BWW Reviews: THE 3RD ANNUAL NYACK FILM FESTIVAL (A Runaway Success)
The 3rd annual Nyack Film Festival roared into town last weekend at the Nyack Village Theater and the results are in! Perhaps more important than just the winners, is the fact that this year's festival featured selections from as far away as Sweden and California.
The films ran the gamut from a documentary about a skateboarding team and its history from the 1970s to the present day, to more a traditional romantic comedy about a movie projectionist looking for love and answers after being unceremoniously dumped by his long-term girlfriend.
As testimony to the growing success and expansion of the festival, only about a quarter of the festival entries this season are from Rockland County filmmakers.
"We want to give independent filmmakers another venue to display their movies and the people of Rockland the opportunity to see them," said festival organizer, Richard Quinn. "Once they leave here, they might not get the chance."
Quinn, who is the artistic director of the Nyack Village Theater and Rockland World Radio, a popular internet radio station, said that the entire plan is to put independent films and the filmmakers in the spotlight, and as a pleasant surprise, on several evenings the audiences were treated to impromptu question and answer sessions with the filmmakers who were in attendance at the screenings.
Overall, the film festival was a runaway success, not merely in terms of providing a platform for filmmakers, but for the community at large. Each presentation was a celebration and a joyful event. There was of course a competition, but it was a very friendly competition. And the winners were the audience.
In the fall, the Nyack Village theater will play host to a Spanish-language version of the film festival featuring a completely new slate of selections. If this week's festival is any indication of the future, the Spanish-language festival is certain to be very interesting.
Here's hoping that the festival continues to grow and expand!
Winners of 2014 Nyack Film Festival
Best Short - A Thousand Miles from the Sea: Filmmaker: Marta Renzi
Best Foreign Documentary - Håstdans på Hovdala, Producer: The Equus Projects Filmmaker: David Fishel
Best Feature Documentary - Antibody, Filmmaker: Kit Lukas
Best Short Feature - Moonogamy, Filmmaker: Tess Durand
Best Feature - Misery Loves Company, Filmmaker: Peter O'Brien
www.nyackvillagetheatre.com
Peter Danish
BWW Rockland/Westchester Editor
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