Grassroots Forest Hills fi lm festival enters big leagues
BY MAX PARROTT
Originally inspired as a
grassroots approach toward
the festival format, the
Festival of Cinema NYC took
on a new name, location, scale
this year with its newfound
sponsorship by Regal UA
Midway, a franchise of the
second-largest theater circuit
in the U.S.
“It was an offer we
couldn’t refuse,” said founder
Jayson Simba.
The festival will return for
its third annual event from
August 2-11 at the stadiumstyle
theater at 108-22 Queens
Blvd. in Forest Hills. It will
screen 125 films by filmmakers
from across the world and hold
Q&A sessions, workshops and
red carpet parties over the 10-
day event.
In addition to the screenings
at the Midway, its events will
be held at the Queens Library
Forest Hills branch and the
Queens Museum.
Simba says that he’s
inspired how the event has
quickly expanded over its
previous two years and
aspires to create a world-class
film event.
“I’m a filmmaker and actor
myself. So, I was with a bunch
of filmmaker friends of mine
and we were talking about how
Queens doesn’t have anything
like this. It doesn’t have a
big film festival. You always
have to go out to Tribeca or
Brooklyn,” Simba said.
Over the course of its run
in their first year, the festival
attracted 3,000 attendees. This
year it received just over 425
film submissions.
Simba says that he watched
each and every film submitted.
He doesn’t have a hard and
fast rubric to judge films
by. He and his team accept
everything from horror and
sci-fi to human drama, but
he’s looking for films with
wide appeal.
“Independent film has
a stereotype of being lowquality–
like avant garde,
silent film, black and white–
something that mass audience
wouldn’t care to see. And
we’re trying to break that
stereotype,” Simba said.
In addition to partnering
with local business groups
like the Queens Economic
Development Corporation
and Council of the Arts to
do community outreach, the
festival has teamed up with
film organizations this year
as well to offer different kinds
of programming. Groups like
ArteEast out of Egypt, the
Asian American Film Lab
and Indie Film Collective
will hold events throughout
the festival.
One event organized by
the Indie Film Collective
will involve a 72-hour film
challenge where 12 teams of
filmmakers scramble to make
a seven-to-10 minute short film
that will be premier for the
first time on Wednesday of
the festival.
Simba says it impossible
to pick one thing he’s most
excited about, but he always
recommends the opening
and closing night films. A
short called “Nora Ephron
Goes to Prison” about two
female inmates bonding
over their love of romantic
comedies will open the
festival. “Quest” the story
of a troubled middle school
graffiti artist will close
it out.
For more information,
tickets and the schedule
of events, visit www.
festivalofcinemanyc.com.
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26 TIMESLEDGER, JULY 12-18, 2019 QNS.COM
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