, but in a way that everyone can relate to,” he said. “I think that it’s a story that everyone’s going to find something in to take away with them to help them in terms of what their life and some of the issues that they’ve had.”
Added Savage, “it’s a sensitive story about maturing and dealing with life and the challenges that we all face … mental health or abuse or alcohol addiction, we can talk a lot about it, but it’s a community effort. And this film really, for me, was something for the community.”
Bob Mackie, left, with design director Joe McFate at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Michele Eve Sandberg Also on the carpet was Mackie, who in conjunction with Variety received the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award for more than six decades of extraordinary work in costume and fashion design. He received the award the following day at the Savor Cinema ahead of a Saturday afternoon screening of “Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion,” Matthew Miele’s chronicle of Mackie’s life and work. After the film, Mackie conducted a short question and answer session, first reflecting across his career on what tells him that a client will prove to be a good collaborator.
“You could tell,” Mackie said. “I mean, when Cher walked in the first time I thought she was going to be this big, goth, tall girl and she was this little Audrey Hepburn-like child, and she just loved getting dressed up and she just stripped down to nothing. She was just amazing.
“And Miley Cyrus is like that — you could tell that that child came out of the womb wanting to sing and dance and bump and grind.”
Afterward, he spoke about from where he draws inspiration — from both the person he’s dressing, and the occasion they’re dressing for. “You have to kind of tell the audience from the way you dress them where they’re coming from,” he said, “and who they are and what they’re thinking in their brain. It is an interesting job, but it’s one that I just love.”
With a resume that reads like a Hollywood who’s who — from Cher to Carol Burnett to Tina Turner to Pink — Mackie has earned the right to slow down a bit, much less rest on his immaculately-tailored laurels. But as the conversation came to an end, he indicated that he felt as enthusiastic about his work as ever. “I get really inspired when the project comes up and it’s in your hands, the script, and you meet who’s going to play the parts,” Mackie said. “But you have to worry about who’s wearing it. And if they’re not going to look good in something, you don’t design for them. A lot of people just design something fabulous and it gets put on someone who’s not so fabulous.”
Mackie’s participation continued later that evening with his attendance of the Barbie’s Las Olas Beach House Party, hosted by FLIFF president and CEO, Steve Savor. A portion of the proceeds from the invite-only event will go to Memorial Healthcare and Positively Pink. The event anchors a broad spectrum of nonprofit and South Florida community support efforts; a Nov. 11 screening of “The Short Game” was sponsored by ABA Centers of Florida, Proven Autism Care to benefit The Ernie Els Foundation, for example, and the Nov. 15 screening of “Venera” will support the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida.
Resplendent in Barbie pink, the celebration continued into the night with performances by The Jersey Girls, who sang classic disco and R&B songs while Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-winning film played on a screen overlooking the causeway. Mackie previously designed 23 different costumes for the doll, making her not just an icon but a fashion icon. With a 24th doll on the way, an auction underway with Julian’s, and a wider release of the documentary forthcoming, Mackie’s FLIFF award may have to stretch to fit a few more achievements into his incredible life.
Bob Mackie attends the ‘Queen of the Ring’ Premiere at the 39th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Michele Eve Sandberg
