By Eileen Katz
No need to schlep all the way down to Tribeca this weekend if you have a hankering to screen quality independent films! Saturday, April 16th, marks the 8th Annual CUNY Film Festival. The event begins at 5 p.m. right here on the Upper West Side at Macaulay Honors College.
The event begins with screenings of the finalists from the over 150 submissions received. Sheila Stainback, Media Relations Manager for MHC explains “The films are created by City University of New York students, staff, alum or faculty. The goal of this evening is to celebrate people who are like-minded in terms of their love of film and storytelling.”
“We have students from over 24 campuses represented here so when we say ‘Macaulay students’, they are representing creative talent from all over the city which is amazing,” Adds Robert Small, the events Artistic Director.
At 8:30 p.m., the award ceremony begins with presenters including VH1 Personality and Wendy Williams contributor Delania Dixon and Director of ABC’s “The View”, Bob Lampell. After party to follow!
And for the first time the event also has a viewer’s choice component. WNET, Channel 13, will be allowing fans to vote for their favorite film from a selection of the finalists that will then be aired. Ms. Stainback noted: “This adds a tremendous new platform for some of these filmmakers work to be seen and it is really exciting!” Go to reel13.org for voting information and although tickets for the event are free, please RSVP at https://macaulay.cuny.edu/event/registration/?ee=55
I went to the CUNY Film Festival last year, and it was such a lovely event. Definitely worth checking out!
This looks really interesting. So glad to hear about it and thanks, Emily, for saying it’s worthwhile !