Holger Borggrefe, Stefan Hering’s Two is a Magic Number leads awards at Festival of Cinema NYC 2021 — return to in-person screenings in Queens with Filmmaker Awards
Holger Borggrefe, Stefan Hering’s Two is a Magic Number leads awards at Festival of Cinema NYC following a successful return to in-person screenings for its 5th year.
Two is a Magic Number leads award night
Holger Borggrefe, and Stefan Hering’s Two is a Magic Number won Best Feature Film- Narrative, while Samuel Tressler IV’s Leda won Audience Choice for Best Feature Film. Top individual awards went to; John Harrigan (Lightships) for Best Director, Robert Barnes, Jr. (The Blue Cave) for Breakthrough Male Performance; and Brittany Lee Hamilton (#Princessproblems) for Breakthrough female Performance.
FOC NYC showcased over 115 independent films from around the world with many premieres among them, bookended by the Opening Night screening of John Carlucci and Brandon Laganke’s crowd favorite Drunk Bus, and the Closing Night screening of Erin Granat & Machete Bang Bang’s acclaimed LGBTQ film, Moon Manor.
Festival of Cinema NYC Founder and Executive Director Jayson Simba, said, “In a year filled with so many challenges, I’m incredibly proud of the staff and crew that helped put together an amazing event. Many ‘first’s’ this year included our first ever in-theater moderated presentation, as well as the festival’s first ever REALD 3D film screening. It was great to have over 50 films, out of the roughly 120, represented by attending cast and crew. Filmmakers and audience members were clearly both thrilled to be back in the theater watching their films on the big screen, and we could not have been more thrilled for it all to happen here in Forest Hills. Starting it all by putting our attending filmmakers in the spotlight on our red carpet and then wrapping it up by honoring some truly deserving award winners really reminded us why we need in-door and in-person film festivals to return.”
Winners in the short film categories included; Carles Jofre’s Captain Kinesis (Best Short Film – Narrative); Bec Fordyce’s The Karening (Audience Award – Short Film); Stephen Rutterford’s Finding Ophelia (Best Experimental, Music Video, or Animation); and Eric Goldsmith’s Modus Operandi: Confessions of a F@cked up Shrink (Best Web/TV Series).
Additional individual award winners included; Smoking Wet, written by Michael Hilf and Robin McDonald (Best Screenplay); Blue Lanterns’ Director of Photography Federica Marchese winning Best Cinematography; Angst’s Johannes Schellhorn cited for Best Editing; Fear of Open Spaces’ David Toth noted for Best Sound Editing; and 6:45’s team of Angel Soltero and Vincent J. Guastini winning Best Make up & Visual FX.
Several filmmakers traveled to NYC and made the trip to the Regal UA Midway in Forest Hills, Queens, to represent their films. World premieres included Cristiano Vieira’s A Cisterna (The Well) and Tressler IV’s Leda, which also marked FOC NYC’s very first RealD 3D presentation. Pedro von Krüger’s Any Given Day and Vishal P. Chaliha’s Sijou made their North American Premieres at the film festival.
For its fifth year, Festival of Cinema NYC also worked with the Americas Media Initiative organization to raise awareness of the current societal turmoil and political conditions in Cuba. The festival presented the animated short film Esperanza vs. the U.S. Embargo of Cuba proceeded by Ricardo Figueredo Oliva’s documentary The Singular Story of Unlucky Juan, followed by a discussion moderated by Ted A. Henken, with guest speakers, Ricardo Torres, Harold Cardenas, Roberto Monticello and Isabel Alfonso. Proceeds from the event will be donated to assist in Cuban Relief efforts.
This year’s edition of Festival of Cinema NYC is supported and made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Other major sponsors for the 2021 festival include Regal Cinemas, Resorts World Casino NYC, the NYC & Company Foundation, Techsoup, and Final Draft.
Festival of Cinema NYC also announced next year’s dates, which will be August 5-14. For more information, please visit http://www.festivalofcinemanyc.com/.
Terry Katz (Loving Mona), Muhammad Bilal (The Blue Cave), Phil Russell, Eric Goldsmith (Modus Operandi: Pseudo Fantasies of a Fucked Up Shrink), Michael Tyrell (Modus Operandi), Ben Soiefer, David Toth (Fear of Open Spaces), Michael Hilf (Smoking Wet) (bottom row) Stephen Rutterford (Finding Ophelia), Brandon Chen (Blue Lanterns), Edith Crescenciana, Brittney Lee Hamilton (#Princessproblems), Bec Fordyce (The Karening), Samuel Tressler IV (Leda), Lois Temel (Lightships)
2021 FESTIVAL OF CINEMA NYC AWARD WINNERS
FEATURE FILMS
BEST FEATURE FILM – NARRATIVE
Two is a Magic Number
Director: Holger Borggrefe & Stefan Hering
AUDIENCE CHOICE – FEATURE FILM
Leda
Director: Samuel Tressler IV
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Loving Mona
Director Terry Katz
BEST EXPERIMENTAL, MUSIC VIDEO, OR ANIMATION
Finding Ophelia
Director: Stephen Rutterford
SHORT FILMS
BEST SHORT FILM – NARRATIVE
Captain Kinesis
Director: Carles Jofre
AUDIENCE CHOICE – SHORT FILM
The Karening
Director: Bec Fordyce
BEST WEB/TV SERIES
Modus Operandi: Confessions of a F@cked up Shrink
Director: Eric Goldsmith
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
BEST DIRECTOR
John Harrigan (Lightships)
BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE
Robert Barnes, Jr. (The Blue Cave)
BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Brittany Lee Hamilton (#Princessproblems)
BEST ENSEMBLE
Close Shave
Director: Michael Mercadante
BEST SCREENPLAY
Smoking Wet
Writers: Michael Hilf, Robin McDonald
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blue Lanterns
Director of Photography: Federica Marchese
BEST EDITING
Angst
Editor: Johannes Schellhorn
BEST SOUND EDITING
Fear of Open Spaces
Sound design: David Toth
BEST MAKE UP & FX
6:45
Make up: Angel Soltero
SFX: Vincent J. Guastini (SFX Supervisor), Angel Soltero (SFX Assistant)
Holger Borggrefe, Stefan Hering’s Two is a Magic Number leads awards at Festival of Cinema NYC 2021 — return to in-person screenings in Queens with Filmmaker Awards