68 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MARCH 17, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Queens World Film Festival kicks off sixth year buzz at the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com @AngelaMatua The sixth annual Queens World Film Festival kicked off on March 15 at the Museum of Moving Image, where a selection of the 144 fi lms will be screened through March 20. The festival, which was created six years ago by Katha and Don Cato, is the biggest it’s ever been, according to the creators. Opening night fi lms included three shorts and a featurelength fi lm titled “Oblivion Season,” an Iranian fi lm about an ex-prostitute who gets married and is subsequently trapped in an abusive relationship. She is forced to work as a cab driver to make money, a job considered too masculine for her in Iranian society. All fi lms are programmed into blocks by theme, Katha Cato said in a previous interview. A large variety of genres and countries are represented in this year’s festival, and 29 Queens fi lmmakers will be screening their work. Films by Queens fi lmmakers include the fi rst-ever documentary about Jamaica Bay; “Muck,” a short fi lm that depicts a Queens woman’s journey through the comedy world; and a documentary about the New York State Pavilion. “From the beginning of time we have fathered in the darkened caves around the fl ickering lights to share our stories,” Katha Cato said. “We have upgraded the caves, the fl ickering caves are now zeros and ones, but the impulse to gather remains.” Melvin Van Peebles, an actor and director most prominently known for his fi lm Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, was awarded the Spirit of Queens Award “for independently shattering conventions by just doing what I want to do,” Don Cato said. The fi lm festival continues through Saturday with screenings at the Museum of Moving Image, The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, P.S. 069 in Jackson Heights and All Saints Episcopal Church in Sunnyside. THE COURIER/Photos by Katrina Medoff
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