We just finished watching him grow up on Breaking Bad as Walter "Flynn" White Jr. Now we get to see him R.J. Mitte person at the Gasparilla International Film Festival in Tampa. The festival will give Rising Star Awards to Mitte, Anna Anissimova (Father of Invention, The Trials of Cate McCall, There's Always Woodstock) and Martha MacIsaac (Greek, Superbad, 1600Penn).
Besides his five-year turn in the Emmy-winning series,Mitte has starred in House of the Last Things and makes appearances to educate the public on living with a disability — in real life, like the show, he has a mild form of cerebral palsey. The 21-year-old actor will be in Tampa this month to be honored at GIFF, scheduled for March 19-23.
“I'm looking forward to being in Tampa and sharing our love of film with a group of amazing filmmakers,” Mitte told GIFF organizers. Anissimova co-stars in There’s Always Woodstock, which has its world premiere as the opening night film for GIFF. MacIsaac makes her debut as an executive producer as well as co-stars for the short film Seasick Sailor.
Other filmmakers and actors appearing at this year's GIFF include include Andre Holland (1600 Penn, forthcoming Cinemax series The Knick), Blake Berris (Days of Our Lives, Meth Head, House of Last Things, GIFF 2013 Rising Star Award recipient), C.S. Lee (Dexter), Hrach Titizian (Homeland, The Men Who Stare at Goats), Jason Ritter (Parenthood, There’s Always Woodstock, Freddy vs. Jason), Sam Childers aka “The Machine Gun Preacher” and Ryan O’Nan (The Frozen Ground, The Iceman, GIFF Rising Star Award Recipient 2012).
This year GIFF received a record-number of submissions, totaling more than 500-plus films from across the world. The GIFF Programming Team narrowed its selections down to 100 films, which will be screened at the Tampa Theatre, Cinébistro at Hyde Park and Muvico Centro Ybor 20, Tampa Art Museum and Firehouse Cultural Center during the Festival.
There will be 35 feature films screening this year, and out of those 35, 11 are world premieres, two U.S. premieres, 15 Florida premieres and six Tampa premieres. Opening night film is There's Always Woodstock. The world premiere, opening night film directed by Rita Merson, stars Brittany Snow, Katey Sagal, Ryan Guzman, Allison Miller, Jason Ritter, Rumer Willis and James Wolk. Artist, Aaron Embry will perform songs from the film live at Tampa Theatre on opening night, March 19. Centerpiece Films include The Boys of Abu Ghraib, directed by Luke Moran and starring Luke Moran, Sean Astin, Sara Paxton and Michael Welch, and Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.