Rick McKay's GREENWICH VILLAGE – A WORLD APART Wins at Inaugural Greenwich Village Film Festival

On Monday, October 28th, 2015, Rick McKay, the Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer and editor of the hit 2004 film, "Broadway: The Golden Age" won "Best Film - Greenwich Village Portraits" for his new short film, "Greenwich Village: A World Apart", at the first ever Greenwich Village Film Festival, which was held at Greenwich Village's historic Player's Theatre at 115 MacDougal Street.

The 20-minute film tells the stories of many stars whose New York City lives and careers began when they moved to Greenwich Village in the 1950s. Stories include the creation of the original Threepenny Opera, playing the legendary clubs of Greenwich Village, Bob Dylan beginning his career on Hootenanny Night at CAFÉ WHA, and the pain of leaving Greenwich when Hollywood success and Oscars beckon. The cast includes, Bea Arthur, Elizabeth Ashley, Tom Bosley, Carole Cook, Charles Durning, Nancy Dussault, Tony Franciosa, Ben Gazzara, Jerry Herman, Jerry Orbach, Don Pippin, Charlotte Rae, Rex Reed, Charles Nelson Reilly, Eva Marie Saint and Brenda Vaccaro.

Director McKay is finishing up his second installment of "Rick McKay's Broadway: The Golden Age Film Trilogy", "Broadway: BEYOND the Golden Age," which covers 1959 - 1980 on Broadway, for theatrical, DVD and Television release in 2016. One of the trilogy's producers, Richard Eric Weigle - who is the president of the Grove Street Block Association and who has lived in the village for almost 50 years - convinced McKay to make the Greenwich Village film and apply to the new festival. With over 500 hours of interviews - the largest Broadway history archiving project extant - McKay decided that this festival was a perfect way to share some of this wealth of entertainment history that would never fit in the trilogy. McKay has since decided that this Greenwich Village theme warrants its own mini-trilogy as well, and will tell the stories of Caffe Cino, La Mama, Joe Papp's Public Theatre, the burgeoning punk music scene in the East Village and much more.

McKay's producing team from his Broadway film trilogy are all back for "Greenwich Village - A World Apart," including Jamie deRoy, Richard Weigle and Michael Anastacio who were there Wednesday to support the film and celebrate the win. Also at the screening was Tony-nominee Jane Summerhays, author Elke Gazzara - who is also the widow of cast member Ben Gazzara, and Tony-nominee Tony Sheldon.