For its seventh edition, the Gasparilla International Film Festival unreeled an impressive program of 103 films, including narrative features, documentaries, foreign fare, shorts, and homegrown productions, many of which made their world or regional premieres.

Not to mention an appealing array of  educational panels, Q&A sessions with filmmakers, parties, and other special events, all of which seemed to be distinguished with a GIFF twist — the festival, once a hodgepodge of movies, feels like it’s beginning to develop its own identity.

The upshot: This year, 13,000 film lovers attended the six-day festival, as compared with an attendance of 10,000 in 2012. It’s not an overwhelming figure, but the bump up does point to an event with an increasingly impressive track record and significant potential for growth. The latter is because sponsors — whose funding is required to keep any film festival alive — typically are interested in allocating their dollars to those events that look like winners, with good prospects for continuing to thrive. GIFF looks like just such a fest.

It didn’t hurt that the fest attracted at least a little Hollywood-style glamour: Colin Farrell (below) visited the Hyde Park CineBistro on Thursday night for a screening of “The Fix,” a short directed and co-written by Ante Novakovic, Farrell’s executive assistant and friend. Thomas Jane received a career achievement award, and was celebrated for his work in the made-in-Tampa superhero movie “The Punisher.” “Empire State” director Dito Montiel, star Michael Angarano and producer Randall Emmett (below right) were on hand to talk about making their movie.

GIFF, too, gained some attention via at least two political figures. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, speaking during opening-night ceremonies, Tuesday at Tampa Theatre,  praised the festival for playing an important role in boosting Tampa’s reputation as an arts-friendly city. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi attended a screening of “Pharmboy,” tweeting that the movie “shows how Rx abuse affects all family (members).”

Festival director Joe Restaino has talked about looking to the Tribeca, South By Southwest and Los Angeles film festivals as models for GIFF; it’s not a stretch to suggest that Tampa’s film fest has a shot at eventually achieving the success and status of those fests.

My personal favorites (although I didn’t see nearly as many films as I would have liked to see):

• Montiel’s quirky heist thriller “Empire State” (left) featuring a dazzling turn by  Angarano as a small-time hood with a motor mouth and a dangerous excitability
• Bloody crime flick “The Iceman” (below right) with a chilling performance by Michael Shannon as a prolific contract killer who doubles as a loving family man
• Filipino movie “Graceland,” a riveting drama nominally concerning the kidnapping of the protagonist’s (Arnold Reyes) daughter, but ultimately focusing on high-level corruption and the child sex industry.

During closing ceremonies on Sunday afternoon at Muvico Centro Ybor, awards were presented in several categories. Here they are:

GIFF 2013 Audience Award Winners

•

Best Florida Production: Karl Wilson, Breaking Up with Rosie

•

College Showcase: William J. Stribling, Beyond Belief

•

Documentary: Patrick Burke, Poster Boy’s or: The Art of Mobile Recording

•

Narrative Feature: Lawrence (Larry) Feeney,Pharmboy

•

Narrative Short: Ante Novakovic, The Fix

•

Young Filmmaker: John Kirk, Not to Scale

•

World Showcase: Ron Morales, Graceland

GIFF 2013 Grand Jury Award Winners

•

Documentary: Brett Whitcomb, GLOW: The Story of the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling

•

Narrative Feature: Youssef Delara & Michael Olmos,Filly Brown

•

Narrative Short: Andrew Young, Unburden

•

Special Jury Award for Acting: Gina Rodriguez, Filly Brown

•

Special Jury Award for Filmmaking: Elias Mael,Against the Grain

•

Young Filmmaker: Byron Leon, Dangerous Daze

•

Screenwriting: Sayre & Zahner, Darby Petty and The Lost Treasure of the Iverni