In two years, NFIFF has established a precedent of bringing Academy Award winners and guests representing the Hollywood classics to Niagara Falls to both celebrate their work and connect them with independent filmmakers making entertaining and provocative work today.
Matt Shapira’s BIG MUDDY took home the award for Best Narrative Film, April Wright’s GOING ATTRACTIONS: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF THE MOVIE PALACE was given the nod for Best Documentary, and C.D. Malloy’s SING YOU A BRAND NEW SONG: THE WORDS AND MUSIC OF COLEMAN MELLETT won the Audience Award.
Niagara Falls International Film Festival’s Founder and President Bill Cowell said, “It’s always thrilling to both grow the film festival with more screenings and more filmmaker appearances for the local film fans to enjoy. But combining a salute to one of the greats of cinema like Samuel Fuller including his wife and daughter and some of the wonderful stars he worked with, with the best in independent film is going to add up to an incredible week for the city and the people here that truly love movies.”
The combination of the films’ subjects, as well as the attendance of Welles’ mom and dad, Alison and Jeff, made for an emotional, but uplifting evening. Following the screenings at the historic Riviera Theatre the filmmaker awards were announced and a check for $1000 went to charities benefitting Firefighters and First Responders. During the awards ceremony, upon receiving the award for Best Narrative Film, WATERLILY JAGUAR producer Jonathan Piumelli announced that he and art director Shannon Lee got engaged the night before. It was a sweetly uplifting way to end the inaugural NFIFF.
Following the Closing Night presentation of Matthew J Weiss’s MAN IN RED BANDANA at the historic Riviera Theater (67 Webster Street) on Saturday, September 29, the Niagara Falls International Film Festival (NFIFF) announced the award winners for the 1st edition of the film festival.
Melora Walters’s WATERLILY JAGUAR took home the award for Best Narrative Film, Nanni Zedda’s BLIND VISION was given the nod for Best Documentary, Javier Zevallos and Francisco D’ Eufemia’s ESCAPE FROM PATAGONIA was named Best Foreign Film, and Weiss’s MAN IN RED BANDANA took the People’s Choice Prize.
The Niagara Falls International Film Festival (NFIFF) today announced the film and events lineup for its debut, September 26-29. NFIFF will open with a Red Carpet Gala on Wednesday, September 26 at The Rapids Theatre (1711 Main Street) celebrating Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Mark Bridges (THE ARTIST, PHANTOM THREAD) and Visual Effects Artist Craig Barron (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON).
