A Florida-set mystery-horror film made by two Ringling College of Art and Design graduates is coming to Lakewood Ranch Cinemas for a one-night screening.
Ethan Gathman and Jorge Rodriguez, both 2022 Ringling Film graduates, will screen their debut feature, Jit, at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6. Tickets are $10.
The pair co-wrote and co-directed Jit, which was filmed in Florida during the summer of 2023. The movie follows Alex, a young man who investigates his brother’s disappearance and uncovers mysterious ties to a nearby senior-citizen trailer park and its dark, supernatural underbelly. Gathman has described the film as “a love letter to Florida,” built around the question: What if the incoherent, conspiracy-filled rants of the infamous Florida Man were true all along?
The screening marks a homecoming for the filmmakers, who developed the project while students at Ringling’s Sarasota campus. Patrick Alexander, department head of Film at Ringling College, said the duo built their business plan for Jit in his class.
“They were clever and relentless in the best way, the kind of students who never waited for permission to go make something,” Alexander said in a Ringling College article published Aug. 25. “Plenty of people leave here with a plan for a feature. These two followed through on theirs, and quickly, which is rare.”
Jit screened at the 2025 Kansas City Underground Film Festival on Sept. 12, the festival’s opening night. No source located for this fact check identified another festival where the film premiered, so the reference to an international premiere has been removed.
The cast drew heavily from the Ringling community. Lead actor Alex Correa, a former Ringling student, played the main character, which was based on him. Other Ringling contributors include Film student Riley Cullather and Troy Logan ’22, a Studio Labs sound designer and coordinator.
Gathman credited the college with giving him the foundation to complete the project. “I owe a lot to Ringling Film for giving me the space and the people to build the best possible group to make this film with,” he said.
Coming up in the community
Sept. 6 — Jit screening with an in-person Q&A, Lakewood Ranch Cinemas, 7 p.m., $10
Sept. 24 — Lakewood Ranch Women’s Club’s “Meet the Authors” event featuring Jaime Marco and Simone Knego, Lakewood Ranch Library, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
