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Film Festivals
7th Edition of the Chelsea Film Festival: From the Oceans to Outer Space
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 02 October 2019 15:39
- Written by Brad Balfour
Now in its 7th year, the Chelsea Film Festival brings an international selection of shorts, features, and documentaries to NYC. Running October 17 to the 20th at the AMC Loews 34th Street (312 west 34th street), the fest includes films from Australia, USA, UK, France, Turkey, India, Japan and South Africa.
The festival opens with the South African film Uncovered, from director Zuko Nodada in which a woman investigates the murder of her sister and how it’s tied to a corrupt mine. Other films include Chasing the Present, director Mark Waters’ documentary which follows James Sebastiano, a materially successful young man, as he engages in a perpetual battle against anxiety that takes him on a worldwide journey of self discovery from the streets of New York, to the stillness of the Ganges, and deep into the jungles of Peru. She is the Ocean is a documentary from Inna Blokhina about four women from around the world and how through surfing are tied to the ocean.
Virtual Reality is represented with a special block of VR programs in competition that go from outer space, to mountain ranges, to the music of Pink Floyd. Along with its films, the fest will also put on the Reel Magic Hour at the Manhattan Center (311 W 34th St.). Reel Magic Hour is a day long program that provides one hour panels designed for filmmakers to meet and network.
To learn more, go to: https://www.chelseafilm.org
7th Edition Chelsea Film Festival
October 17 - 20, 2019
AMC Loews 34th Street
312 W 34th St.
New York, NY 10001
Features, Docs, & More at the 20th Woodstock Film Fest
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Sunday, 29 September 2019 19:18
- Written by Brad Balfour
Celebrating 20 years of films being screened in rural New York, the 2019 Woodstock Film Festival is a momentous occasion. Running October 2 to the 6th in Woodstock, NY, the fest features film greats, narrative features, documentaries, and shorts from new talent and longtime filmmakers. Films in competition includes the world premiere 18 To Party, from director Jeff Roda. The film, set in 1984 outside a small-town nightclub, follows a group of 8th graders grappling with a spate of recent suicides, UFO sightings, their absentee parents, and each other. Another world premiere at the fest is Parkland Rising, a documentary from two-time Emmy Award winner Cheryl Horner McDonough, Parkland Rising looks at the lives of survivors of the 2018 Parkland Florida school shooting and the movement they’re leading for gun reform.
The wide slate of shorts will include animated works, teen films, music videos, shorts by and for women, documentaries and more. Panels at the fest explore filmmaking in the Hudson Valley, trending issues, women in film, conversations with actors and directors participatng in the festival, and more.
To learn more go to: https://woodstockfilmfestival.org/
2019 Woodstock Film Festival
October 2 - 6, 2019
Box Office
13 Rock City Road
Woodstock, NY 12498
Female Filmmakers from Around the World Screened at FFFEST
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 25 September 2019 16:41
- Written by Brad Balfour
Organ
Now in its second year, the Female Filmmaker Festival (FFFEST), returns to the Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street, NY, NY) from October 25 to the 27th. FFFEST celebrated the achievements of women filmmakers in cinema from all over the world. Along with screening gems and oddities, the fest is also a resource for women looking to learn more about the film industry.
For fans of cult horror, included in the festival is a double feature focusing on actor, playwright, and cinematographer Kei Fujiwara. First is Shinya Tsukamoto’s gritty cyberpunk body horror film, Tetsuo the Iron Man in which Fujiwara acted and shot, followed by her directorial 1996 feature Organ, based on her work in experimental theatre. Other films include The Music of Regret (with a Q&A with filmmaker Laurie Simmons and Shirin Neshat of Women Without Men), Variety, Women Without Men, and more.
Panels include How to Break in & Navigate Your First Film Deal, with panelists Desiree Akhavan, Dianna Agron, and Erin Lee Car. There is also Women in Film Programming with panelists Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the New York African Film Festival; Cristina Cacioppo, programmer of Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn; and Nellie Killian, programmer of dozens of series including “Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Stories,” the Migrating Forms festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival.
To learn more, go to: https://fffest.org/
FFFEST
October 25 - 27, 2019
Quad Cinema
34 W. 13th St.
New York, NY 10011
3rd Annual El Gouna Film Festival: A Socially Conscious Film Fest by the Sea
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 18 September 2019 17:59
- Written by Brad Balfour
Beyond The Raging Sea
Set against the scenic Red Sea’s resort town, the 3rd Annual El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) returns to Egypt. Running September 19th to the 27th, the festival includes shorts, features, and documentaries selected to foster unheard voices in cinema.
Making its World Premiere at GFF, Marco Orsini’s Beyond The Raging Sea follows the harrowing tale of two Egyptian adventurers, Omar Samra and Omar Nour (or O2 as some call them), as they make a perilous 3,000 nautical mile journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua as part of an annual ocean-rowing race called the Atlantic Challenge. Though their challenge in a race would change to become a challenge to face a growing refugee crisis.
In addition, the program in El Gouna will also feature a roundtable discussion: “Refugee Voices in the Film Industry.” This roundtable will look at how to shift the focus to refugees and migrants as audiences of films rather than simply subjects and shed light on how visual storytelling can empower and inform, while expanding the boundaries of humanitarian filmmaking.
The fest also includes 1982, a story of young love set against the backdrop of the military invasion of Beirut, and Adam, in which a single mother finds refuge in a Casablancan bakery.
And while the festival is going on it’s also a great oportunity to tour El Gouna’s coral reefs, sandy beaches, and resorts.
To learn more, go to: http://elgounafilmfestival.com/
3rd Annual El Gouna Film Festival
September 19 - 27, 2019
