MORE THAN 200 FILMS
at Queens World Film Festival
BY STEPHEN LEPORE
A little bit of Hollywood is
headed for Astoria as the
Queens World Film Festival
returns in late March.
This year’s festival — the ninth an-nual
— takes place from March 21 to
31 and will screen over 200 films from
31 countries, including 16 that are
world premieres. Artistic director Don
Cato highlights issues of inclusion and
local flavor in this year’s lineup.
“There are films from four of our
great boroughs and a groundbreaking
79 films by women,” he said. “We are
TO SCREEN
also screening 14 LGBTQ-themed films
and 15 films by Asian filmmakers and
six films by kids, for kids — we literally
have something for everyone.”
The lineup will be officially presented
Monday, March 4, at the Museum of the
Moving Image with a gala event featur-ing
a sizzle reel showcasing highlights
of this year’s slate and introductions of
special guests. The festival will also
debut its revamped new digital app,
where our audiences can interact
with filmmakers, festival personnel
and sponsors.
Opening night is Thursday, March
21, also at the Museum of the Moving
46 MARCH 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
Image. The program will be a collec-tion
of seven short films under the title
“Worldly Vision.” They include “Mar-guerite,”
which was nominated at this
year’s Academy Awards for Best Live
Action Short.
While every night features some-thing
special, the standouts are of-ten
the “Spirit of Queens” honorees.
Nancy Kelly and her partner Kenji
Yamamoto will be celebrated for
their 1991 film “Thousand Pieces
of Gold” on Tuesday, March 26. The
film, which stars Chris Cooper among
others, will be presented in a restored
4K format.
Former Chief Curator at MoMI David
Schwartz will also be feted during the fes-tival
and will screen the 1992 Sundance
winner “In the Soup” at the museum on
Thursday, March 28, to help celebrate.
Post-screening, there will be a Q&A with
the filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell.
The festival closes on March 31, with
the annual “Best of” Awards. They’ll be
presented in categories including Best
Feature, Best Director and honorable
mentions.
Tickets are now on sale for all films
at both the Museum of the Moving
Image and the Zukor Theatre, as well
as the festival’s website.
Film
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