The little film festival that could, did.

Sunday night, the Gasparilla International Film Festival -- after three years of sharp growing pains -- matured into everything a regional cinema showcase hopes to be.

You want good movies? The closing film, Warren Skeel's Glee-ful documentary Thespians, may have been the best of the festival's strongest lineup ever. Awards were presented to appreciative indie filmmakers in a Tampa Theatre setting that had visitors from as far away as Brazil swooning at its old world elegance.

You want a good party? When Mother Nature dampened plans for an outdoor wrap party in Hyde Park Village, the staff improvised an indoor shindig that felt planned for 24 days, not hours. Sunday's rainshowers forced relocation to a former clothing store temporarily dressed for excess.

And celebrities? The Gasparilla fest had them on closing night, too, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (shown above on the red carpet with Ana Hill, one of the Thespians stars) and actors Stephen Baldwin (left) and Armand Assante. Not to mention those struggling filmmakers whose works and a smart audience's attention made them stars for at least one night.

Survey the buoyant crowd, gourmet snacks, open bar and throbbing music, listen to artists chatting up next projects or just cutting loose and Sunday night was obviously what a film festival's last hurrah should be.

"We're still tallying the (attendance) numbers but what we've heard from everyone is that they've just had such a great time," festival president Chad Moore said before the party. "Everyone loved the format, we had a lot of mingling at the (Cinebistro) lobby bar with the fillnmakers; that's what a film festival is all about. It couldn't have gone better."

The festival's attendance record of 10,000 visitors was set last year in a 10-day format; Moore expects this year's numbers for a 4-day affair to be proportionately successful.

Award winners included Joe O'Brien's Endure, a thriller filmed in Lakeland as the best Florida production; audience favorite prizes for Seven to Ten Business Days (best short), Full Signal (best documentary), and Erin Kitzinger's Hope for a Thorn, named best narrative feature. Kitzinger, a former St. Petersburg resident, and producer Jay Delaney (right) looked happy to be here, even before the results were announced.

Special merit awards for films with Florida connections were presented to Kelly King's dramedy Prime of Your Life, and David Ranghelli's documentary The Calling. Ranghelli's film focuses on Tampa resident Orlando Castillo, who is devoting his life to helping Peru's poor. Castillo's brother Jorge joined Rangelli for the photo at left.

Merit awards for acting were voted to Ryan Donowho (Prime of Your Life) and Margaret Laney (Friends with Benefits).

Grand jury awards were voted to Kelley Katzenmeyer's To Be Remembered (young filmmaker prize), the short film Piece of Paper (Pedaco de Papel) -- with director Cesar Raphael winging in from Brazil to accept -- plus an honorable mention for Bilali's Stand, and the evening's top prize for features, to Gorman Bechard's Friends with Benefits.

All of them deserving winners but the evening belonged to Thespians, a captivating documentary following four high school acting troupes preparing for Florida's state competition held annually in Tampa. Watching these talented teenagers tackling tough scenes with veteran gusto -- backed by marvelously devoted teachers -- was an extraordinary experience. The last time I recall leaving a festival feeling this good about a previously unknown documentary was Murderball a few years ago in Sarasota, and that one got nominated for an Oscar.

Thespians isn't likely to match that feat but Skeel's movie absolutely deserves a distribution deal to try.

Gov. Crist didn't hang for long at the party, casually dressed and graciously posing for photos. I chatted with him on the red carpet for a minute about the pending vote on expanding Florida's tax incentive program to attract more Hollywood productions. The gov basically rehearsed with me what he told the crowd a few minutes later:

"Film in Florida is so important to our state," he said. "It's clean, it's high-paying, it's all about jobs, jobs, jobs. The other thing that's great for the Sunshine State is (that) it advertises Florida all around the world, and that is truly priceless.

"This is a time when we need more people to come to the Sunshine State. Anything we can do in our administration to help these great artists who do so much to make the quality of life that much more special, we're here to do it."