FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com FEBRUARY 11, 2016 • THE QUEENS COURIER 13 Sixth annual Queens World Film Festival is biggest it’s ever been BY ANGELA MATUA [email protected]/@AngelaMatua This year’s Queens World Film Festival (QWFF), starting March 15 in Astoria, is the largest in its six-year history, featuring 144 fi lms and representing 23 nations. “The jump in quality is exceptional,” said Katha Cato, executive director for QWFF. Cato began curating the festival six years ago with her husband and artistic director, Don Cato, from their Jackson Heights apartment. Six years and dozens of fi lm screenings later, the duo is still working out of the same apartment, using interns and paid staff to put together this festival, which is a yearlong endeavor. The fi lmmakers gathered at the Museum of Moving Image on Feb. 4 to mingle and watch a sizzle reel of the fi lms that will be screened later next month. This year, the fi lm festival has expanded to a fourth venue in Sunnyside at All Saints Episcopal Church. The other venues include The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria and P.S. 069 in Jackson Heights, where the group will showcase their newest category of fi lms: Family Friendly. Don Cato and staff screened the 551 fi lms submitted and created specifi c blocks of fi lms grouped by theme. Filmmakers presenting at the Queens World Film Festival Gathered at the Museum of Moving Image on Feb. 4. “It’s just incredible,” Katha Cato said. “You’re going to see fi lms in combinations that you can’t see anywhere else in the world.” Katha Cato described the programming process as “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching” at points, when they were forced to whittle down the submissions. Ultimately, the programmers “did the best we could in terms of putting THE COURIER/Photo by Angela Matua forth a festival that honors the borough, reps the borough and brings the rest of the world here,” she said. The festival will feature fi lms from 29 Queens fi lmmakers including the fi rst-ever documentary on Jamaica Bay titled “Jamaica Bay Lives” and a documentary titled “Julio of Jackson Heights,” highlighting the death of Julio Rivera, a gay man who was murdered in a Jackson Heights schoolyard in 1990. Councilman Daniel Dromm makes an appearance in the fi lm, which also shows the beginnings of the Queens Pride parade and festival that was inspired by Rivera’s story. Katha Cato said attendees can expect a large variety of fi lms and an experience that they will not fi nd at other festivals and high-level discussions with the fi lmmakers after each screening. “You can expect a lot more features, you can expect exquisite fi lms, scary fi lms, very challenging fi lms,” Cato said. The QWFF is growing every year, but Cato said the organization is “trying not to grow beyond our capacity to deliver.” The directors are still seeking a space to work out of as they are currently set up in a makeshift offi ce they set up 6-foot tables in their living room fi lled with index cards of extensive notes on each fi lm and organize the blocks of fi lms that way. The festival is self-fi nanced with a few sponsors but the Catos are looking for partners and endowments to keep the festival running in the future. “Everybody wants us to get bigger fast,” Cato said. “Pockets are tight. We need people to come out and see these fi lms. We need big partners and we need potential.” Opening night will take place at the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria at 6:15 p.m. on March 15. Great rates like ours are always in season. 1.80% 60-Month CD APY1 $5,000 minimum deposit 1.30% 24-Month CD APY1 $5,000 minimum deposit To qualify you must open a Flushing Bank Complete Checking Plus account. Get the complete access and control you desire with a competitive interest rate and banking on-the-go with our Flushing Bank Mobile2 app. For more information and to find out about our other great offers, visit your local Flushing Bank branch, call 800.581.2889 or visit www.FlushingBank.com. 1 New money only. APY effective January 19, 2016. Annual percentage yield assumes principal and interest remain on deposit for a full year at current rate. Minimum deposit balance of $5,000 is required. Funds cannot be transferred from an existing Flushing Bank account. Premature withdrawals may be subject to bank and IRS penalties. Rates and offer are subject to change without notice. A new Complete Checking Plus account with a $5,000 minimum initial deposit is required to receive the CD with the advertised rate. Certain fees and restrictions may apply. For new IRA and rollover accounts, the minimum deposit balance is $5,000. A new checking account is not required for IRA accounts. Speak with a Flushing Bank representative for more details. 2 Flushing Bank Mobile Banking is available to all Flushing Bank online banking users. Flushing Bank is a registered trademark
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