Katha and Don Cato, founders of the festival
March 8, 2017 By Hannah Wulkan
The Queens World Film Festival will bring more than 100 films to the screen in Astoria throughout next week, and will kick off with an opening celebration on Tuesday.
The festival will celebrate the beginning of its seventh year with a party sponsored by Investors Bank at the Museum of the Moving Image, located at 36-01 35th Avenue, that will kick off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The opening celebration will feature a screening of five short narrative films with opening remarks by the executive director of the MoMI Carl Goodwin. It will have a reception with live music and wine and cheese before the screening and an after party following the screenings.
The event will offer a preview of the festival, which runs from next Tuesday through Sunday and will screen 135 different films throughout the week at MoMI and Kaufman Studios.
“We are very proud that films and filmmakers truly represent the diversity, cultures, and different points-of-view that represent the melting pot we call Queens, which is the World Film Festival’s borough,” said festival Executive Director Katha Cato.
The celebration on Tuesday will also pay tribute to the 2017 “Spirit of Queens” honoree, Julie Dash, an artist and filmmaker raised in Long Island City.
Dash’s 1991 film, Daughters of the Dust, was the first feature film by a black woman to get wide distribution in the United States and will be screened during the festival.
“The Festival provides a framework for filmmakers to present their stories about life and living. We invite our neighbors and friends to join us on opening night to celebrate this incredible showcase of filmmaking,” said Investors Bank Senior Vice President and Queens Regional Manager Michael Billia.
Tickets for the opening night celebration cost $15 and can be bought at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2839256.
For more information on the festival and for tickets to other screenings visit http://www.queensworldfilmfestival.com/.
The opening night screenings will be:
– Tight Pants, a storyline devoted to a woman who is driven mad by her tight pants, director from Harrison, N.J.
– The Last Tip, by Director Philip Chen, Chinese-American filmmaker, of Queens, N.Y., depicts the final meal of a loyal patron who reminisces one last time about his memories at his favorite restaurant which is closing.
– The Suitor, by Director Alvaro Congosto, takes place on Oct. 30, 1938 during Orson Wells’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. A lonely man tries to bond with a panicked woman as they fearfully await the end of the earth.
– Chika, Die Hündin Im Ghetto (Chika, The Dog in the Ghetto) is an animated film by Director Sandra Schießl. The storyline is about Chika, a dog, and the five-year old boy, Mikasch – the heroes of this story set in a Jewish Ghetto of an unnamed Polish city on the eve of World War II.
– Amore Grande (A Big Love), is by Director Max Chicco. In this story, the lead character is an old watchmaker who goes to the civil register’s office to renew his ID card. The attendant tells him that the electronic records say he’s dead and to get an ID, he has to be reborn!
Photo credit: Investors Bank
Featured Events
