Catch these fi lms at Queens World Film Festival
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
His riveting work, “Roma,”
started with a painful
personal journey, but it won
Mexican filmmaker Alfonso
Cuarón three more Oscars
last Sunday night.
Based on his housekeeper’s
life when he was growing
up, “Roma” told the story of
Cleo, an indigenous domestic
worker who struggles with
personal woes, as the family
she works for falls apart.
“As artists our job is to look
where others don’t,” Cuarón
said in his acceptance speech.
Like Cuarón, the talented
filmmakers participating
in the ninth annual Queens
World Film Festival (QWFF)
will soon share their own
compelling stories with
audiences and each have
something relevant, moving
and worthwhile to say.
Enjoy 200-plus local and
global film screenings over
11 days — from March 21 to
March 31 — at the Museum of
the Moving Image (MoMI) in
Astoria. The 2019 indie line-up
includes 79 films by women, 14
LGBTQ-themed works and 15
by Asian filmmakers, and 6
films by kids, for kids.
The opening night event
— set for March 21 at 7p.m. —
will showcase a block of seven
shorts that are sure to raise a
few eyebrows. “Marguerite,”
just nominated for a 2019
Academy Award for Live
Action Short, will also be
shown.
This year’s “Spirit of
Queens” honorees are David
Schwartz, MoMI’s former
Chief Curator, and filmmaking
partners director Nancy Kelly
and husband, Kenji Yamamoto
(editor/producer). QWFF will
screen a new 4K restoration of
their work, “Thousand Pieces
of Gold,” on March 26 at 7 p.m.
in MoMI’s Redstone Theater.
“We are finding that
artists everywhere are
reflecting the times we
live in. Be prepared to be
moved by the imagination,
the creativity and the
heart of these filmmakers
from around the world and
around the corner,” said
QWFF Executive Director
Katha Cato.
“Thousand Pieces of Gold” will be shown March 26 in MoMI’s
Redstone Theater. Courtesy of Bob Marshak
Highlighted here are two
compelling films: “Thousand
Pieces of Gold” and
“Quiet Storm.”
The former is a restoration
of an important work that
in the early 1990’s “was
addressing issues and themes
that are even more relevant
today,” said Cato. “The film
presents a unique vision of
the romanticized Old West,
presenting the story through
the eyes of the marginalized
people who actually built
the communities.”
Nonprofit IndieCollect has
saved this and many other
films that might have been
lost forever.
“When I met Kenji, I
thought I was a cowgirl who
was making a film,” said
former ranch hand Nancy
Kelly, who lives in California
with Yamamoto.
Set in an 1880s mining town,
the film portrays the real-life
story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao),
a young Chinese woman
whose desperately poor
parents sell her into slavery.
She is trafficked to a nefarious
saloonkeeper in Idaho’s
gold country.
Kelly drew inspiration
from the novel by the
same name.
Few films today feature
Asian women in the lead and
this deals with immigration,
sex trafficking and forced
marriage, and really resonates
in the #MeToo era.
But it had a rocky start.
“People in the film
business had no confidence
in me as a director – I was
young, inexperienced and
female,” Kelly recalled. “The
percentage of female directors
was – and is – disgracefully
low: 4 percent to 7 percent.”
Here’s another must-see
film.
“Jonathan Sweet’s ‘Quiet
Storm: The Ron Artest Story,’
is an important and extremely
well-made doc that I think
Queens is going to eat up,”
said Cato. “His story is quite
compelling and will touch
everyone.”
For the full schedule and
ticket information, visit www.
queensworldflmfestival.org.
CATERING MENU
Buffet Menu Sit Down Dinner
Minimum 40 Guests 3 Hour Function
(Mon.-Sat. 12-3pm or 1-4pm)
Assorted Breads & Rolls
All Unlimited
Large Tossed Salad
Fresh Cooked Turkey and Roast Beef Platter
Potato & Macaroni Salad
Choice of Five Main Dishes
Baked Ziti �� Penne a la Vodka �� Chicken Marsala
Sausage & Peppers �� Eggplant Rollatini
Meatballs �� Chicken Francese �� Shepherd’s Pie
Minimum 25 Guests 3 Hour Function
(Mon.-Sun. 5-10pm)
Assorted Breads & Rolls
House Salad
Choice of Three Main Dishes
Served with Potato & Vegetables
Broiled Filet of Sole �� Chicken Marsala
Penne a la Vodka �� Shrimp Scampi
Chicken Francese �� Spinach Ravioli
Shepherd’s Pie �� 16 oz. Black Angus Certifi ed
Shell Steak $4 extra / per person
�� Buff et Only...........................................................$18.95/pp
�� Dinner with Soft Drinks...................................$21.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Domestic Tap Beer, Wine & Soda...$23.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Mixed Drinks, Domestic Beer
(Bottle & Tap) Wine & Soda..............................$26.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Top Shelf Liquors, Imported &
Domestic Beer (Bottle & Tap), Wine & Soda...$37.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Domestic Tap Beer, Wine & Soda..$24.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Mixed Drinks, Domestic Beer
(Bottle & Tap) Wine & Soda................................$27.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Top Shelf Liquors, Imported &
Domestic Beer (Bottle & Tap), Wine & Soda...$37.95/pp
FRESH COFFEE, BREWED DECAF & TEAS
DESSERT
Chocolate Truffl e Cake
214-22 41st Ave., Bayside, NY 11361 �� 718-224-9898 �� maggiemaysbayside.com
34 TIMESLEDGER, MARCH 1-7, 2019 QNS.COM
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