Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
THE PENSACOLA CONNECTION COLUMN REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2025
This month: A November to remember! A series cast premiere at Wahoo Stadium, auditions for a new movie shooting in Alabama this winter, and a look back at a feature film shot in Northwest Florida just over 10 years ago…
FIRST: Pensacola filmmaker Elrico Moty Tunstall is holding a screening of last year’s “Southern Village” at the Crescent Theatre in Mobile, Alabama, on November 8th. Plus: his “Family Vibez” original local Web sitcom premiere will be on Saturday, November 16th, at the Pensacola Bayfront Wahoo Baseball Stadium’s Hunter Amphitheater. Although general admission is free, a $50 VIP Pre-Sale value package is being offered, with goodies including: exclusive reserved seating, a promotional T-shirt, and a full cast-autographed poster.
Also: plans are already underway for Tunstall’s next big film project: “The House Up There,” a horror feature shooting in Bay Minette, Alabama, from January 29th to February 2nd, 2026. Auditions were held on November 1st from 10am to 2pm at Tunstall’s studio office at 9160 Roe Street, in the uptown Pensacola Industrial Park. Casting was for ages 15 and up, with hopefuls told to prepare a 1-minute dramatic monologue. (I doubt I’ll actually be cast, but I tried out anyway, by reciting a quick scene from one of my favorite courtroom dramas.) For more information on both projects and events, visit the studio’s website, at: www.manageroftheyear.net.
NEXT: Good News: Last month on Columbus Day Monday, October 13th, 2025 Pensacola was prominently featured recently on the world famous TV game show “Wheel of Fortune” as part of the “Live More Floridays” Sunshine State travelogue promotion, in cooperation with the show’s Burbank Studios in Hollywood, California. There was even a special prize wedge on the wheel: a $10,000 all-expense-paid vacation to Pensacola, which was won by red zone contestant Shaunica Amantine of Alexandria, Virgina.
BUT… Bad News: Local TV audiences didn’t get to see it. Seems the local affiliate station WALA TV-10 of Mobile, Alabama, chose to preempt the game show broadcast with a sportscast of Major League Baseball instead: Seattle vs. Washington. (Figures...) Fortunately (yes, wheely) an anonymous game show fan and YouTube podcaster, posted a recap of the show for viewers to catch what was missed. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzf6E_3RRRY.) Just goes to show you: on TV, same a s in reality, life is a gamble. Of course, this is not the first time Pensacola got featured on game shows, but that’s a story for another time…
AND FINALLY: A review of past Northwest Florida film history: “Ardenne’s Fury” by Asylum Pictures, is a military drama set in the last days of World War 2, between Nazi occupied Belgium and Luxembourg in western Europe. A US Army tank unit on a mission behind enemy lines, and forced to choose between escape, and saving a mother, a nun, and 2 helpless children, before an impending Allied Forces aerial bombing raid wipes out the Forest of Ardennes, where they are trapped. (Based on actual historical events, during ‘Project Ardenne’s Fury’ in the Battle of the Bulge, on December 16th, 1944.) The film was actually shot in early 2014 in Crestview, Florida, and Florala, Alabama. Several local actors were cast, including James Poule, Analiese Anderson, Paul & Coleen Sinor, and Lawrence Gamell Jr. Gamell is a former Californian who teaches drama Pensacola State College, and has appeared in “Ray” with Jamie Foxx, “Hurricane Season” with Forrest Whitaker, “Failure to Launch” with Matthew McConaghey, and the previous Asylum release “Atlantic Rim” with Graham Greene. Poule has appeared in “3-Headed Shark Attack” and various other Pensacola-based local films. Sinor served as military consultant for this film, and teaches at both PSC and Northwest Florida Community College in Niceville. (His daughter Coleen went on to work as a screenwriter for Asylum.)
The picture was released on home video DVD on Veteran’s Day: November 11th, 2014, and received news coverage on Pensacola’s National Public Radio affiliate WUWF 88.1-FM, by reporter Sandra Everhart. Plus: just recently on YouTube, a clip has popped up, showing the intense landmine scene, between Anderson’s Mother Mary, and Gamell’s Sargeant Rose. The film is currently streaming for rent, purchase or free on Xumo Play, Pluto TV, Apple TV, Fubo, Plex, Hoopla and Flix-Fling, and YouTube. (Clips Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2drh7uhsw . )
Okay, that’s all the turkey & trimmings for November.
Until December, later, gators!
_______________________________
Sincerely yours, KENNETH L. MANNING
Your Pensacola Connection
49 Murphy Lane, Pensacola, FL 32505
Phone: 1-850-287-2581
Email: [email protected]
