Member Screening: Shorts Program

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening Series showcasing scripted shorts: Her Magnum Opus  by Marta Renzi (Director), Tonight and Every Night  by Christina Eliopoulos (Writer/Director), and Visit 57  by Kate Phelan (Writer/Director). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening.

The screening 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. 

Her Magnum Opus
Marta Renzi (Director)
61 mins, 2017

A group of friends gather to celebrate their mentor and learn that what lasts is those you leave behind.

Marta Renzi has created more than two dozen short films which have been screened in more than 100 festivals both nationally and internationally, and is a seven-time recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her site-specific choreography led to a half-hour videodance commission from the WGBH New Television Workshop in 1981, followed by another in 1989 from KCTA’s Alive From Off Center, entitled Mountainview, made in collaboration with maverick filmmaker John Sayles. 2014.

Tonight and Every Night
Christina Eliopoulos (Writer/Director)
Elizabeth Kinder (Producer/Executive Producer)
24 mins, 2017

Yianni is the star and host of Tonight and Every Night, the hit talk show that plays in his own beautiful but fractured mind. On one fateful day, Yianni who suffers from dementia, wanders out of his house and comes to the aid of a lonely and lost little boy.

Photo Credit: Danny Sanchez

Christina Eliopoulos’ debut documentary feature, the award-winning Greetings from Asbury Park, is a personal look at how eminent domain affects a family and a small town. It premiered on PBS and features the music of Bruce Springsteen, who gifted the song Tunnel of Love to the film. She also directed the documentary feature Demon on Wheels, the story of a “reborn to be wild” hot rodder, his woman and the 1968 Mustang that comes between them. Eliopoulos was named as a finalist in the 2015 Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Competition for her script King of Florida — a coming of age story set in a Greek sponge diving community in Depression era Florida. The same script won 1st Place in the genre Family/Animated, in the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest, and was a winner of the top 7 out of 7,000 scripts. A narrative feature entitled Glow, was also honored by Academy Nicholl and Final Draft. Tonight and Every Night is based on a true story, and is being adapted into a feature film.

Elizabeth Kinder is the Executive Producer of Free Market Films, a boutique commercial film production company established in 2002, producing television and web content for national advertisers. Kinder began her career as an assistant picture editor,  eventually transitioning into a supervising sound editor on documentaries, television and indie features. In 2007, she established Waif & Stray, Inc., to produce entertainment content. In addition to creative development on the screenplays for Glow and King of Florida, over her long collaboration with Christina Eliopoulos, Kinder produced and executive produced Tonight and Every Night, and was an associate producer on Demon on Wheels.

Visit 57
Kate Phelan (Writer/Director)
11 mins, 2016

Visit 57 is the story a woman in the midst of fertility treatments. On a loop of hope & disappointment every 28 days- Kat has visited the fertility clinic for three years. Today will be different. She’s sure.

Kate Phelan has worked in film for years- crewing on movies (Kids, Happiness, Eraser) and gaffing (Girlfight, Pieces of April and Sunshine State). In 2005 Phelan became a director of photography specializing in comedies (Tosh.0 and Honesty for Comedy Central). She also has shot pilots for MTV and VH1, five features and countless promos and commercials. In 2014, Phelan turned her focus to directing (Writers Boot Camp and The Barrow Group). She was a directing shadow on Grey’s Anatomy (Season 10). The next year her short, Visit 57 was featured at New York Women in Film & Television and the Hampton’s International Film Festival  Women Calling the Shots showcase. In June 2018, Visit 57 premiered online as a Vimeo Short of the Week. Funny of Die recently picked her web series #Motherjudger. Her latest short, 12:58p just premiered at the 2018 Through Women’s Eye Film Festival. Phelan lives in New York with her husband and two children.

Special thanks to Carlina Rivera and New York City District 2 for discretionary funding for the NYWIFT Member Screening Series.