Sarasota Film Festival 2007

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Thursday, April 19-----Character actor "Joey Pants" Pantoliano and Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden arrive in Sarasota today to promote their latest film together, CANVAS, and to participate in the A Conversation With.....series at Sarasota's historic Asolo Theater.

CANVAS is the directorial debut of director Joseph Greco, which was shot on location in the state of Florida. In this searing drama, Pantoliano and Harden play John and Mary Marino, a working class Florida couple facing a terrible problem; Mary’s ever-deepening battle with schizophrenia. As the family struggles to hold themselves together, Greco’s deeply compassionate film allows the actors to shine in some of their finest work to date. CANVAS, which screens on Friday and then Saturday, puts a poignant, human face on the issue of mental illness with a sensitivity and grace that is so often absent from films and turns the story of a family in crisis into one of hope and possibility.

This evening however, expect the expletives to fly when Pantoliano, known for his outrageous humor, takes the stage with his co-star (the more demure) Marcia Gay Harden to discuss the making of CANVAS, and other highlights in their respective careers. Pantoliano is among the busiest character actors in Hollywood, and has memorably appeared in such films as RISKY BUSINESS, THE MATRIX, MOMENTO, THE FUGITIVE, BOUND and a recurring role in THE SOPRANOS. Marcia Gay Harden is among the most hard-working actresses in film, having appeared in such well known productions as THE SPITFIRE GRILL, THE FIRST WIVES CLUB, MEET JOE BLACK and last year's AMERICAN DREAMZ and THE  DEAD GIRL. She has been nominated for the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress twice, for the films MYSTIC RIVER and POLLOCK (for which she won the coveted award for her portrayal of painter Lee Krasner).

Sandy Mandelberger, Sarasota Film Festival Online Dailies Editor