Entertainment

Editor's Note: Text by Sandi Carroll and house images by Cathy Bersre.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The IMAGES Tour of Homes will present six unique and fascinating homes in New Smyrna Beach festively decorated for the holidays, and a fantastic boutique featuring handmade gift items, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5.

This is the main fundraiser for the 34th annual IMAGES: A Festival of the Arts, an outdoor fine arts show. Featured homes will include:

The incredible Tuscan-style country home of restaurant owners Jeffrey and Paige Gehris on Canova Drive;

DELAND -- In what can only be characterized as a startling development --even for the world of the paranormal -- the Athens Theatre's Halloween Spooktacular has been canceled.

Unnamed sources involved with the Halloween production are placing responsibility on a bizarre object connected with the event -- a haunted brick.

According to theatre manager Ed Kirkland, the all-day and night-film Spooktacular planned for Oct. 31, was to have included a host of classic halloween movies and unuusual lobby exhibits, culminating in the Rocky Horror Show at midnight.

DELAND -- The historic Athens Theatre, in partnership with the West Volusia Film Authority, will host its first annual "Athens Halloween Spooktacular" throughout the day and night on Saturday, Oct. 31.

At 11 a.m., the day kicks off with a series of four classic Abbott & Costello horror movies, followed by an evening of campy horror films, with the iconic Ted V. Mikels' ASTRO ZOMBIES as the headliner.
The movie marathon event culminates with a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Show.

Courtesy photo. Charlie Carlson of New Smyrna Beach poses with Miss Scarlett, canine star of the movie "ASTRO ZOMBIES M3:Cloned" and the grand marshal for the upcoming Mardi Paws Parade in New Smyrna Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Miss Scarlet, the neglected pooch who has turned into a sensational media darling, has been named grand marshal for the February Mardi Paws on Parade in New Smyrna Beach.

The city was one of the locations chosen by legendary Hollywood Producer/Director Ted V. Mikels while filming his latest movie "ASTRO ZOMBIES M3:Cloned."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Art Walk on Flagler Avenue will celebrate "Christmas in July" from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

This is the perfect time for art lovers to get a jump on their holiday shopping. It will be a festive day to take a fascinating stroll along Flagler
Avenue while enjoying the wonderful art on display in galleries, under canopies, and on porches. "

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Blue Heron International Pictures announced today that its latest Holocaust documentary -- "Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo" -- has attracted the attention of the Polish government.

“Alex Ringer, our producer in Israel, received a congratulatory letter recently from H. E. Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, the Polish ambassador to Israel,” said Executive Producer Richard Lester, a teacher at New Smyrna Beach High School and one of the film's producers.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Blue Heron International Pictures announced today that its latest Holocaust documentary -- Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo -- produced locally, has been accepted by the 2009 Route 66 Film Festival to be held in Springfield, Ill., on Sept. 19-20.

“After being named one of the 25 festivals worth the fee in Moviemaker Magazine, we received many more than the usual number of entries, “festival director Linda McElroy said. “Making our selections this year was extremely difficult, and we had to pass up many excellent films.”

ORMOND BEACH -- The Daytona Beach chapter of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association will officially re-open 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Cinematique Theater at the Book Store Cafe, 410 S. Nova Road in Ormond Beach.

"I look forward to being in this new meeting place," said FMPTA President Carole Ferrill, who will be on hand to officially re-open and
re-organize the chapter.

Courtesy photo. Richard Lester, an algebra teacher at New Smrna Beach High School, appeared 20 years ago in the movie western, "Silverado," which was broadcast May 30 on Turner Classic Movies.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Weekdays for 10 months out of the year, film-maker Richard Lester teaches ninth-grade algebra at New Smyrna Beach High School.