NYWIFT Blog

Katia, directed by Anna Shishova, is a nominee for Best Documentary Feature and Best Cinematography at the Queens World Film Festival.

The Queens World Film Festival runs March 4-9, 2014, in New York. Opening night will be held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, with the rest of the films screening at The Secret Theater and Nesva Hotel, both in Long Island City, and P.S. 069 in Jackson Heights.

The festival is co-programmed by Opal H. Bennett, a New York Women in Film & Television member. Out of the 127 films in the festival, 40 were directed by women. Check out the 16 women-directed films making their world premiere, including 2 shorts by NYWIFT member Kate Marks: 

FEATURE NARRATIVE
Homostratus
Director: Siu Pham
The film examines the lives of people in a consumerist city: a dying grandmother, a divorced woman, an anxious father, and a teenager.

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY 
Katia
Director: Anna Shishova
A road movie about a Russian girl, who leaves everything and moves to India.

One: A Story of Love and Equality
Director: Becca Roth
In the months leading up to the vote on North Carolina’s Amendment One, which would remove legal recognition for couples that are not a married man and woman, a lesbian couple seeks to understand the personal stories of people on both sides.

Juana
Director: Neha Gautam
The story of a Filipino domestic worker who is a survivor of labor trafficking and domestic violence. 

Ambassadors: The Native Jazz Quartet at Work
Director: Sascha Just
In March 2013, The Native Jazz Quartet, a group that makes folk melodies from Alaska to Louisiana swing hard, met up in New York to audition for the American Music Abroad Program. 

Migrations of Islam
Director: Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai
A documentary on the representations of American-Muslim identity in popular culture post 9/11. 

SHORT NARRATIVE

7 Day Gig
Director: Kate Marks
A comedy film about loss and coping with the absurdity of death in a tradition you don’t fully understand. 

Before Breakfast
Director: Moema Umann
Alfred Rowland is an unemployed poet, married to a young woman that struggles to sustain both of them during a difficult time. 

Caught
Director: Elizabeth Page
Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but despite her efforts she can not catch a break or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor the respect of her brother. From a young age, Hannah finds solace in baseball and family strife culminates on the ball-field when Hannah’s co-ed team is up against Robbies in the playoffs. 

Fe de Vida
Director: Elena Frez
A woman goes to the Civil Registry Office to request her birth certificate of existence. 

Sardines
Director: Molly Castro
When a preoccupied mother leaves her two daughters home alone, one daughter goes to unusual measures to get her family’s attention.

Woo Woo
Director: Nicki Manchisi
The story of a young girl named Louise and an injured veteran in the summer of 1961. 

Odessa
Director: Cidney Hue
Mission specialist Shannon Wendell spends one last night in New York City with a stranger before she embarks on a 135-year-long journey to a distant planet. 

Pearl Was Here
Director: Kate Marks
A wild child finds solace in a sea of stuffed animals.

The Hero Pose
Director: Mischa Jakupcak
A short film about eight-year-old Mia and her father, Joe, who is trying to sell a car. As the day progresses, Mia and Joe connect with one another.

The Train
Director: Kathleen Heenan Tuttle
Chris, a 40-year-old woman, has an impeccably intact veneer. We watch her battle her nervousness about leaving the safety of her town.

Customer #935
Director: Smeralda Abel
Based on a true story, Rebecca, a single NYC actress, attends a Long Island “Passion Party” as a favor to her friend. 

SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Hope on the Horizon
Director: Donna York
Four hikers, including the filmmaker, set out to summit all 48 peaks in the New Hampshire White Mountains to raise awareness and funding for ALS patients and their families.

ANIMATION
My Art is Not Dead
Director: Savannah Steiner
A poor artist who accidentally discovers the use of blood to paint his works.