WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES OCTOBER 10, 2019 45
Sunnyside fi lm festival set to return for its 14th year
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
The Sunnyside Shorts International
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 represented 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 respect each other
and different cultures. We need to
have more knowledge of each other,
otherwise it breeds discontent and
wars.”
In previous years, Gamlin said the
festival has not only featured films
by professional filmmakers, but also
showcased 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 friendship 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 refreshments, 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 inexpensive — cheaper than
going to the movie theater.”
Although the festival had a fiveyear
break in between it’s inception
in 2000, Gamlin made sure to continue
the tradition when Shinichi
Murota, the creator of the festival,
returned to Japan after studying in
Queens.
Gamlin, a former actress who
appeared on NBC’s “Saturday Night
Live” several times as an extra, remembered
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?’” Gamlin said, “And 19 years
later, we’re still doing it!”
She’s supported by a team of volunteers,
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 international films.
For more information and
to purchase tickets, visit
www.sunnysideshorts.com.
BUZZ
The 14th Sunnyside Shorts International Film Festival will take place on Nov. 2.
Photo courtesy of Shubhra Breivogel
Celebrating a new era at Queensboro Unico
Queensboro Unico recently held a
dinner at Vetro Ristorante in Howard
Beach during which they celebrated
the installation of Gaspare J. Mistretta
as its president. They also inducted a
new slate of offi cers and administrators
for the 2019-21 term. Queensboro
Unico, a chapter of Unico National,
the largest Italian-American service
organization in America, is actively
involved in fundraising eff orts for
charities throughout the community.
/WWW.QNS.COM
/www.sunnysideshorts.com
link
/www.sunnysideshorts.com
link
