By Mark Pukalo
The final day of the 2026 Sarasota Film Festival offered three more strong movies and made you crave a handful of mint chocolate cookies for the ride home.
Well, they apparently make many kinds of Girl Scout cookies these days, but any would do after watching a delightful documentary about the yearly business pursuit for pint-sized young girls.
"Cookie Queens" drew standing ovations at Sundance in January and did not disappoint at Ringling College on Sunday afternoon. Director Alysa Nahmias mixes the comedy and sweetness of four girls from different sections of the country with the economic aspects of the cookie quest.
Olive is a 12-year-old going on 30 and a high seller from Charlotte who aspires to be a Supreme Court justice (put her on the list now). Nikki, 9, is the youngest of three family girl scouts from Chino, Calif. with a lot of spirit. Shannon Elizabeth, 8, is an optimistic young lady from El Paso and adorable 5-year-old Ara plays the piano like an adult and struggles with Type-1 Diabetes.
Jennifer Sims, one of the producers for the film, was in attendance on Sunday and said it was a huge undertaking to pick the girls and the families to go on this journey. They succeeded.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are executive producers on the film that was picked up by Roadside Attractions and will be in theaters this summer. You must hide a few happy tears during the film, but you walk out of the theater with a smile.
The final film of the day "Late Fame" featured the great Willem Dafoe as a former New York poet, who had moved on in life after some early success. Ed Saxberger is "re-discovered" by a poetry fan and brought into his eclectic young literary group. Saxberger must learn to deal with this new "fame," while he navigates modern day art.
It is a movie that is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but it is entertaining. Dafoe never fails to find the essence of his character while Greta Lee (left with Dafoe) is fabulous as a mysterious young actress who joins the group and befriends the smitten Ed.
In between the cookies and Dafoe, "Westhampton," was a bit more solemn. It follows a filmmaker who travels back to his hometown many years after his life was shattered by a car accident many blame him for. Though the trip home is to clear out personal items from his parents' house that has been put on the market, it allows him a chance to potentially exercise some demons. It is a little too vague at times, but is a worthwhile watch.
In all, I was able to see 14 movies over an eight-day span in Sarasota. There were about 15 more I would have liked to see, but I could not fit them into my schedule. Hopefully, this is the first of many more film festivals. The Festival staff was wonderful.
All 14 movies are worth your time. Here's how I rated them.
The Best - Carolina Caroline, Cookie Queens, I Want Your Sex, Late Fame, Steal This Story, Please.
Low Expectations, High Reward - The Floaters, On the End, Deepfaking Sam Altman, Charliebird.
Good, not great - Soul Patrol, Omaha, Westhampton, The Last One for the Road, Anne Packard: An Actor's Resolve.
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