Local filmmakers brings 'Euphoria,' 'Pocket Full of Gold' to Channelside

Each week another independent film group takes tentative steps out of obscurity. The way to stand out is by doing it outside the film festival circuit, like Scatter Brothers Productions will Friday at Channelside Cinemas' La Dolce Vita lounge in Tampa.

Scatter Brothers is a group of young, ambitious filmmakers led by Ben Daniele, 26, a Tampa resident who worked for Universal Studios in Los Angeles before returning home. His first project, the short film Euphoria, will be shown, followed by another Scatter Brothers production, Pocket Full of Gold, scripted by former Tampa resident Jeremy Robinson.

Euphoria is an experimental film centered on a house party at a drug lord's mansion. Scatter Brothers backer and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Chidi Ahanotu makes a cameo appearance, and is expected to attend Friday. Pocket Full of Gold is a rural drama starring Andrew Springer (One Tree Hill) as an alcoholic backwoodsman.

Potential investors and VIPs get private screenings and cocktails at 8 p.m. The public is admitted free at 9 p.m. for encore showings. If nothing else, experiencing La Dolce Vita lounge — an oasis of chic inside a multiplex — is worth the trip.