Christina & SUMMIT featured in Newsday

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Christina was interviewed by Newsday in promotion of SUMMIT's screening next weekend at the Macabre Faire Film Festival, where it is nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Sound & Best Supporting Actor (Rob Ceriello). There are 5 films nominated in each category (out of 30 features and 146 films in total). Read the full article here. And see full list of nominees here. 

IndieWorks: November Recap

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Last Wednesday was the November edition of IndieWorks, and it was a great night! We're so glad we closed out 2015 with such a lovely evening. We screened 6 fantastic films, all exploring very different characters in different facets of life, from the painful to the confusing to the heartwarming. The lineup was really exemplary of the boundless stories to tell and the variety of ways those stories can be told in short film form. The vibe in the room was engaged and encouraging. The audience seemed to really enjoy the diverse lineup and the night as a whole! 

We'd just like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We hope you enjoyed all the films and the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts, and we hope some connections were made! (Also, a thank you to intern Flavio Barreiro for filling in for our resident photographer for the evening.)

See photos from the evening:

The Films of the night:

Ahora Veo (Directed by Marco Antonio Martinez)
Tells the story of an estranged immigrant laborer who returns to his home country after years of living illegally in the United States. His story unfolds as a letter written to his once young wife in the hope she receives it before he arrives.

Leaving Home (Directed by Natalie Fullaondo)
A young girl must come to a decision about her future after dealing with her father's alcoholism and expectations.

Najmia (Directed by Cristhian Andrews)
As labor nears, a pregnant 12-year old Yemeni child bride must endure the challenges of her everyday life. Inspired by the true story of Fawziya Abdullah Youssef. 

Pillows (Directed by Ann Carr/Written & Produced by Ginny Leise)
When Haley lands on her old friend Amanda's doorstep, she uses every distraction she can get her hands on to keep from talking about including Amanda's brother. 

Men Without Women (Directed by John S Fisher)
A New York City story that follows two friends as they balance the fragile line between friends and lovers.

Across the Pond (Directed by Jessica M Thompson)
Grace discovers a treasure map from the 1920s, which sends her on an adventure through the streets of timeless New York City. 

 

The awards go to...

At the end of the evening, we announced our winning filmmakers for both Audience Choice Award & Silver Whiskers Award. The Audience Choice Award is voted upon by all those in attendance, and the Silver Whiskers Award is judged by the CongestedCat Team based on a system rating 8 categories of Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. The Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again at our end of year Best of Fest event in April! 

The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign on SeedandSpark.com should they use the platform, and both winners received a free 2015 subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine and have the opportunity to be interviewed for our Insider Series. 

For the November 2015 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Najmia"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Pillows"

Usually, at this point we'd plug our next screening, which was meant to be on January 13th. However, we were just notified and are deeply saddened by the news that the People Lounge, the home of IndieWorks for the past 2.5 years, will be shutting down in January. 

So, we've decided to instead have a farewell party for them on January 6th, and then pick back up with our monthly screenings at our new TBD venue in February. If you'd like to help us find a new space, you can read more about our venue needs in this post. In any case, we hope you'll join us to bid farewell to the wonderful & supportive People Lounge.