Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema,

About the event

Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, is proud to announce its first-ever film lineup at the inaugural 10-day event taking place August 4-13 at Kew Gardens Cinemas and at the Queens Museum in nearby Flushing Meadows Corona Park. From a pool of nearly 400 film submissions, the festival will present over 150 remarkable films from 24 countries, which will compete for awards in the categories of Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Narrative Short, Documentary Short, Animation & Experimental Film.

Winners for every category, chosen by the festival’s specially selected jury, will receive a personally engraved unique statuette at the Grand Awards Gala on the final night of the Festival, that will take place on the rooftop penthouse of the world-famous Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The jurors are: Rodney Ferrer, director of the critically acclaimed web series “City of Mercy”; actress Marlene Forte (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “Dallas”); Sam Adelman, assistant editor on “Donnie Brasco,” “Practical Magic” and “Desperately Seeking Susan”; Tassos Rigopoulos, award-winning Forest Hills filmmaker and assistant professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College; Nicole Tisen, associate producer of the PBS multiple Emmy Award-winning documentary series “POV”; and Allan Knee, writer of “Little Women” on Broadway and the film and stage versions of “Finding Neverland.”

The Opening Feature Film on Saturday, Aug. 5 is the World Premiere of Zachary Raines’ comedy ACCIDENTS, which will be paired with the narrative short A MAN FULL OF TROUBLE directed by Michael Johnston. The Narrative Feature program includes other World Premieres such as Pierre St-Jacques’s 36 STEPS ON A CURVED ROAD, Manuel Mira’s GÉNERO (GENDER) and Heather Fink’s INSIDE YOU; the North American Premiere of Rankin Hickman’s DARK MERIDIAN; the East Coast Premieres of West Liang’s ALL I WANT, David Ray’s GRAND UNIFIED THEORY, Alexander Gutterman and Aboubacar Camara’s IN WINTER and Julia Butler and Daniel Mentz SLIPAWAY; and other New York and Queens premieres. The Closing Feature Film on Saturday, Aug. 12 is the New York Premiere of Francesco Calogero’s SECOND SPRING, paired with the narrative short THIS WAY TO WONDERLAND directed by Zenas Cao.

Among the Documentary Features is the North American Premiere of Susanne Helmer’s MELANIE, the U.S. Premiere of  Eve Lamont’s NEIGHBORHOOD UTOPIA, the New York Premiere of Todd Nilssen’s THE LAST STOP, the Queens Premieres of Sean Kernan’s CROW STORIES and Jessie Auritt’s SUPERGIRL, and other New York and Queens premieres.

Audiences will recognize several stars from the big screen including Timothy Spall (2014 Cannes Film Festival best Actor winner for “Mr. Turner”) in the East Coast Premiere of STANLEY A MAN OF VARIETY, Dee Wallace (“E.T.,” “The Howling,” “Cujo”) in the New York Premiere of RED CHRISTMAS and Campbell Scott (“The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Singles”) in the World Premiere of David McElfresh’s A LOTUS TIL RECKONING.

The festival also presents a number of Queens-made films including the World Premiere of Forest Hills filmmaker Louie Cortes’ GOOD DAY, Kew Gardens Hills resident Jermaine Manigault’s narrative short LANGUAGE IS DEAD, the feature NOWHERE, MICHIGAN by Robert Vornkahl of Woodhaven, the short CHOICES by Rick Hamilton of Long Island City, and several others.         

The Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park will play host to specially selected programming, free to the public (with RSVP), featuring selected films and discussions. On Sunday, Aug. 6 at 2:00 p.m., there will be a Special Presentation of James Solomon’s THE WITNESS, the acclaimed documentary that unravels a myth about the purported 38 witnesses who watched Kitty Genovese being murdered in Kew Gardens. The film will be followed by a discussion with Solomon and guests. On Thursday, Aug. 10 at 4:00 p.m. there will be a Special Presentation of Joe Minion’s TRAFFICKING, an indie film made in the 1990s, but never shown publicly till now. Perhaps best known for writing the Martin Scorsese film "After Hours,” Minion will be on hand after the screening for an in-depth discussion. Then at sundown that evening, there will be a Special Outdoor Screening on the lawn behind the Queens Museum and in front of the Unisphere, of Adam Irving’s OFF THE RAILS, the story of Queens’ own Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger’s syndrome imprisoned for his love of the New York City transit system.

Beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug.12 at Maple Grove Center, the festival will present three one-hour Panel Discussions covering important and relevant topics in today’s independent film industry. These panels will be free and open to the public, and seating will be on a first come, first served basis. The panel topics are:

·         Wonder Women - the challenges and importance of women in independent film.

·         Film Distribution in this modern day and age featuring sponsor Synimatica, and other distribution professionals.

·         Production Resources - making the best of your low budget.

Why should you sponsor?

Besides visibility to the Queens, NYC communities and over 3,500+ sophisticated and tech savvy festival attendees and industry film leaders, the sponsorship opportunity that we offer is truly unique.  Sponsor names and logos are presented in all print programs, promo materials, and screening trailers and slides.  For special events such as red-carpet premieres, sponsor recognition is visible in step and repeat signage and award gala goody bags.  During the grand gala award cremony sponsors are offered the opportunity to present awards and receive a “presented by” credit for the festivals top honor, The Filmmaker Visionary Award.  What makes our Festival stand out from the other opportunities available to sponsors is that we are focusing on the TRULY independent film, not the film that is funded by the indie film division of a major studio. We want to see the work of filmmakers and their teams who have poured their blood, sweat and tears into making their vision come to life. We are showcasing the best in all genres, including themes often overlooked by other major film festivals, like Horror, Sci-Fi, LGBT, Comedy, Animation and Experimental. Our goal is to bring back and remind people why film festivals exist in the first place - which is to give otherwise unknown filmmakers the opportunity to screen their film in front of large audiences and have their work seen.

Caroline Lim

A Queens native, Caroline Lim was raised in Oakland Gardens, NY and studied biochemistry and mathematics at Binghamton University. Caroline is no stranger to number-crunching, having spent 13 years as an actuary, where she analyzed risk for financial investments and insurance policies. She currently works as an ASA for the NYPD, yet finds time in her busy schedule to promote positive community and economic growth throughout New York City neighborhoods.  Her latest venture is managing the daily operations of the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema, a non-profit 501c3 organization, based in NYC.

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