After filmmaker/actor Roberto Rizzo attended the Cannes Film Festival, he decided to create his own festival in New York City. He had a particularly unique idea to make his festival special, however, so he contacted Mayor Mike Bloomberg in the hopes of getting approval for something that had never been done before.
The result? Open-air screenings in Times Square where locals and tourists alike can sit and watch a movie they might never have the chance to see anywhere else. I have lived in New York for more than 25 years, and I have never seen anything quite like this. While the screen was relatively small and a bit grainy, Rizzo’s speakers allowed viewers to hear the films well, despite the sounds of traffic all around.
Called the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF), Rizzo started the event last year and expanded it this year to 300 films (both full-length and shorts) representing 48 countries, all screened in the span of a week in August. The opportunity is an extraordinary one for independent filmmakers, and Rizzo pulls out all the stops.
With a backdrop and red carpet set up next to the screen in Times Square, actors, directors, producers, and writers came to their screenings dressed to the nines and created buzz right on the spot. One such filmmaker was Alexander MacKenzie of Highland Light Productions in Vancouver, Washington. He wrote and directed a film called Dancing on the Edge, which was mostly cast with non-actors, and went home with some special awards from the festival. The film follows the trials of an aspiring teenage ballerina, played by newcomer Nicole McCullough, who is forced to enter rehab.
Dancing on the Edge: Alexander MacKenzie, Roberto Rizzo, Nicole McCullough, Emily Abramson, and Thomas Zalutko | Melanie Votaw Photo
The night of the film’s Times Square screening, a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 people watched. Afterward, fans posed for pictures with the actors, particularly the young teenage girls in the movie. “It was absolutely surreal!” MacKenzie said about the experience. “I have goose bumps now just thinking about it!”
Some name stars participated in the festival, particularly the opening night black tie gala event, at which Steven Bauer (Scarface), John Savage (The Deer Hunter), and Kathrine Narducci (A Bronx Tale) attended for an indoor screening of their film, The Last Gamble.
The Last Gamble: Kathrine Narducci, Steven Bauer, Sally Kirkland | Melanie Votaw Photo
Loosely based on the life of writer/director Joe Goodavage, The Last Gamble stars Bauer in a touching performance as a compulsive gambler on the path to destruction. Sally Kirkland (JFK) plays Bauer’s mother in the film, and she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the gala.
Sally Kirkland receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from Roberto Rizzo | Melanie Votaw Photo
When accepting her trophy, Kirkland said, “I never had any children or a white picket fence, but these are my children,” referring to her films after a set of clips was shown chronicling her prestigious career. “Please don’t ever take ‘no’ for an answer,” she continued, advising the attendees. “Shelley Winters taught me that.”
While only family-friendly films could be shown in Times Square, other screenings were held at various venues. Amanda Jane’s R-rated comedy from Australia, The Wedding Party, was shown at Tribeca Cinema and garnered four of the 42 total awards given before the festival’s end, including Best Director of a Comedy. This film, which stars many big name Australian actors, has been gathering an impressive list of awards at a number of festivals.
The Wedding Party: Amanda Jane, Alexander MacKenzie and John Savage | Melanie Votaw Photo, NYC International Film Festival 2011
NYCIFF’s top prize for Best Narrative Feature went to Turkey’s love story, A Handful of Sea, which is director Leyla Yılmaz’s first film. The movie also won prizes for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Actress. Because of its top win, Rizzo will devote a full day at next year’s festival to films from Turkey.
Best Comedy Narrative Feature went to Amy Alyson Fans, a U.S. film written by Jonathan L. Bowen (who also directed) and Brendan Bradley (who also stars), which is a romance and commentary on Internet celebrity. Bradley also starred in an independent film, Love Conquers Paul, with Peter Riegert, plays “G-Male” in a viral video spoof about Google, and co-writes and stars in an Internet series called Squatters.
“We were thrilled to attend NYCIFF for our East Coast debut,” Bradley says. “The festival seems incredibly ambitious, and we were honored to get a glimpse at so many amazing filmmakers from all over the world.”
Rizzo provided engraved trophies which resemble small Oscars, and the filmmakers from around the world were thrilled to take home an accolade from the Big Apple. Rizzo also included special categories for gay and lesbian themed movies. Click here for a full list of the NYCIFF award winners.
Rizzo and his wife, Caroline Johnson, are very hands-on during the festival. At one point, I saw him rolling up a red carpet and folding chairs. “Roberto, you do everything around here?” I asked him. “Yes, I do everything!” he said. An American citizen from Italy, Rizzo is an example of what happens when one person sets his mind to a task and sees it through to the end.
Times Square screening of Dancing on the Edge at the NYC International Film Festival 2011 | Melanie Votaw Photo
The NYCIFF includes a two-day seminar for pitching the chosen films to several domestic and international distributors. The seminar is not free, but it gives independent filmmakers the opportunity to potentially make distribution deals they might not receive otherwise. As of this writing, four dramas and four comedies at the festival attained distributors as a result of the seminar.
Rizzo also plans to screen some of the films at NYC theaters every Friday evening during the month of October. Most of the screenings will take place at the Abingdon Theatre on West 36th Street.
Other small festivals have begun to sprout up throughout the Big Apple, including the New York Hell’s Kitchen Film Festival, which started in September within days after the NYCIFF ended. The Wedding Party was screened at this fest as well, but the top prize went to Red Tide, directed by Dino J. Gallina and written by James D. Henderson.
Next in NYC is the large New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, followed by the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival.
Melanie Votaw is a freelance writer and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York and the author of 11 non-fiction books. Visit her Web site and follow her on Twitter.
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