Festival of CinemaChristina Kallas’ Paris in Harlem opens the film festival, and Anna Baumgarten’s Disfluency is the Closing Night selection

Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) will receive Achievement in Filmmaking Award, and Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss’ Fire Bones Southern Gothic live multi-media presentation will have its NYC debut

Queens, NY, (July 12, 2023 – Festival of Cinema NYC returns to the Regal UA Midway and the Queens Library at Forest Hills for its 7th year, August 3 - August 13. The festival opens with Christina Kallas’ indie NYC favorite Paris in Harlem and closes with Anna Baumgarten’s multiple award-winning drama Disfluency. Dito Montiel will be honored with FOC NYC’s inaugural Achievement in Filmmaking Award in conjunction with a special screening of his film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, and Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss’ groundbreaking Southern Gothic multi-media project Fire Bones will be presented live in New York City for the first time.

World premieres include Isaac Dell’s Boys At Twenty, and North American premieres include Aly Yeganeh’s Sibel’s Silence, Pelayo De Lario’s Tales of Babylon, and Cindy Drukier’s The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told.

After a pre-launch party inside Resorts World NYC’s famous 360º Bar and Lounge (110-0 Rockaway Blvd) on Wednesday, August 3, FOC NYC will screen over 100 independent films from local filmmakers as well as world cinema representing countries that include Turkey, Spain, Denmark, The Philippines, Germany, and more.

New initiatives and presentations include participating in the Theaters Unsilenced Initiative. A nonprofit organization founded by three sisters in Queens whose mission is to spread awareness and provide educational resources and tools to help improve communication with the deaf and hard of hearing community. As part of the initiative, participating filmmakers have added subtitles and captioning to aid in making the festival accessible to individuals with hearing impairment.

This year, FOC NYC has invited organizations that offer further resources to filmmakers. Phil Cappadora, founder of The Astoria Filmmaker Club, will host a seminar discussing how to get involved with the community of filmmakers based in Queens. The film festival will also include a special screening block of selected short films from members of Ghetto Film School – a Bronx-based organization dedicated to educating and developing the next generation of great storytellers. Other seminars include a presentation by entertainment lawyer Patrick Kondas, on the legalities of film making and contracts; cinematographer Ray Preziosi will be holding a Cinematography workshop; and crowdfunding expert Melissa Center will talk about raising funds for indie film production. In addition, this year's festival welcomes FoHI Improv, giving attendees a chance to participate in an improv 101 demonstration, and an interactive presentation by members of The Station House Reading Series.

Also new this year will be the addition of a script writing competition where 13 un-produced scripts will compete for top honors. Attendees will be given the opportunity to attend a live staged reading of each of the 13 Finalists.

Along with its presentation of more than 100 screenings, and FOC NYC’s popular Red Carpet entrances flush with seemingly countless filmmakers, actors, documentary subjects, and below-the-line talent, the festival will also offer filmmaking seminars and workshops, that are completely free and open to the public, at the Queens Library in Forest Hills. The jam-packed week and a half of screenings and events will conclude with an Awards Ceremony on August 13th at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Jamaica Queens.

Festival of Cinema NYC Founder and Executive Director Jayson Simba, said, “This year’s edition of the film festival embraces the idea of not simply screening our films and celebrating our filmmakers, but underlining the ‘festival’ in “’film festival’, by emphasizing the connection of filmmaker to audience member via our panels, discussions, and Q&As, focusing on our accessibility, and increasing the interactive nature of FOC NYC.  It always begins and ends with great films, but it becomes special by highlighting why we love to come to the movie theater and the artistic accomplishments of our filmmakers.”

Christina Kallas’ drama Paris Is In Harlem opens the film festival on Thursday, August 4. The film involves the lives of several strangers intertwining during a shooting a jazz club in Harlem on the eve of New York City's controversial "No Dancing" Law getting repealed. The screening will be preceded by Miguel Gallardo’s short film, Herizon. Anna Baumgarten’s Disfluency, a winner of several awards on the film festival circuit., closes FOC NYC on Sunday, August 13. The film follows a promising scholar who returns home without graduating as she deals with the PTSD resulting from the incident that sent her spiraling. The screening will be preceded by John Cappello’s short film, Floppies.     

On Wednesday, August 9, Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss will introduce NYC audiences to their one-of-a-kind multi-media creation, FIre Bones. A whimsical Southern Gothic shaggy dog story told in ten chapters via multiple mediums including  podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and still images. Fire Bones follows a poet and filmmaker  who meet one crazy character after another as they investigate the mystery  of  a  missing  pilot  and  Pentecostal  preacher who  vanished  on  a  transatlantic  flight.  Created  with  smartphones  in  mind, the project includes  podcasts,  short  films,  music  videos, poems,  and  still  images. 

On Sunday, August 13, Dito Montiel will be honored with FOC NYC’s inaugural Achievement in Filmmaking Award in conjunction with a special screening of his film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006). The coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s, earned Montiel awards at Sundance and Venice, and launched his indie filmmaking career, including Fighting (2009) and The Son of No One (2011), both of which starred Channing Tatum, Empire State (2013) with Dwayne Johnson, Boulevard (2014) with Robin Williams, Man Down (2015) with Shia LaBeouf, and The Clapper (2017) with Ed Helms and Amanda Seyfried. The prolific filmmaker’s currently in production on the film Riff Raff, which will star Brian Cox, Jennifer Coolidge, and Gabrielle Union.

World premieres include Isaac Dell’s Boys at Twenty which follows the experiences of two post-teen boys sorting through their fraying friendship. Among the films making their North American premieres are Aly Yeganeh’s Sibel's Silence about a young Iraqi woman forced into sexual slavery by ISIS until she is pulled out of her situation by a French woman

who tries to provide her with a normal life. Pelayo De Lario’s Tales of Babylon finds two siblings at the center of its story, who join forces with a pair of hitmen with a knack for the theatrical in their search for a new life. Cindy Drukier’s documentary The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told looks at the lives of those who live with the debilitating after-effects they claim were caused by COVID-19 vaccines.

Additional highlights include Alethea Root’s Good Side of Bad about a brother and sister who struggle to care for their sister dealing with mental illness, The film was recently the Opening Night selection at L.A’s Dances With Films. Linh Tran’s Waiting for the Light to Change follows the relationship machinations of high school friends reunited a year later during a week-long beachside getaway, with jealousies, unrequited crushes and more coming to light. The film, recently picked up by Byron Allen’s Freestyle Digital Media, won the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance earlier this year. Quark Henares’ Trans catfishing drama Where Is The Lie? focuses on a hopeless romantic girl who is randomly targeted by a sociopathic mastermind. Matthew Taylor’s documentary Gotham: The Fall and Rise of New York looks at the largely untold story of New York City’s revival and revitalization of its infrastructure and neighborhoods with an eye toward how it could be duplicated in other major cities across the country.

Tickets for the 2023 Festival of Cinema NYC can be purchased beginning July 5th by visiting FestivalofCinemaNYC.com. General admission tickets begin at $18 per screening block ($35 for opening and closing night films which include entry to the afterparty), with discounts offered to seniors and individuals with disabilities. Tickets can also be purchased to the Closing Awards Dinner for $75. All programming at the Queens Library at Forest Hills is free and open to the public.

The 2023 festival is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and The New York State Council on the Arts. Support from all three major foundations is a testament to the organizer’s passion for community, education, and advocacy through film exhibition.  Sponsors for this year’s festival include Resort World Gives, NYC & Company Foundation, Ponce Bank, the Queens Library, and Regal Cinemas. Prizes are being offered by Soundview Media Partners, Stage 32, Inktip, Videomaker Magazine, and Silver Sound Studios.

2023 FESTIVAL OF CINEMA NYC OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

OPENING NIGHT SELECTION

Paris is in Harlem                            

Director: Christina Kallas

Country: USA; Running Time: 110 min

On the eve of New York City’s controversial “No Dancing” Law getting repealed, the lives of several strangers are forever changed by a shooting at a historic jazz bar in Harlem.

Preceded by

Herizon                                 

Director: Miguel Gallardo

Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min

A woman's escape to the beach becomes a desperate quest for self-liberation when she’s confronted with an enigmatic force of nature.  As the sun sets, the boundaries between reality and metaphor quickly begin to disappear.

CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION

Disfluency                             

Director: Anna Baumgarten

Country: USA; Running Time: 96 min

After unexpectedly failing her final college class, Jane, an aspiring speech pathologist, retreats home to her parent’s lake house in the hometown she grew up in. Her sister and friends soften the burden of failure, inspiring her to embrace the carefree summer as she tries to sort out what to do next. She also rekindles an old friendship with her neighbor Amber, a single mother with a difficult toddler, utilizing her skills and knowledge to help her connect with her son. Jane, however, fights through PTSD and imposter syndrome as she attempts to piece together what exactly happened in order to unravel the emotional and psychological tangle that has been haunting her as she finds a path forward toward the never-ending process of healing.

Preceded by

Floppies                                

Director: John Cappello

Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min

Floppies is an intimate glimpse into the complicated relationship between an artist son and his dementia-addled father as they attempt to communicate by collaborating on a one page comic. As they bring this comic to life, they recall flashbacks to key moments in each of their lives.

 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS AND PRESENTATIONS

A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

Director: Dito Montiel

Country: USA, Running Time: 100 min

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, filmed in Queens, NY, is a coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fates by various so-called saints. The film features performances by Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne West, Channing Tatum, and Rosario Dawson.

Fire Bones                            

Directors: Greg Brownderville, Bart Weiss

Country: USA; Running Time: 90 min

Told in ten chapters via multiple mediums including podcasts, videos, poems, and songs, Fire Bones follows the journey of a poet and filmmaker as they explore the mystery of a drop-duster pilot and Pentecostal preacher who vanished on a transatlantic flight. The two men encounter one eccentric character after another as their trip brings them closer to the truth of her story and ultimate destination.

 

ADDITIONAL NARRATIVE FEATURES

 

Boys at Twenty                                                              World Premiere

Director: Isaac Dell

Country: USA; Running Time: 76 min

Over a summer weekend at his country home, a 20-year-old boy and his increasingly distant best friend relive their childhoods, while silently navigating a changing friendship.

 

Crash the System                            

Director: Kamal Ahmed

Country: USA; Running Time: 75 min

An ex-conman unwillingly becomes a pawn to the industrial weapons industry and tries to overthrow them when he meets up with an underground group of saboteurs who are iconoclastic.

 

D.O.A.                        

Director: Kurt St.Thomas

Country: USA; Running Time: 82 min

Private detective Frank Bigelow accepts a routine assignment from a wealthy socialite only to discover that he’s been fatally poisoned; with just days to live, he must unwind a tangle of conspiracies to figure out who “killed” him and why. He also confronts the toxic effects of his own isolation. Can he solve the mystery, exact revenge, and save his soul before time runs out? D.O.A. stars John Doe, founding member of legendary punk band X.

 

Ghosts of the Void                           

Director: Jason Miller

Country: USA; Running Time: 91 min

Jen Wilson has hit hard times; after years struggling to support her husband Tyler in following his dream, their debt has caught up with them, and they’ve been evicted from their home. With forty dollars to their name, Jen and Tyler decide to spend the night in their car, finding a secluded park in what they believe to be a safe neighborhood. But as they settle in, Jen, fighting exhaustion and overwhelmed by anxiety, cannot shake the feeling that they are being watched. Eventually, that paranoia seems to be validated when they discover that someone has snuck a tire boot onto their car during their fleeting moments of sleep. Now, stuck in this parking lot, harassed by people lurking in the shadows, Jen and Tyler’s facade of loving support begins to slip. Soon, the lines between reality and paranoia will blur as Jen must confront their masked tormentors...and the path that led her and Tyler to this void of hopelessness.

 

The Goldsmith                                 

Director: Vincenzo Ricchiuto

Country: Italy; Running Time: 89 min

A home invasion thriller with a bloody twist, The Goldsmith offers plenty of violent fun as three burglars learn that crime can be a deadly career. Childhood friends and now adult criminals, Stefano, Roberto and Arianna concoct a simple plan: break into an elderly couple’s home and find the valuables in the old man’s hidden jewelry workshop. But not this night and not this house, as the doddering couple (Giuseppe Fregni and Stefania (Suspiria) Casini) prove not as helpless as they may seem for underneath those wrinkles are two totally fucked up killers. The thieves soon become victims as they are locked in a soundproof room and become the experimental guinea pigs for this deranged couple. What begins as a seemingly normal crime thriller soon morphs into a blood and eye sockets horror romp in Vincenzo Ricchiuto debut feature.

 

Good Side of Bad                            

Director: Alethea Root

Country: USA; Running Time: 96 min

Three adult siblings are brought back together after a shocking diagnosis forces them to confront harsh future realities regarding the mental state of one of their own. A raw and intimate look into what it means to be a family navigating the waters of mental illness, Good Side of Bad film dives into humanity’s dark places while illuminating the love, laughter, and light discovered when you reconnect with those closest to you. Based on the bestselling book The Good Side of Bad, this raw family drama touches on our shared human experience of disconnectedness, and how connecting to each other is ultimately the best way to help one another.

 

Guy Friends                          

Director: Jonathan Smith

Country: USA; Running Time: 84 min

Jaime Sharma is a self-described "guy's girl" who lives in an upscale Manhattan apartment with her lawyer boyfriend and who works as an assistant to a famous architect. All her life, she's only been friends with men.  After Jaime and her boyfriend temporarily split, all of her guy friends profess their secret, undying love for her. Jaime turns to Ted, her best friend from college who just moved to the city, for his typical, gentle advice. Instead, she's challenged by advice from Ted's brash girlfriend Sandy, who, for the first time in Jaime's life, tests Jaime's views about male friendship and about herself.

 

Miss Viborg                          

Director: Marianne Blicher

Country: Denmark; Running Time: 100 min

Former beauty queen and senior citizen Solvej lives alone with her dog in a social housing area on the outskirts of Danish provincial town Viborg. Each day, she performs the same old routines roaming around on her scooter dealing her prescription drugs, dreaming of a world outside Viborg and reminiscing over old love letters from her past. When unforeseen circumstances bring her neighbour’s daughter, rebellious 17-year-old Kate into her life, an unlikely friendship forms and new hope for the future emerges.

 

Sibel's Silence                                                                       North American Premiere

Director: Aly Yeganeh

Country: France; Running Time: 95 min

In August 2014, ISIS militants attacked and captured the town of Sinjar, a Yazidi enclave in northwest Iraq. After her entire family was murdered, 13-year-old Sibel was taken prisoner and forced into sexual slavery. Hana is an ophthalmologist living in a small town in central France. She cannot bear the atrocities committed against Yazidi women. Hana pays a ransom to Sibel’s captors, then adopts her, and they return to France, where Hana tries to provide her with a normal life filled with nurturing love.

 

The Sound of Southside                             

Director: Tyrel Hunt

Country: USA; Running Time: 78 min

In a rapidly gentrifying Queens NYC, Maliki -- a young Jazz musician -- sets out on a journey to continue his father's legacy and reopen his famous Jazz club. Along the way he meets Afeni, a passionate, yet homesick actress from Jamaica. When Maliki secretly accepts an ill-advised donation from a local philanthropist, he finds himself in a web of corruption and deceit. As he attempts to navigate his way out, Afeni toils with a secret of her own.

 

Stars                          

Director: Mars Roberge

Country: USA, Canada; Running Time: 108 min

A group of homeless women must learn that a glimmer of hope is worth more than all the money in the world. Based on the play by Doron Braunshtein, Bianca is an undercover police officer hiding in a NYC women's shelter to help clean up the neighborhood crime and protect women, all while trying to deal with the loss of her family who were recently killed by a drunk driver. The women who share a room with Bianca all have the nicknames of the celebrities they hide from their lives by imitating: Madonna, Oprah, Lauren Hutton, Martha Stewart and Juliette 'Lucifer' Lewis. This same group of individuals are plagued by drug addiction, prostitution, gambling, depression, incest, racism, schizophrenia and violent tendencies yet they need each other for survival.

 

Tales of Babylon                                                                   North American Premiere

Director: Pelayo De Lario

Country: UK; Running Time: 126 min

Escaping from their abusive mobster grandfather, two siblings will join forces with a pair of hitmen with a knack for the theatrical in their search for a new life in this tale of crime, violence, and redemption. Crime, money and violence in London are at the centre of this tale of modern Babylon.

 

There´s No Place Like Home                                  

Director: Puk Grasten

Country: Denmark; Running Time: 106 min

The movie is based on the self-biographical novel "The One Who Lives Quietly" by Leonora Christina Skov. It is an Oedipus the King story: you are born with a predestined fate you cannot escape. Leonora’s fate is her social heritage. When her mother dies her father manipulates Leonora to come back home to fulfill the role of her mother. The father gaslights Leonora to believe that she is sick like her mother, and he must protect her. Leonora gets lost in her father’s reality and must break free.

 

Waiting for the Light to Change                             

Director: Linh Tran

Country: USA; Running Time: 89 min

Over the course of a week-long beachside getaway, Amy, having recently undergone dramatic weight loss, finds herself wrestling between loyalty to her best friend Kim and her attraction to Kim's new boyfriend.

 

Where Is The Lie?                            

Director: Quark Henares

Country: Philippines; Running Time: 87 min

Hopeless romantic Janzen Torres finds another chance at love when she matches with the handsome and seemingly perfect Theo Balmaceda on a dating app. Unfortunately, on the day of their meet-up, Theo ghosts her, leading Janzen into an intricate web of deceit, lies, and catfishing led by sociopathic mastermind Beanie Landridos.

 

DOCUMENTARIES

 

Aurora's Sunrise                              

Director: Inna Sahakyan

Country: Armenia, Germany, Lithuania; Running Time: 96 min

At only 14 years old, Aurora lost everything during the horror of the Armenian genocide. Two years later, through luck and extraordinary courage, she escaped to New York, where her story became a media sensation. Starring as herself in Auction of Souls, an early Hollywood blockbuster, Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history. With a blend of vivid animation, interviews with Aurora herself, and 18 minutes of surviving footage from her lost silent epic, Aurora's Sunrise revives a forgotten story of survival.

 

The Book of Harth                           

Director: Pierre Guillet

Country: USA; Running Time: 63 min

For 20 years, conceptual artist David Greg Harth carried a Bible with him every single day, seeking signatures from the most culturally significant people in the world. In The Book of Harth, filmmaker Pierre Guillet follows the artist during the final year of his absurd quest, trailing him to scenes of frenetic celebrity worship. As Harth secures signatures behind stage doors, in city streets, and on the fringes of red carpets, Guillet cops spontaneous interviews with previous signees, from Noam Chomsky to Kevin Smith. As the last hours of his magnum opus draw to a close, Harth struggles to reconcile the project’s meaning with its personal cost.

 

Copyright Infringement                               

Director: David Sabshon

Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min

Contemporary Artist, CJ Hendry, creates a global scavenger hunt for her artwork in her annual exhibition, Copyright Infringement. The film explores the law of copyright infringement, social media's effect on the art world, and the value systems of the contemporary art market.

 

Gotham: The Fall and Rise of New York                           

Director: Matthew Taylor

Country: USA; Running Time: 124 min

Today, the world sits at a unique moment in urban city history. Our cities are falling apart. Rampant homelessness, increasing crime, mounting drug use, unaffordable housing – once a beacon of innovation and success, today our cities are failing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. New York City faced the worst challenges in its past and managed to overcome them. More than ever, the country needs to know the story of New York’s revival. Politicians need to understand how this happened to have an example to model the future. Community leaders need to recognize the grassroots efforts that turned New York around and the policies that contributed to her rehabilitation. And residents need hope that things will get better and encouragement that it is worth staying and contributing to help their city recover. We need a blueprint on how to revitalize and save our great cities. Nothing could be more important than telling the story of the transformation of New York and its revival in the words and through the stories of those who were there and did the work.

 

The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories                                   North American Premiere

You Were Never Told

Director: Cindy Drukier

Country: Canada; Running Time: 89 min

The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told provides an intimate, uncensored look into the lives of those who live with the debilitating after-effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. It examines the issue of COVID-19 vaccine injury claims in a fresh, honest, and comprehensive manner with expert interviews, whistleblowers’ statements, and government health statistics. The film features some patients who suffered severe reactions to the shots and had their health spiral out of control. When they reached out to the public health system and pharmaceutical companies for help and support, instead of being acknowledged, cared for, and studied, they were ignored, censored, and called “anti-vaxxers” despite having gotten the shot.

 

SHORT FILMS

A Real Adventure                            

Director: Ingela Ogard

Country: Sweden; Running Time: 17 min

 

A Tiger in the Subway                                 

Director: James Abrams

Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min

 

Aaron With 2 A's                              

Director: Michael Goldburg

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

 

Advantages of NOT Being in the Same Room                             

Director: Geoffrey Alexander Altrocchi

Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min

 

Adventures of the Fboys                            

Director: James C. Watson

Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min

 

The Ankou, the Child and the Bandits                               World Premiere

Director: Simon Vautier

Country: France; Running Time: 32 min

 

Another Day On 73rd St                              

Director: Michael Mendoza

Country: USA; Running Time: 21 min

 

Art                              

Director: Alex Martins

Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min

 

Autumn Leaves Fall Far From Home                                 North American Premiere

Director: Matthew Petti

Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min

 

Bondage on 14th Street                                                       World Premiere

Director: Jeffrey Johnson

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant)                          

Director: Dave Solomon

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

Bring it to the People                                  

Director: Luis Palomino

Country: USA; Running Time: 36 min

 

Brontë                       

Directors: Mateo Márquez, Allison Strong

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

The Ankou, the Child and the Bandits                               World Premiere

Director: Simon Vautier

Country: France; Running Time: 32 min

 

The Caddy                            

Director: Gabriel Beristain

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

Can't Get It Right                             

Director: Cierra Colier

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Cold Eggs, Hot Coffee                                                         World Premiere

Director: Sam Adelman

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

Come Find Me                                  

Director: Nela Wagman

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

The Coolest Club                             

Director: Sheng Ting Shen

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

The Coral Reef Chronicles                         

Director: Zhuoyin He

Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min

 

Cuando La Rumorosa Calla                       

Director: Patricia Montoya

Country: Mexico; Running Time: 16 min

 

Diversion (Politics of)                                 

Director: Simon Heymans

Country: Belgium; Running Time: 17 min

 

Dogs In The Ocean                                                               World Premiere

Director: Gareth Francis Williams

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

Duane Bruton                                                                        World Premiere

Director: Duane Bruton

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Erik                            

Director: David Kodheli

Country: Albania; Running Time: 23 min

 

Events at Hemlock Manor                           

Director: Katie North

Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min

 

Faith in Blackness: An Exploration of AfroLatine Spirituality                           

Director: Charles Reynoso

Country: USA; Running Time: 27 min

 

Fear of Poetry                                                                       World Premiere

Directors: Marla Cotovsky, Nish Nishimura

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Fever                         

Director: Angele Cooper

Country: USA; Running Time: 19 min

 

Finding Something You Lost                                              World Premiere

Director: Eric Kwasnjuk

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

Fog of War                            

Director: Steven Lundgren

Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min

 

Forensic Psychologist                                                         World Premiere

Director: Bizhan Tong

Country: Hong Kong; Running Time: 32 min

 

Four Walls - Episode 1                                

Directors: Kgosana Monchusi, Menzi Mzimela, Juvaiś Dunn

Country: South Africa; Running Time: 6 min

 

From Chile to Canada: Media Herstories                         

Directors: Sarah Shamash, Sonia Medel

Country: Canada; Running Time: 16 min

 

Gareth Francis Williams                              

Director: Kim Hlavac

Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min

 

Good Grief                            

Director: Rob Sharp

Country: UK; Running Time: 10 min

 

Helado                                   

Director: Melissa Rodriguez

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

How Did That Happen?!                              

Director: Laurence Shanet

Country: USA; Running Time: 27 min

 

Human Nature                                  

Director: Michael Cutrone

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

The Hunt                               

Director: Yann Reuzeau

Country: France; Running Time: 23 min

 

I Could Eat                            

Director: Rick Bedrosian

Country: USA; Running Time: 28 min

 

Interviewing Guillaume Bogaert                            

Director: Fabrice Chan

Country: België; Running Time: 24 min

 

Kogershin                                                                              North American Premiere

Director: Malik Zenger

Country: Kazakhstan; Running Time: 5 min

 

LifeQuest                              

Director: Richard Lounello

Country: USA; Running Time: 26 min

 

Look Like You                                  

Director: Snigdha Kapoor

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

Loved                        

Director: D.J. Higgins

Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min

 

Mariposas                             

Director: Adrian Carey

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

Miracle on 74th Street                                                          North American Premiere

Director: JT Doran

Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min

 

My First Car                                                                           World Premiere

Director: Wendy Wilkins

Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min

 

My Foot Hurts                                  

Director: Bjørn Johnson

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

My Holographic Heart                                 

Director: Kai Brown

Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min

 

Naked Men in the Woods                            

Director: Paul Ploberger

Country: Austria; Running Time: 30 min

 

Nala                           

Director: Darshan Singh Bhuller

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

Nothing Happened                           

Director: Katya Yakubov

Country: USA; Running Time: 16 min

 

The Ocean Listens to No One                                             World Premiere

Director: Jasiel Louison

Country: Iceland; Running Time: 19 min

 

Old T-Shirts                          

Director: Michelle O'Shea

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

The Online Shop                              

Director: Carsten Woike

Country: Germany; Running Time: 12 min

 

Overdue                                

Director: Melissa Skirboll

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

Pearly Gates                         

Director: Loring Murtha

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

Pillow Talk                            

Director: David B. Jacobs

Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min

 

Radiant Ties                         

Directors: Conner De Mita, Logan Floyd

Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min

 

Remain                                  

Director: Kit Reilly

Country: New Zealand; Running Time: 3 min

 

The Right Thing                               

Director: Fion Sin

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Rings                         

Director: Thailer Fox

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Roses in the Night                           

Director: Pencho Kunchev

Country: Bulgaria; Running Time: 11 min

 

Salvation                               

Director: Zane

Country: Canada; Running Time: 3 min

 

The Scenario                        

Director: Evan Richards

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

Scrawn                                  

Director: Samuel Crow

Country: USA; Running Time: 8 min

 

Sedition, Seduction, Militia, Production                           

Director: Michael Franco

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Short Draft                            

Director: Spyridon Papaspyrou

Country: Greece; Running Time: 23 min

 

Snail Mail                              

Director: Jay Stern

Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min

 

Soldiers                                                                                  North American Premiere

Director: Zhaoshuai Wu

Country: China; Running Time: 29 min

 

Static                         

Director: Jamin Mears

Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min

 

Sting Ray                              

Director: Joey Krulock

Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min

 

Subterranean Love (Olga)                          

Director: Robert Haufrecht

Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min

 

Takbir                        

Director: Jordi Calvet

Country: Spain; Running Time: 14 min

 

 

 

The Third Defector                          

Director: John Gray

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

 

This City                                                                                 World Premiere

Director: Jeff LeBeau

Country: USA; Running Time: 2 min

 

The Torture Within                           

Director: Sean Martinez

Country: USA; Running Time: 38 min

 

Una Carta a Mis Hijas                                                           North American Premiere

Director: JT Doran

Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min

 

Whiskey Floats                                 

Director: Rob Douthat

Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min

 

Why My Room Is Never Clean                                

Director: Sharice Lacson

Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min

 

Wicked Image                                   

Director: Caitlin Scherer

Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min

 

Yellow Lines                         

Director: Megan Magee

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

 

Your Silent Face                                                                    World Premiere

Director: Anna Capunay

Country: USA; Running Time: 19 min

 

 

SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

 

Ann Arbor Pilot Vagina Dialogue                           

Writer: Richard Redlo

 

Dimo                          

Writer: Cory Choy

 

Godfor                                   

Writer: Pablo Torroella

 

Lobby Card: Some Fabulous Rhapsody                           

Writer: Tom Morgan

 

Pickleball Killer                                

Writer: Jim Carroll

 

Real Heroes                          

Writer: Richard Hohenrath

 

The Reflections of Appletree Junction                             

Writer: Harvest Dawn Bellante

 

Sadist                        

Writer: Jennifer Anderson

 

Searching for Shadow                                

Writer: Marie Smalley

 

Shepherds Gone Wild                                 

Writer: Joey Maranto

 

Skybound                             

Writer: Jordan Orlando

 

William LiPera                                  

Writer: William LiPera

 

Witchblood                           

Writer: Richard Hohenrath

 

About Festival of Cinema NYC:

Festival of Cinema, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The festival was founded by local independent filmmakers with a passion to get movies made and to expand the reach of artists’ work. Recognizing the challenges filmmakers face in the film industry, the festival's aim is to establish a presence, and spread awareness, of cinematic creativity.

 

PRESS CONTACT

John Wildman

Wildworks PR

FilmsGoneWild.com

jswildman@hotmail.com

323.600.3165

 

Festival of Cinema NYC

press@festivalofcinemanyc.com

917-324-0244