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FESTIVAL 2024

The Astoria Film Festival took place in person Thursday, May 30 - June 2.  2024, with a celebration of filmmaking and animation from around the world and a showcase of films made by local students in Astoria Film Festival' s media education programming around NYC as well as a youth festival with films from around the country and around the world. Held at the prestigious Arri Rental LIC and at historic Kaufman Astoria Studios, with events online as well (from June 3-7), the festival featured an impressive lineup of screenings, filmmaker panels, industry panels, and networking events.

FESTIVAL 2024 WINNERS

WINNING FILMS - MAIN FESTIVAL

GRAND JURY PRIZE - SHORT FILMS

VOICE BOX, USA

NADER BAHU

PRIZE: SAMANSA DISTRIBUTION DEAL

https://www.samansa.com/

GRAND JURY AWARD - ANIMATION

MY MOTHER'S STORY, KOREA

KIM Soyoung, JANG Minhee

PRIZE: MONETARY

BEST DRAMA SHORT FILM

MARKS OF CAIN, USA

VERONICA HEIN

PRIZE: FINAL DRAFT /COVERFLY SUBSCRIPTION

https://www.finaldraft.com/

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

EYES, KOREA

NAM Hyokyoung, CHOI Yoojae

PRIZE: MONETARY

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM

FERAL ROMANCE, KOREA

Elton Yong Gyun Kim

PRIZE: FINAL DRAFT /COVERFLY SUBSCRIPTION

https://www.finaldraft.com/

BEST COMEDY SHORT FILM

HOT IDIOT, USA

KATHRINE CHIN

PRIZE: NYWIFT MEMBERSHIP

https://www.nywift.org/

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

I HAD TO

VINH NYUGEN

PRIZE: KTEK STINGRAY UTILITY HIP PACK SOUND GEAR

https://ktekpro.com/

BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM

THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE, USA

DUANE MICHALS

PRIZE: FINAL DRAFT /COVERFLY SUBSCRIPTION

https://www.finaldraft.com/

BEST HORROR SHORT FILM

BLOODLUST USA

Decker Harris, Violet Woodley, Liv Sinhart

PRIZE: Free Marketing Package by MARKETING MACABRE

https://www.marketingmacabre.com/

BEST DANCE SHORT FILM

THE POLITICIAN, USA

MELISSA MARTINEZ

PRIZE: SACRED SPACE YOGA PASSES

https://www.sacredspaceastoria.com/

BEST DIRECTING

HOLDING PATTERN, USA

MICHAEL FODERA

PRIZE: MOMI FAMILY MEMBERSHIP

https://movingimage.org/

BEST EDITING

THOSE THAT LIVED THERE, USA

SHAWN ANTOINE II

PRIZE: FILM and IP LEGAL CONSULTATION WITH LAWTECH TANGO

https://lawtechlearn.com/

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

HOLDING PATTERN, USA

NICK GALANTE

PRIZE: GIFT CARD TO L'INCONTRO by  ROCCO

https://trattorialincontro.com/

BEST SOUND MIXING- judged by GOTHAM SOUND

UNLUCKY IN LOVE, USA

JON PAUL and CRYSTAL ARNETTE

PRIZE: GIFT CARD TO GOTHAM SOUND

https://www.gothamsound.com/

BEST PERFORMANCES - PRIZES: GIFT CARDS TO BAREBURGER

https://bareburger.com/

KELSEY COLLINGS

WRITING YOU DOWN, USA

LENNON SICKELS

WHAT A TRIP, USA

AUDIENCE AWARDS FOR MAIN FESTIVAL

TEYO - KEVIN GADDI

WHAT A TRIP! - COLLIN KORNFEIND

BLOODLUST - Decker Harris, Violet Woodley, Liv Sinhart

WHT DO YOU SEE? - JOHNNY HEDGER

YOUTH FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS

PRIZES: Astoria Film Festival  SWAG

BEST YOUTH DRAMA

STATIC STARVATION

EMMA GRIGORYEV, BROOKLYN NY (MIDWOOD HS)

BEST YOUTH COMEDY

NOISY TUTORING

MARIA IONESCU, QUEENS NY (ACTVF HS)

BEST YOUTH EXPERIMENTAL

DREAM

JORDAN SANTAMARIA, QUEENS NY (ACTIVF HS)

BEST YOUTH DOCUMENTARY

GUIDING LIGHT

India Anne Mitchell, INDIANA

BEST YOUTH ANIMATION

SLAP THE DECK

ZOLO CETINEL

PRIZE: GAMESTORIA GIFT CARD

https://gamestoria.com

 

BEST INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ANIMATION

GETTING USED TO LONELINESS, KOREA

SEO Pyoungwon

 

BEST YOUTH DIRECTOR​

NEIGHBORS

Ryo Helena Schreifels, NYC

BEST YOUTH EDITOR

LATE NIGHT EDIT

Kyle M. Wegler, ALABAMA

BEST YOUTH CINEMATOGRAPHER

RED

AMY ZHANG, NYC

BEST INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FILM

THE SOUND OF HAND (INDONSESIA)

Muhammad Fauzan

BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCES

DREAM (ACTVF HS, NYC)

CONSTANTINE BOWDEN, BROOKLYN COLLEGE

HENRY NEIQUIST (HS of ART & DESIGN, NYC)

INSOMNIAC

ALIZE SMITH, NYC

NEIGHBOR

AUDIENCE AWARDS FOR YOUTH FESTIVAL

RED - AMY ZHANG

NOISY TUTORING - MARIA IONESC

LINK TO DOWNLOAD PDF OF ALL AWARD CERTIFICATES

IN PERSON EVENTS (FINISHED):

THURSDAY MAY 30 OPENING NIGHT 6-10pm

ARRI RENTAL LIC

(47-27 36th St LIC/Sunnyside, NY)

*ASL INTERPRETERS PRESENT FOR PANEL from 7:30-8:30pm

6-8pm Screenings and Filmmaker Panel, Moderated by Arri Rentals' Luis Feliciano

Don't Dismiss Us

The Sound of Hand - Indonesia

Meet Again - Korea

Voice Box

Unlucky in Love

Happy Anniversary

Kryptonite

Home - Korea

Cheese Maze: The Movie (An AFFWorkshopProduction)

#StopHateNYC PSAs for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) and NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)

8-10pm Step and Repeat Interviews and Party (Party-only tickets are available)

FRI MAY 31, ANIMATION SESSION, ZUKOR THEATER, 

KAUFMAN ASTORIA STUDIOS

(35 St/35 Ave Astoria NY)

4-5pm HS of Art and Design/SONY Workshop projects and Panel, Moderated by Bryan Korn​ & Ruth Morrison

Pigeon

The Rats

Library

Bodega Cat

5:30-8:30pm Animation Screenings and Creator Panel, Moderated by Bryan Korn (Emmy, BAFTA & Annie Award Winning Animation Executive) & Ruth Morrison (Animation Writer, Netflix & PBS)

The Spellening

Slumber Party

Getting Used to Loneliness - Korea

Allergy

Boundary - Korea

Bring Back

Catch The Moon

EYES - Korea

Coffee

Rally - Korea

The Conscious I - Korea

Kang's Kimbab

My Mothers Story- Korea

Bait

Lovie Dovie

Creek

Diary Booth - Korea

Slap The Deck

The Everything is OK Show

Thunder Fish

The Scramble

Swimming - Korea

Ode to Onions

Unfamiliar

In The Interim

8:30pm Animation Awards Ceremony

SAT JUNE 1, 2024 - ZUKOR THEATER, KAUFMAN ASTORIA STUDIOS

(35 St/35 Ave Astoria NY)

9am-3pm Astoria Film Festival STUDENT SHOWCASE

(AFFWorkshop Films from the 2023-24 school year)

9-11am SOLD OUT

Q300

& AFFWORKSHOP FILMS - OCT, NOV, MARCH

11:30am-12:30pm SOLD OUT

FILMS FROM 122Q, Q429,​ 234Q, & 212Q

1-2:30pm SESSION SOLD OUT

1-1:30pm

Words from our Sponsors at CCHR and OPHC

PSA CONTEST SUBMISSIONS for NYC's OHCR and CCHR

-funded by a grant from the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and the NYC Commission on Human Rights

3 from our Workshop at IS429Q

Winning PSA

1:30-2:30pm

TEEN FILMS

High School Showcase featuring work by

Art & Design HS, NYC

Blue Birthday

Academy for Careers in TV and Film, LIC

A Day in the Life of Thea

The Voices

Nobody

Dream

Noisy Tutoring

Film created by the 2024 Astoria Film Festival Media Production Lab

- funded by grant from Flushing Town Hall, New York Foundation for the Arts, & the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs

3-4:30pm Media Career Panel (Free panel of Industry Professionals talk about their work and their career paths)

Rosanne Limoncelli, PHD, Senior Director of Film Technologies, Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU

Ben Lehman, Director and Frmr Showrunner, Sesame Street; Director, Tiny Time Travel 

Dustin Ward, Director of Photography, HBO, APPLE, NETFLIX - IATSE Local 600

Mariana Díaz-Wionczek, PhD, Children's Media Researcher and Executive Producer 

Ruth Fernandez, IATSE 798 HMU

Gabrielle Howard, Creative Development Manger, Fred Rogers Productions

Nick Huston, Sound Engineer, Sales Manager, Gotham Sound

Ed Kulzer, Senior Editor, Sesame Street

5-6:30pm Media Education Panel (free panel but need to reserve a seat)

Moderated by Kevin Lopez, Principal, Motion Picture Tech HS

Adam Brier EdD, Deputy Executive Director, CTE at New York City Public Schools

Rosanne Limoncelli, PhD, Senior Director of Film Technologies, Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU

Cecilia Chien, ARRI RENTALS Outreach Coordinator/ IATSE Local 600 Camera Technician

Lori Greene, Founder LPG EDU, Professor - NYU and Fordham/ Former Netflix Global Education Manager

Hanan Harchol, Big Apple Award Winning Teacher/Director of the Film Department at High School of Art and Design

Jacob Stebel, Program Director, Ghetto Film School/FMR NYC DOE film teacher, The Cinema School

Jacquelyn Gutierrez, Film Production Teacher, Academy for Careers in Television & Film HS

7-9pm YOUTH FESTIVAL
Screenings and Panel

Static Starvation

The Gift that Keeps Giving

The Sound of Hand - Indonesia

Guiding Light

Adult - Ukraine

Red

Dream

Insomniac

Playtime

Neighbors

Late Night Edit

Noisy Tutoring

9-9:30pm Youth Festival Awards

SUNDAY JUNE 2, 2024 MAIN FESTIVAL

ZUKOR THEATER, KAUFMAN ASTORIA STUDIOS

(35 St/35 Ave Astoria NY)

10am-1pm DITMARS SESSION

Screenings and Panel 

The Day Spring Comes - Korea

Resurrection Under the Ocean - Turkey

5/3/0 - Serbia

See You On The Other Side - Korea

I Promise You Paradise - Egypt

Strange Garden - Korea

For Those That Lived There

Ashes to Ashes

I Had To

Shots

Feral Romance - Korea

Unrest in Peace

Pumping Cool

1:30-3:30pm STEINWAY SESSION

Screenings and Panel 

The Muse

Do You Trust Me

In The Grey

Hot Idiot

Bus '83

I Had To

Want it Again

Beyond Skin Deep

Pizza Dreams

What Do You See?

The Politiican

4-6pm BROADWAY SESSION

Screenings and Panel

Writing You Down

Holding Pattern

The Next Stop

What a Trip

Teyo

Bloodlust

Marks of Cain

The Ghost in the Machine

Entanglement - Portugal

6:30-7:30pm Main Festival Awards Ceremony 

ONLINE EVENTS (finished)

MON JUNE 3, 8pm ET Virtual Legal Workshop

Intellectual Property Law, AI, and Your Film

Dauna Williams Esq, LawTechTango (JD Harvard, BA Brown) 

Deborah Branch, Esq, Branch Law, PLLC (JD Harvard, BA Brown) 

TUES JUNE 4, 8pm ET  Virtual Career Panel

Moderated by Nina Fiore, Astoria Film Festival

Angela Morgenstern, Executive, Netflix, MTV, PBS 

Irene Phan, SVP, The MBS Group

Valencia Coleman, Gameplay Engineer, Owlchemy Labs

Daniela Camargo, Film Marketing, Mercury Filmworks 

Tommy Wu, Co-Founder, WLab Virtual Production Studio

Maddy Mermelstein, Production Coordinator, Nickelodeon

WED JUNE 5, 8pm ET - Virtual Professional Animation Panel

Moderated by Bryan Korn, SONY - Hilda/Octonauts

Alexei Bochenek, Titmouse

Diego Molano, Cartoon Network

Ruth Morrison, Animation Writer, Netflix, PBS

THURS JUNE 6, 8pm ET - Virtual Filmmaker Panel

Festival Filmmakers

Rachel Handler, Unlucky In Love

Nader Bahu, Voice Box

Ron James, Do You Trust Me?

Angelina Retodo, The Scramble

THURS JUNE 7, 8pm ET - Virtual Korean Filmmakers Panel with translator

Moderated by Yunah Chung, Astoria Film Festival Board Member and VP, Content for SAMANSA

"Getting Used to Loneliness", SEO Pyoungwon

"Meet Again (JAEHOE)", KANG Ap-sol

"Boundary", SO Hahyun

"Eyes", NAM Hyokyoung & CHOI Yoojae

"Rally", NOH Myojung

"Swimming", SEO Saerom 

​"See You on the Other Side", JUNG Haeji

"The Day Spring Comes", SHIN Sooyeon

2024 JURY

One of our main goals as a festival is to get our filmmakers and creators work in front of industry professionals, so we are very excited to introduce you to this year's festival judges.

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