ENJOY GLOBAL CINEMA IN SUNNYSIDE
Artists & Art Commissioners mingling at Monthly ACP Event
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I OCTOBER 2019 25
Shubhra Breivogel
Film
Sunnyside Shorts International Film Festival to
return for its 14th year in November
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
The Sunnyside Shorts Interna-tional
Film Festival will return for
it’s 14th year on Nov. 2 at the
Sunnyside Reformed Church,
featuring 17 short films from all
over the world.
Festival director Sherry Gamlin told
QNS that their mission is to showcase
films that not only represent cultures
from across the world, but also depict
communities that are not always repre-sented
in the entertainment industry so
as to build bridges within the community.
“It’s extremely important that people
who are neighbors know about each
other and different cultures,” Gamlin
said. “It’s very important for people to re-spect
each other and different cultures.
We need to have more knowledge of
each other, otherwise it breeds discon-tent
and wars.”
In previous years, Gamlin said the
festival has not only featured films by
professional filmmakers, but also show-cased
cartoons and live-action shorts
created by teenagers, for teenagers.
This year, the focus feels particularly
tied to the Sunnyside neighborhood.
For their special afternoon event,
which will take place from 1 to 3 p.m.,
the festival will screen six films from
previous years and host a screening
of Charlie Chaplin’s 1919 classic black
and white film, “Sunnyside.”
Tickets for the afternoon event will
be free for people over 65 and $5 for
everyone else.
On the evening portion of the event,
from 7 to 10 p.m., they will showcase 11
films that come from not only the United
States but also France, Iran, Spain and
Estonia. Tickets are available for $12
online and $15 at the door.
There will be another neighborhood-centric
film in the mix as well, also called
“Sunnyside,” by director Jihyun Shin, who
is a Sunnyside resident.
Gamlin said she actually ran into
Shin’s film crew shooting in Sunnyside
one day and suggested they submit their
short. The film, according to Gamlin, will
follow the story of a “beautiful friend-ship
for those two who are unlikely to
become friends beyond age, gender
and religion.”
After the screening, which will have
a 15-minute intermission with light re-freshments,
the audience will get to vote
on their favorite short (which range in
length from eight to 20 minutes).
The winner will then receive $200.
“The community loves it,” Gamlin said.
“People love getting together in the
neighborhood and watching something
different, rather than watching videos
online at home. And it’s also inexpen-sive
— cheaper than going to the movie
theater.”
Although the festival had a five-year
break in between it’s inception in 2000,
Gamlin made sure to continue the tradi-tion
when Shinichi Murota, the creator
of the festival, returned to Japan after
studying in Queens.
Gamlin, a former actress who ap-peared
on NBC’s “Saturday Night
Live” several times as an extra, re-membered
how she found out about
the festival.
“I was doing my laundry and in the
laundromat there was a sign, that said
‘would you like to make films?’” Gam-lin
said, “And 19 years later, we’re still
doing it!”
She’s supported by a team of volun-teers,
comprised of graphic artist Teresa
Ward; judge and public relations person
Teresa Bowers; judges Nicole Matarese,
WB and Amanda Rakker; photographer
Shubhra Breivogel; film editor Sunit
Shukla; Carol Drosopolous and Adriana
Tredanari on refreshments; as well as
Jim Drosopolous in the front desk.
Gamlin is already thinking about
next year. After receiving about 100
submissions for this year’s event, she
hopes to expand the program and
make it into a two-day festival — one
for Queens films and another for in-ternational
films.
For more information and to purchase
tickets, visit www.sunnysideshorts.com.
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