Humphrey Bogart will be recognized and honored with a film festival hosted in Key Largo and featuring his classic films. The Humphrey Bogart Estate and the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce have teamed up on what will become an annual event, drawing fans of the iconic actor together in Key Largo for screenings of his movies.
Announcing the festival, Stephen Humphrey Bogart (Humphrey Bogart’s son), stated: “We have long been looking for a natural home for a family-backed Bogie film fest, and we believe there is no better place than Key Largo. My father and mother starred in Key Largo, and the actual boat from The African Queen is here in Key Largo. It just feels right to honor my father and his movies in this beautiful place, which has such an organic connection to his legacy.”
Added Russell Yagel, the leader of the effort to have Key Largo selected as the location for the festival: “It feels great to welcome Humphrey Bogart back to Key Largo. This is a great partnership between Key Largo and the Bogart Estate. In 1948, Humphrey Bogart starred in Key Largo. Now, 65 years later, for Key Largo to become the home of the only Bogart Estate-backed Humphrey Bogart Film Festival is just wonderful.”
According to the festival’s official announcement, the annual event will screen “a rotating selection of Bogie classics and a group of movies centered around that year’s theme.” In addition to screening Bogart’s films, the festival will include a formal Bogart Ball, “an outside screening of Casablanca, a display of Bogart memorabilia, question and answer sessions with Stephen Bogart, and tours on the fully-restored African Queen.”
Fans will be able to take part in the selection of films to screen at the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival by voting for their favorites at www.bogartfilmfestival.com.
The first Key Largo-based festival will take place in May 2013.
Source: Humphrey Bogart Film Festival
