Member Screening Series – Shorts Program – May 2016

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening Series featuring short films. Featured filmmakers are Sarah Kim (Fate of a Fruit), Marisa Vitali (Grace), Ani Simon-Kennedy (Nicodemus), Olga Goister(Living Legend) and Sabrina McCormick (A Good Egg). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening.

The series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. Screenings take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar/restaurant.

Fate of A Fruit
Sarah Kim (Director)
2014, 7m 50secs

When senior widower Don is partially paralyzed with a stroke, living with his divorcée son Joe may no longer be an option. Confronted with the limit of their ability to care for each other, they take a ride on a bright Sunday afternoon to reflect on where their relationship has been and where it’s going.

Sarah Kim is a director/producer/editor. Born on the oceanside harbors of Busan, South Korea and raised in Los Angeles, she lives in New York and enjoys making films with nature, children, the elderly and themes of death, though not in that order. She is a recipient of the Motion Pictures of America Association awards, the Peter Stark Memorial award, the Armed With a Camera Fellowship, and a NYWIFT scholarship award among others. Kim is currently producing the feature film I Was a Simple Man, which has been supported by the Sundance Institute through the Screenwriting Lab, Directing Lab and Producing Summit, as well as IFP.

Nicodemus
Ani Simon-Kennedy (Director)
2015, 3m 36secs

Short documentary about Oaxaca’s oldest folk art store on the eve of its shuttering. Nicodemus Bartolo Vasquez opened the doors to his store in 1961. Jarcieria El Arte Oaxaqueno is filled to the brim with treasures of Mexican traditional folk art. Now 83 years old, Nicodemus still sells an eclectic mix of wooden toys, woven baskets, hojalata figures and tin frames. 

Ani Simon-Kennedy wrote and directed her first feature film Days of Gray in Iceland. Called “an assured debut” by The Hollywood Reporter, it won Best Emerging Narrative at the Oaxaca Film Festival 2014. She is currently in development on her second narrative feature, The Short History of the Long Road. It received the Dernsie Award for Best Screenplay at the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival presented by Bruce Dern and Geena Davis. Simon-Kennedy is an alum of Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab, IFP’s Emerging Storytellers at Film Week, and the Cine Qua Non Screenwriter’s Lab. She is a member of Film Fatales, a collective of feature directors. 


Living Legend
Olga Goister (Producer), Alonso Llosa (Director)
2015, 17 min, Peru & USA

The most dangerous drug lord in Peru must face his ultimate fear: moving out of his mother’s house.

Olga Goister is an independent writer and producer of narrative films with a concentration on digital media, marketing and distribution. She has produced commercials, documentaries, music videos and short films. Her experience includes all aspects of the film business — from creative development and fundraising all the way to post-production, festival strategy and distribution. 


Grace
Marisa Vitali (Creator/Producer/Actor)
2015, 13m 36secs

Today, Janice will face her high powered ex-husband in family court for the custody of their daughter. As head waitress at the Depot Diner, staying clean and doing the next right thing is her priority. When Johnny, her boss, makes a decision that affects her ability to appear in court, Janice has to face her demons of addiction and choose whether to stay clean through life’s adversity or “screw it” and use….

Marisa Vitali is a Brooklyn-based actress and producer. She has performed in films on the festival circuit; television shows aired on HBO, ABC and ID Discovery; and in NYC theater. She has been in numerous commercials and is the voice of many audiobooks for audible.com. She was a lead in the Official Cannes Film Selection You & I, directed by Christopher Scott, opposite Blake Gibbons. Vitale produced, wrote and acted in the short film Grace, based on her struggle with heroin addiction. She is in development on a feature film loosely based on the short film. Vitale is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA, and is on the programming committee at NYWIFT.


A Good Egg
Sabrina McCormick (Director/Writer/Producer)
2015, 12m 22secs

When childless Mimi has a miscarriage and is told she only has a few months left to have a child, she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to make her dreams of having a family come true.

Sabrina McCormick is a filmmaker and a sociologist. She has produced and directed several award-winning documentaries. Her first film, No Family History, followed the journey of a woman with breast cancer living in a cancer hotspot as she explored possible environmental causes of the disease, and won Best Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. In 2014, she was associate producer/producer on two segments of the Emmy award-winning Years of Living Dangerously. She is currently working on a feature narrative film Arara, a Brazil-based production. Her recent short film is FracKtured. A Good Egg is McCormick’s first short fiction film.