First Time Fest: Aronofsky, Scorsese, And More!
From March 1 through 4th, we'll be attending the inaugural First Time Fest here in New York City, a celebration of first time filmmakers. As they say in their mission statement, "From Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane to John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and Sam Mendes’s American Beauty, first films have proven to be the benchmark for some of our greatest cinematic voices. The mission of [the festival] is to discover and present the next generation of great filmmakers both locally and globally."
To that end, they are showing a variety of films from around the world, and inviting a panel of judges to select their favorite from the group of twelve finalists. The Grand Prize winner even gets theatrical distribution! Competition jurors include folks like Sofia Coppola, Melvin Van Peebles, Todd Solondz, Fred Schneider, and Christine Vachon, and apparently the audience will have a vote as well.
Tickets just went on sale, and both passes and individual tickets are available, running $15 for most screenings with a wide range of discounts available, or $150 for a basic pass and a VIP (All Access) pass for $500. There are also panels-only and screenings-only options available at lower pricepoints. Panels take place at the Players Club in Greenwich Village (not a bad seat in the house), while screenings will be held at the Loews Village VII.
Perhaps the highlight of the festival will be the presentation of the first John Huston Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema, being bestowed by none other than Martin Scorsese on one of the best director's of our time, Darren Aronofsky. But there will also be a wide range of screenings of past first-time films, like the opening night feature of The Virgin Suicides with Sofia Coppola in attendance, and Todd Solondz' incredible film Welcome to the Dollhouse (he's scheduled to appear as well).
Here's a list of all of the films in competition, many of which are premieres that we can't wait to see! Especially Mongolian Bling- how could we resist the image to the right?
BLUMENTHAL - New York Premiere. USA, 86 minutes. Written and directed by Seth Fisher. With Fisher, Brian Cox, Mark Blum, Laila Robins, Mei Melançon.
HEADFIRST (LA TETE LA PREMIERE) - U.S. Premiere. Belgium/France, 89 minutes. Written and directed by Amélie van Elmbt. With Alice de Lencquesaing, David Murgia, Jacques Doillon.
HORIZON SKY – World Premiere. Belarus, 133 mins. Written and directed by Dmitry Marinin, Andrey Kureychik. With Leonid Pashkovsky, Tatyana Bovkalova, Viktor Rybchinsky, Anna Sirotina.
I LOVE YOU ALL (LOS QUIERO A TODOS) – U.S. Premiere. Argentina, 75 mins. Written, directed, and produced by Luciano Quillici. With Ramiro Aguero, Santiago Gobemori, Diego Jalfen, Valeria Louis, Leticia Mazur, Margarita Molfino, Alan Sabbagh.
JUNCTION – USA, 90 mins. Written and directed by Tony Glazer. With Tom Pelphrey, Neal Bledsoe, Harris Doran, Summer Crockett Moore, Anthony Rapp, David Zayas, Michael O’Keefe
MONGOLIAN BLING – U.S. Premiere. Australia/Mongolia, 90 mins. Documentary, directed by Benj Binks.
SAL – New York Premiere. Chile/Argentina, 112 mins. Written and directed by Diego Rougier. With Fele Martínez, Patricio Contreras, Sergio Hernández, Javiera Contador.
SUBMERGE – World Premiere. Australia, 90 mins. Directed by Sophie O’Connor. With Lily Hall, Christina Hallett, Kevin Dee, Georgia Bolton.
SUMMERTIME – New York Premiere.USA, 90 mins. Written and directed by Max Weissberg. With Lethia Nall, Eric Garcia, Rob Hollander, H.R. Britton, James Eason, Jenny Grace, Olivia Horton, Michele Cesari.
UPRISING – USA/Egypt, 85 mins. Documentary directed by Fredrik Stanton.
URBAN TALE – U.S. Premiere. Israel, 90 mins. Written and directed by Eliav Lilti. With Barak Friedman, Noa Friedman, Esti Yerushalmi, Zohar Shtrauss, Ohad Knoller, Michal Shtamler.
ZIPPER – USA, 77 mins. Documentary directed by Amy Nicholson.
About the Author
Greg Greg dreamed up the idea for the Truly Network while living in Hawaii, which began with a single site called TrulyObscure. In 2010, when advertisers and readers were requesting coverage beyond the scope of that site, TrulyNet was launched, reaching a broader audience over a variety of niche sites. Formerly the head technology correspondent for the Des Moines Register at age 16, he has since lived and worked in five states and two countries, helping a list of organizations and companies that includes the United States Census Bureau, TripAdvisor, Events Photo Group, Berlitz, and Computer Geeks. He also served as the Content Strategy Manager for HearPlanet, a multi-platform app that has reached over a million users and has been featured in the New York Times, Hemispheres Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Fox Business News, PC Magazine, and even Apple’s own iPhone ads. Greg has written as a restaurant critic and feature journalist for a number of national and international publications, including City Weekend Magazine, Red Egg Magazine, the Newton Daily News, Capital Change Magazine, and an arm of China Daily, Beijing Weekend. In addition, he has served as a consulting editor for the Foreign Language Press of Beijing, as well as a writer and editor for the George Washington University Hatchet, the school newspaper of his alma mater. Originally from Iowa, Greg is currently living in the West Village of Manhattan.
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