2016 Sarasota Film Festival | Bradenton filmmaker premieres new feature

A lot of aspiring filmmakers dream of going to Hollywood. For Thomas John Nudi, the dream was always to come to Bradenton.

"I came to Bradenton with my family at the age of two months," Nudi said. "From 2007 to 2011, I was at FSU, and then I went to California to get my master's degree. In 2014, I came back to Bradenton with the idea of making a film here."

But now Nudi is gearing up for the premiere of his feature-length film, "Monty Comes Back," which will have its first public screenings this weekend at the festival. It's scheduled to be shown twice, at 10 a.m. Saturday and again at 10:45 a.m. Sunday.

One reason Nudi wanted to return to Bradenton to make the film, which he both wrote and directed, is that it's metaphorically autobiographical.

The title character, Monty, is an actor from Bradenton who quickly attains great success, even landing a "genius grant." But his success doesn't last long.

"He finds himself doing community theater in Detroit," Nudi said.

Monty comes back home to Bradenton, and moves back in with his parents. But he's not the same person he was before his fame.

"Substance abuse and his old delusions cause him to destroy relationships he has built," Nudi said. "His ego is too big for a small town."

Nudi doesn't come across as delusional or egotistical. But still he says the film is "very autobiographical." "It's a representation of a person I used to be, and maybe still have inside of me," he said.

Most of his friends from Bayshore High School seemed content to stay in the Bradenton area their whole lives.

"I didn't see anyone leaving, he said. "What I saw was a distressing lack of aspiration."

Merely getting away and going to college was enough to make him feel superior, he said. But then he had to ask himself the same question that Monty faces in the film.

"It's kind of the argument between an aesthetic life and a practical life," Nudi said.

Monty's success has made him feel superior to his old friends who drive trucks or work in warehouses, but when he crashes he sees that they may have more fulfilling lives than he does.

"Monty Comes Back" sounds weighty, but Nudi says it's essentially a comedy, or a comedy-drama.

"It's a comedy, but it's not like Adam Sandler," he said. "Maybe more like Todd Solondz."

Only Nudi and one other person have seen the film so far. As the world premiere approaches, Nudi said he's confident about the quality of the story and he's thrilled

with the performance of Brandon Tyler Jones in the title role.

But it's a very low-budget film, and he said he's a little nervous about how some of the technical aspects will affect an audience.

"It's still a $15,000 feature film with amateur actors," he said.

Details: April 2-3, Regal Cinemas Hollywood 20 Theater, 1993 Main St., Sarasota. Show times: 10 a.m. Saturday, 10:45 a.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15 nonmembers, $11 members. Information: 941-364- 9514, sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 7:04 PM with the headline "2016 Sarasota Film Festival | Bradenton filmmaker premieres new feature."