Festival of Cinema NYC 2025 announces films and events for fest in August
Festival of Cinema NYC 2025 returns to the Regal UA Midway in Forest Hills for
Kill Bill, La Femme Nikita, Wonder Woman, FILMS GONE WILD: What’s in our Kick Ass Women in Films library?
On one of the bookshelves, we keep our Blu Rays/DVDs in, is a small section of films that my wife Justina and I love that feature women kicking some ass. Some with their fists, some with an arsenal, and some with their wits and wit. And some with…all of the above.
FILMS GONE WILD: Why You Need to Get With The Program and Have a Proper Red Carpet at Your Film Festival
Anyone that knows me at all, or my history, knows about one of the primary things I do for a living, etc. would likely think it was fightin’ words if someone legitimately asked me, “What’s the point of having a red carpet at a film festival?”
FILMS GONE WILD: WAYWARD SON, JACK SQUAT, PATRICK, The 2018 Memphis Film Prize teaches the rest of the film fest world how to do it right
Gregory Kallenberg kicks off the Film Prize. This is the way you “baptize” your filmmakers and give them a kick in the pants to start off a fest. He sets the tone of “We’re all in it together, filmmakers, jurors, staff, and film fans – all of us.” If you’re not onboard after Gregory’s opening remarks, the filmmakers first “pitches”, and the legendary Film Prize tequila toast, then it’s possible someone should check your pulse.
FILMS GONE WILD: What is your film worth? An Indie The Ladies of the House — Let’s not ask Best Buy or Netflix to answer that question
I can’t imagine Francis Ford Coppola standing in front of a Best Buy bin while wearing an old-timey change belt or fanny pack and taking a couple dollars at a time for his GODFATHER films. So why should I do that with my next epic (because it will TOTALLY be an an epic, I’m telling you)?
FILMS GONE WILD: What is wrong with Childish Gambino’s This is America?
So stop it. Stop with the had wringing. Stop with the thought police. Stop with the well-meaning, but misplaced attempt to put a layer of saran wrap over us as we watch films, or a comedy sketch or listen to the radio, or look at an art installation.
FILMS GONE WILD: Matteo Servente ‘s WE GO ON’s: The 2017 Memphis Film Prize delivered the cinematic magic – and a big check for $10,000
Let’s face it, there is a lottery aspect to all of this, except YOU have quite a bit of influence over who gets that big-ass check. I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over again here, but the fact is that the culmination is a genuinely affecting moment that sweeps every single person involved up into it. And THAT is the magic of Film Prize.
FILMS GONE WILD: Justina Walford moderates Women Texas Film Festival’s Special Screening of XX at Alamo Drafthouse Dallas on International Women’s Day
While discussing the films in XX, praise was evenly distributed among THE BOX, BIRTHDAY PARTY, and HER ONLY LIVING SON for various reasons, but the biggest laugh of the night came from the diminutive Niki Pence, when she explained her preference of DON’T FALL by explaining that the film connected with her since throughout her life, she has been “full of rage.”
FILMS GONE WILD: Who was De Veau Dunn?
If you look him up on IMDb, you’ll see the biography that I wrote for him five years ago. It’s a bio pushing how much promise he had, with The Ben Stiller Show appearances, a Tom Arnold series, and a ton of commercials in a short period of time. It talks about the two short films he directed which both won a lot of awards in film fests in the San Diego area (he wasn’t that savvy about the film fest circuit to take them farther). And that’s where it pretty much ends.