The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© To Honor PB County Film Commissioner Michelle Hillery with Inaugural 'Ephraim/Sriberg Award for Cinematic Excellence'

Award will be Presented at SASIFF's Opening Night Screening of Miami-Based Coming-of-Age Comedy ETHAN BLOOM At the Kravis Center's Rinker Playhouse, January 25, 6:30 pm 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© (SASIFF), presented by MorseLife, returns for a fourth season next month offering hot, new, award-winning movies from all over the world, kicking off with the delightful and heartfelt coming-of-age comedy ETHAN BLOOM. Director Herschel Faber and screenwriter Maylen Dominguez will attend the glittery Opening Night on Sunday, January 25, 2026, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd in West Palm Beach 33401.

As part of the Opening Night activities, SASIFF will officially present the inaugural Donald M. Ephraim/Terri Sriberg Award for Cinematic Excellence to Film Commissioner Michelle Hillery, who heads the Palm Beach County TV & Film Commission. The award is named after the festival's respected co-founders, who are cultural philanthropists and confirmed film buffs.

"Over the last three decades, the local TV & Film Commission has made an impressive cultural and financial contribution by 'rolling out the red carpet' to welcome productions to the filmmaker's paradise known as The Palm Beaches," says SASIFF co-founder Donald M. Ephraim. "Thanks to their diligent efforts, we have become the backdrop for countless movies, television shows, commercials, photoshoots, web content and more, generating a positive economic impact of more than $200 million annually and $4 billion overall. Following in a tradition once exemplified by Burt Reynolds, Michelle Hillery and her talented team have played a significant role in promoting film and television production in Palm Beach County, and we are very proud to honor them at our Opening Night reception and screening."

"I am deeply honored to receive this inaugural award and grateful to the Sun & Stars International Film Festival for recognizing the work of the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission. This acknowledgment reflects the collective efforts of our team and community in supporting filmmakers and strengthening our local creative economy," says Michelle Hillery. "The Sun & Stars International Film Festival plays an important role in showcasing exceptional storytelling while elevating Palm Beach County's cultural profile, and we are proud to be recognized as part of that mission."

SASIFF's Opening Night will begin with a cinematic cocktail reception with light bites and beverages in the Cohen Pavilion at 6:30 pm, followed by the North Palm Beach County premiere screening in the Kravis Center's Rinker Playhouse one hour later. Tickets are $90 and are available for purchase online at www.sasiff.org.

ETHAN BLOOM

This heartfelt Opening Night screening paints a revealing portrait of adolescence, humorously exploring the struggles of an awkward teenager navigating the loss of his mother, his search for faith, and the pressures of his father's expectations.

Starring Hank Greenspan from the CBS hit comedy The Neighborhood and movie/TV actress Rachelle Lefevre (White House Down, Proven Innocent, Boston Legal, Big Wolf on Campus), ETHAN BLOOM captures the perils of first love, religion, and speculation about the afterlife as the 13-year-old title character attempts to evade his Bar Mitzvah by converting to Catholicism. Meanwhile, his widowed dad (played by Joshua Malina from The West Wing) has engaged curvaceous redheaded Rabbi Dani to administer private instruction in the Torah.

Talk about complications. Torn in multiple directions, Ethan communes nightly with his mom and dead dog in the heaven he imagines for them, while struggling by day with his enthusiastic discovery of solo pleasures of the flesh. It all comes together in a spectacularly moving finale when faith, sex, love, and family all coalesce in well-deserved harmony.

"ETHAN BLOOM has a good-hearted approach to comedy that probes some of life's big questions with a tender and all-encompassing sense of humor," says SASIFF Artistic Director Barbara Scharres, the former director of programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

About The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival:
The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival©, presented by MorseLife, aims to bring highly anticipated, critically acclaimed, and thought-provoking films to Palm Beach County. As a world-class film festival, it represents a major contribution to the cultural life of Palm Beach County and returns next month for its fourth season with screenings at the Kravis Center's Rinker Playhouse (Jan. 25-31), Hooky Entertainment Delray (Feb. 1-5), with the closing night screening at glamorous new Glazer Hall in Palm Beach (Feb 6). A complete list of films that will be screened during SASIFF 2026 is available at www.sasiff.org. For more information about purchasing tickets or becoming a sponsor, please visit www.sasiff.org, www.facebook.com/DME.SASIFF and www.twitter.com/dmesasiff or www.instagram.com/dme_sasiff or contact [email protected] or 561.220.6735.

About MorseLife:
MorseLife serves more than 3,600 seniors every day on its campus in West Palm Beach and through its community outreach programs. Founded in 1983, MorseLife is a provider of health care and residential services for seniors in Palm Beach County. A charitable, not-for-profit organization, its programs also include short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, independent and assisted living, memory care assisted living, hospice, home health care, care management, meals-on-wheels, and PACE. Since its beginnings, MorseLife has built a reputation and tradition of caring for seniors with excellence, dignity, and compassion. For more information, visit morselife.org, www.facebook.com/MorseLife, www.twitter.com/MorseLifeHealth, www.instagram.com/morselifehealth or www.linkedin.com/company/morselife-inc-/ or contact [email protected].

Available for Interview:
Michelle Hillery, Palm Beach County Film & TV Commission
561.233.1000 / [email protected]

+ Barbara Scharres, Artistic Director
The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival
773.875.0304 / [email protected] 

Media Contact:
Gary Schweikhart
PR-BS
561.756.4298 / [email protected]

SOURCE MorseLife