The 8th Annual Festival of Cinema NYC Filmmaker Awards

    
A Wonderful Way With Dragons, A/Way

August 13, 2024 – Festival of Cinema NYC announced this year’s filmmaker award winners at a warm and joyful celebration at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center as it concluded the 8^th edition of the Forest Hills-based film festival Delfine Paolini’s A Wonderful Way With Dragons won Best Narrative Feature Film, and also took home Best Cinematography for Abdelsalam Moussa’s work on the film. Claudia Myers and Laura Waters Hinson’s The Test took Best Documentary, with Derek Shane Garcia’s A/Way winning Audience Choice for Best Feature Film.

Top individual awards went to; Robert Strazzarino (Pentaclub) for Best Director, Aaron Poon (Third Week) for Breakthrough Male Performance; and Patricia Clune (Prime Real Estate) for Breakthrough Female Performance.

Festival of Cinema NYC Founder and Executive Director Jayson Simba, said, “Our film festival is a rarity in how we have managed to create a special FOC NYC family through the staff, our audiences, and of course, our filmmakers, who make the trip from Europe and the West Coast, and sometime just down the street in Forest Hills to attend the festival and celebrate cinema in person. It’s not lost on us, how special it is that the majority of our attending filmmakers are with us from our first kickoff party all the way through the presentation of the final award.”

Winners in the short film categories included Freddy Cheung’s The Body of Levi (Best Short Film – Narrative); Priscil·la Zanni’s Wrong Move (Audience Award – Short Film); Marko Bosanac’s New Idea (Best Experimental, Music Video, or Animation); and Sophie Niesenbaum’s Nightfish. (Best Web/TV Series).

Additional individual award winners included Holger Borggrefe and Elena Jansen, who won Best Screenplay for Once And For Real. Patrick Devaney’s Dad’s New Roommate taking the award for Best Ensemble. Javier Java Santiagowon Best Editing for his work on Pepper Chicken and Tostones Combination, and Matt Valliere and Andrew Bjorkman took the Best Editing award for their work on Rubbernecking. Wxlf Pack’s Chastity Perna won Best Make Up and EFX, and John Cappello, a two-time winner last year won FOC NYC’s award for Best Unproduced Script for his work on “Magnastic.”

The evening also included the film festival’s second presentation of its Indie Film Vanguardian Award to longtime volunteer Kate Smith. In an unexpectedly sweet moment, Simba’s mother made the presentation as the moment emphasized the feeling of family and community that Festival of Cinema NYC has become known for in Queens and throughout the filmmaking community.

Highlights throughout this year’s edition of FOC NYC included numerous sold-out screenings at the Regal UA Midway. Queens local interest highlights included free-to-the-public programming by Project Blackbird and the Make A Film Foundation, which took place at the Queens Center Mall in Rego Park. A special Red Carpet event was held for the Make A Film Foundation featuring several films made by the terminally ill children that have been supported by the organization. Ghetto Film School also returned to FOC NYC with a presentation at the Forest Hills Library, and screenings of new films from their organization.

Festival of Cinema NYC is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Support from these 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, the Queens Library, and Regal Cinemas. Prizes are being offered by Soundview Media Partners, Stage 32, Inktip, Videomaker Magazine, and Silver Sound Studios.

For more information about the festival, please visit http://www.festivalofcinemanyc.com/.

 
Delfine Paolini, Adam Lukens (A Wonderful Way With Dragons),
Robert Strazzarino (Pentaclub) (Photos by Rehana Khan)

BEST FEATURE FILM – NARRATIVE
                                                                  A Wonderful Way With Dragons                                                                    
Director: Delfine Paolini

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Test
Directors: Claudia Myers, Laura Waters Hinson

AUDIENCE CHOICE – FEATURE FILM
A/Way
Director: Derek Shane Garcia

BEST SHORT FILM – NARRATIVE
The Body of Levi
Director: Freddy Cheung

AUDIENCE CHOICE – SHORT FILM
                                                    Wrong Move                                                               
Director: Priscil·la Zanni

BEST EXPERIMENTAL, MUSIC VIDEO, OR ANIMATION
                                                     New Idea                                                                     
Director: Marko Bosanac

BEST WEB/TV SERIES
                                                 Nightfish                                                          
Director: Sophie Niesenbaum

BEST UNPRODUCED SCRIPT
“Magnastic”
Writer: John Cappello

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Strazzarino (Pentaclub)                                  

BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE
Aaron Poon (Third Week)

BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Patricia Clune (Prime Real Estate)

BEST ENSEMBLE 
                                                                       Dad’s New Roommate                                                                       
Director: Patrick Devaney
Cast: Heather Drew, Matthew J. Kaplan, Meaghan Bloom Fluitt,
Kyle Tuck, Nuala Mullen, Wylie Weeks

BEST SCREENPLAY
Once And For Real
Co-Writers: Holger Borggrefe, Elena Jansen

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
A Wonderful Way With Dragons
Director of Photography: Abdelsalam Moussa

BEST EDITING
                                        Pepper Chicken and Tostones Combination                                     
Editor: Javier Java Santiago

BEST SOUND EDITING
Rubbernecking
Sound Design: Matt Valliere, Andrew Bjorkman

BEST MAKE UP AND EFX
Wxlf Pack
Make up: Chastity Perna

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.

Publisher, Editor Gregg W. Morris

Can be reached at gregghc@comcast.net, profgreggwmorris@gmail.com