The Ghosts of Ybor: The End is Blossoming

"The End is Blossoming" Poster

"The Ghosts of Ybor: The End Is Blossoming" is the first in a series of films by Tampa filmmaking brothers Pete and Paul Guzzo called the "Era of Blood". The series is based on stories of mob warfare in Tampa's Ybor City during the 1940s and later.

In "Blossoming", a Sicilian mobster from New York City moves to Ybor City to take control of the illegal lottery, bolita, from Ybor gangster Charlie Wall. With him the Sicilian mobster brings his beautiful indentured servant. A local bartender falls in love with the indentured servant and promises to do all he can to free her from the mobster's grasp.

This Romeo and Juliet themed film has thus far been accepted into six film festivals around the world and has been nominated for two awards.

The Guzzo Brothers, and fellow producer Chris Rish, a professor at the International Academy of Design and Technology, have recreated old Ybor City, showcasing such beautiful locations as the Cuban Club and the Centro Asturiano.

Rex Willis, a faculty member at Manatee Community College where he teaches guitar, composition and music theory, provided an original "classical" score for the film, hand-picking some of Central Florida's finest classical musicians for the orchestra.

On the Set

"The subsequent scene filmed with Jereme Badger, Al Sapienza, and Lynn Moore... is one of those surreal moments that is really hard to convey in print. The caliber of acting has just ratcheted up a serious notch."

"As Sapienza growls out his lines in that incredibly cool New York mobster hiss, the mood of the room changes...

"Sapienza suddenly belts out one of his legendary gun-brandishing, profanity-laden threats and you could just feel everyone's stomachs go all weird. This is, like, the way it was. Tense.... dangerous....eerily authentic."

-Nolan B. Canova
On the Set of "The End is Blossoming"
Nolan's Pop Culture Review

Celluloid Siblings

"It's the day after the Guzzo brothers' latest film, 'The Ghosts of Ybor: The End is Blossoming' premiered to a packed house at Channelside Cinemas. Their movie is the first in a series about 1940s Ybor City.

"As a wannabe filmmaker, I sit across from them at Tre Amici café looking hard for any hints of "it" - that grand artistic destiny many successful creative people seem to have encoded in their DNA."

-Bradley Paul Valentine
Celluloid Siblings: Meet Paul and Pete Guzzo
Orange Magazine