PRESS RELEASES

Michael Worth's GOD'S EARS wins
Domani Vision & Jack Nance Awards at VISIONFEST 08

James Kerwin's YESTERDAY WAS A LIE nabs 3 statuettes with
THE MARCONI BROS., by Marco Ricci & Michael Canzoniero, close behind with 2 wins

New York City, (September 22, 2008) - VISIONFEST 08: The Other Festival, ended its five-day run last night, at the Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room, with its "closing night" Official Selection, God's Ears, directed by Michael Worth, and its 2008 Awards Ceremony, which saw the aforementioned film walk off with two of the film festival's most coveted awards: the Domani Vision Award for Emerging Talent, and the Jack Nance "Breakthrough Performance" Award. Both awards were presented to Michael Worth; the first honoring him as a filmmaker, and the second, recognizing his powerful acting turn. Worth first took to the podium with his mother, who stated that while she's not a writer, an actor, or a director, she affectionately added: "But I'm a real good producer," obviously referring to her son as he raised his award in the air. Michael Worth then added: "This is the first time I've ever won anything like this. I'm just really honored."

Loud gasps of excitement preceded each of the three times that actor/producer Chase Masterson approached the awards podium to claim statuettes on behalf of Yesterday Was A Lie director and writer, James Kerwin, who was recognized for both of those crafts, and for Jason Cochard, who was singled out for his stylish, black and white cinematography. Masterson appeared genuinely moved and perhaps even a little overwhelmed, as her labor of love multiplied its wins: "I'm blown away," she told the audience, as she shook her head in disbelief, "James (Kerwin) is going to be so incredibly grateful for this."

A third narrative feature to win multiple awards was The Marconi Bros., by Marco Ricci and Michael Canzoniero, which landed a very well-deserved honor for Overall Production and for its Production Designer, Cassandra Boyd. Each of the awards was accepted by the directors of the film, who went up separately, one for each instance, but both commented on what a fine event VISIONFEST had been and both expressed their appreciation for having been included in VF08.

Two awards went to Eli Akira Kaufman's California King, which was also the sole short subject film to win multiple awards. One award honored the film itself for Outstanding Achievement in Short Subject Filmmaking, while the second statuette went to lead actor, Don Hany, for his subtle, but memorable performance in the film. Kelly Nixon was voted for Outstanding Achievement in Acting (in a female lead role) for her acting debut in Chris King's haunting short subject, Rachel. All three awards were accepted by VF08 co-director, Bruno Derlin, who later revealed that: "This is the first time in our film festival's eight-year history that both male and female acting awards originated from short subject films. I think it's a really cool thing that's happening here."

Others rounding out the complete list of award recipients: Owen Lowery's An Alternative To Slitting Your Wrist, which was voted Best Documentary Feature; and editors, Katy Finch, Kim Kowalski, and Peter Bolte, for their work on Begging Naked. Award Certificates were presented to the docs Vaccine Nation and Blinders; the shorts, Woman In Burka and Some Of An Equation; and the short form doc, Just One Year. Feature Screenwriting Competition award recipients were announced as follows: 1st Place: Alan Armstrong's Preemptive Strike; 2nd Place: Gregory Orr's The Terror Tapes, and 3rd Place: Nyle Cavazos Garcia's The Absence of Light. VF08 closed with a small farewell get together at Walker's, and the promise that VISIONFEST would soon announce its festival dates for 2009, and that those would probably be for some time in June.

For additional details, please contact Dee Imbert:
917.754.5673 or via e-mail: press@visionfest.com / visit: www.visionfest.com

 Eusonia Recording Artist, Maiysha, will take the stage at
opening night after party

New York City, (September 4, 2008) - VISIONFEST 08: The Other Festival (VF08), Sept. 17-21, 2008, at Tribeca Cinemas (corner of Varick and Laight streets in New York City), with a special closing night screening and awards ceremony at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, recently announced its complete line-up for its 2008 Independent Vision Showcase.  43 films, originating from 12 states, and kicking off with the East Coast Premiere of The Marconi Bros. by Marco Ricci and Michael Canzoniero, will unspool over five consecutive evenings, culminating with the New York Premiere of Michael Worth's God's Ears.  The Opening Night after-party, which will be held in the Tribeca Cinemas Main Lounge, will feature live performances by Maiysha, whose recent video for her hit single "Wanna Be" (from her Eusonia album "This Much is True") just debuted on VH1, and will also be featured as a bonus clip during the opening night program.  FM Recording Artist, GIO, will warm up the crowd with selections from his new, self-titled CD.

Following a very successful "world premiere" screening at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival, this past March, The Marconi Bros. makes its New York debut at VISIONFEST on September 17, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. as the official "opening night selection."  The comedy feature, which stars Brandan Sexton III (Welcome to the Dollhouse; and the upcoming The Girl in the Park),Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury), and Jon Polito (American Gangster; The Big Lebowski), tells the tale of two brothers "dutifully serving out life sentences in their family carpet business", until a twist of fate thrusts them into a new career in production, as they cross paths with playboy, Louis "Lou" Burns, the king of the Long Island wedding video business.  The feature presentation of The Marconi Bros. will follow the World Premiere of the animated music video, Me, by Thomas Klieber, and the New York Premiere of the short comedy, Pic Six, by David Breckman.  A Q&A with the filmmakers and cast members will follow the screening, which has already sold out all general admission tickets, prompting VF08 organizers to add an encore screening at 10:30 p.m.
"We're incredibly delighted to kick off our film festival with such a wonderful blend of films," stated festival co-director, Bruno Derlin, "It's going to be a magical evening for all of us. Having to add additional screenings on opening night to satisfy audience demand makes any film festival organizer bounce up to cloud nine.  It's the cherry on top of our programming cake."

This year, VISIONFEST also offers its most eclectic collection of documentary films to date, with the first public, Manhattan screening of Donny Moss' Blinders leading the pack of very timely and provocative entries.  The 52 minute doc about the controversy surrounding NYC's legendary horse-drawn carriage, has stirred lots of media awareness, particularly following a private industry screening that actor-activist, Alec Baldwin, together with PETA and Gotham Magazine, hosted at Lincoln Center and covered in the pages of the NY Times and Daily News, as well as TV programs, such as Entertainment Tonight and Extra.  VisionFest co-founder, Mark Doyle, described Blinders as "one of the most powerful docs of this or any year," adding that "This is a very important film and we really hope that it opens some eyes as it makes its way around the city and beyond."   

Ed Hamell will be on hand to introduce the World Premiere of Ed Hamell: Rant & Roll, by Kate Valentine, which chronicles the musician's on the road experiences during a recent world tour.  The film, which is produced by indie rocker, Ani Difranco, is scheduled to continue on to a lengthy film festival circuit run prior to being released to DVD via Righteous Babe.

Tonya Dreher takes you into the heart of Afghanistan with her eye-opening account of filmmaker, Chris Turner, in the East Coast premiere of A Life in Hashistan, which VF08 co-director, Frank Lewallen, described as "a film you just can't stop watching." New York-based alternative medicine & natural healing advocate/talk radio host and filmmaker, Gary Null, returns to VisionFest to unveil his controversial documentary, Vaccine Nation.  And Karen Gehres' Begging Naked, which is a fascinating, often too crude account of Elise Hill, suburbanite-turned prostitute-turned artist and ultimately homeless in New York, will be supported by an affiliated art show, showcasing Ms. Hill's unique paintings.

The "Official Closing Night" program, which will be held at the world renowned Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at 7:00 pm, will feature the New York Premiere of the award-winning dramatic feature, God's Ears, by Michael Worth, who also produced and stars in the film, as Noah Connelly, a boxer with a tireless opponent: Autism.  The film also stars Margot Farley as the exotic dancer who captures Noah's heart, and legendary actor, John Saxon (Enter The Dragon; A Nightmare On Elm Street).   VF08 producer, Jana Frindtova admitted:  "Since I started working with VisionFest, back in 2005, I've never broken down in tears of joy and admiration, as I did when I first saw God's Ears. This is the kind of film that stays with you, and it's because its characters are people you want to get to know personally."  The feature will be preceded by the riveting narrative short subject, Some Of An Equation, by Burke Roberts, and an encore presentation of Thomas Klieber's ME.

An Awards Ceremony, honoring VF08 participants for outstanding achievement in more than 15 categories, will follow after a brief intermission, wrapping up the annual event with a casual and laid back, farewell after-party at Walker's, in Tribeca, which is the official local bar and eatery of VF08 .  Other VF08 after-parties and affiliated events will be announced in the coming weeks.


For additional details and/or to request Press Accreditation, please contact VISIONFEST:
Phone # 718.837.5736 or via e-mail: press@visionfest.com

New York City, (September 24, 2007) – VISIONFEST 07: The Other Festival (VF07) wrapped its five-day run last night, at the Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room, with its “closing night” Official Selection, pretty in the face, directed by Nate Meyer, and its 2007 Awards Ceremony, which saw the aforementioned film walk off with three major awards: Outstanding Achievement in Acting (female lead) for Meagan Moses; directing (Nate Meyer); and the festival’s top filmmaker recognition, the Domani Vision Award for Emerging Talent, also bestowed upon the film’s director, who walked to the podium and embraced his multiple award win “As validation for making a film without really worrying about what’s going to happen at the end of it.”  pretty in the face, which celebrated its New York Premiere at VF07, has been garnering rave reviews around the U.S. film festival circuit since its March 2007 World Premiere at South By Southwest, picking up several awards along the way. Visionfest co-founder, Mark Doyle stated that: “The movie had been an early favorite for the Domani Vision Award since we first screened it for our selection committee.  Everyone was blown away by its raw energy.”    VF07 co-director, Bruno Derlin added: “I haven’t seen anything this intense since Todd Solondz’ Happiness.”  The screening of the film, which ended in a round of sustained applause, prompted several other filmmakers to state how delighted they were to have come for the entire screening and not just for the Awards Ceremony.

VF07’s Jack Nance ‘Breakthrough Performance’ Award, a special nod recognizing that one performance that can easily be defined as the driving force behind a certain film, was assigned to Heather Graham for her riveting work in Alan White’s Broken, which also took home an award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography (for Neil Shapiro).  The film, which screened at VF07 as this year’s “opening night” selection, will be released theatrically in New York on October 5, 2007.  The film’s producer, Jerry Wayne, thanked VF07 personnel via telephone for recognizing Broken in these two categories and for embracing the film with such enthusiasm.

Other multiple award winners included Douglas Horn’s Entry Level, which picked up honors for Overall Production and for its sharp and witty ‘writing.’  Mr. Horn accepted his writing award first, saying very few words at the acceptance podium and savoring the moment, which had genuinely taken him by surprise.  A few minutes later, Mr. Horn was summoned once again to pick up the Overall Production award.  And this time he seemed gleefully elated and much more vocal.

Rob Muraskin’s “epic” short subject film, Olyver Brody, was named as the year’s Best Short, with a second award going to production designer, Tiffany Moore, for the visually stunning ‘fairytale’ world she created, using some very limited resources and lots of imagination.

Other award recipients rounding out the complete list include:  Adrian Belic’s Beyond the Call,

which was voted as the year’s Best Feature Documentary; Rock Kohli as Best Actor for his portrayal of an unlucky NY cabbie in the feature drama, Off Duty; and editor, William Daniels, for his work on Days of Darkness.   Award Certificates were presented to the short films Jesus Cooks Me Breakfast, Deleted Scenes, Other People’s Children, and Syzygy.  Feature Screenwriting Competition award recipients were announced as follows:  1^st Place:  Mark Winzer’s The Interview;  2^nd Place: Chuck Rose’s Steps, and 3^rd Place: John Daschbach’s That Day On The Road.  VF07 closed with a final after-party at Walker’s, announcing its 2008 film festival dates: September 17-21

For additional details and/or to request Press Accreditation, please contact Dee Imbert:

917.754.5673 or via e-mail: press@visionfest.com  / visit: www.visionfest.com

Red carpet to be rolled out for Heather Graham at

Visionfest 07 opener, Broken

VF07’s entire line-up of features is generating some very exciting advance buzz, with the completely ‘sold out’ New York Premiere screening of The Doorman; the World Premiere of zombie epic, Days of Darkness; and New York Premieres of Entry Level, Her Best Move, and pretty in the face

New York City, (September 18, 2007) – VISIONFEST 07: The Other Festival (VF07), which runs September 19-23, 2007, at Tribeca Cinemas (corner of Varick and Laight streets in New York City), has announced that Heather Graham (Boogie Nights; Bobby), who stars in the film festival’s opening night feature, Broken, is scheduled to attend the exclusive New York film festival premiere on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at 8:30 p.m.  Ms. Graham is expected to arrive just before 8 in a Classic Car Club vehicle, and will be on hand to officially kick off VF07.  

The movie follows Hope (Heather Graham) as she makes a life-altering move away from her Midwestern town to pursue a singing career in Los Angeles.  Her newfound love interest, Will, (played by Jeremy Sisto), however, soon drags her down into his own dark world, where slacking off on life and experimenting with hard drugs seems to be the order of the day.  “In this film,” stated VF07 producer, Jana Frindtova, “Heather Graham takes on a truly challenging role.  Her ‘Hope’ is a character I think many women will identify with on so many levels. She is smart and talented, and ultimately a free spirit. And yet, she falls prey to her own emotions, allowing them to often get in the way of her own happiness.  But we root for her no matter what.”  Broken, which is directed by Alan White, will open theatrically in New York on October 5^th, and will unveil later in the month in Austin ,Chicago, Minneapollis, and Los Angeles.  Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Tess Harper (Crimes of the Heart), and Jake Busey (Christmas With The Kranks) are among some of the other great performances featured in the film.

The very eclectic line-up of feature films in VF07 also boasts the New York Premiere of Wayne Price’s The Doorman, a docu-comedy that has already sold out its Thursday evening (Sept. 20) screening; the World Premiere of Jake Kennedy’s zombie-fest, Days of Darkness, creeping into Tribeca Cinemas on Friday evening (Sept. 21) as part of the festival’s annual “Fright Night Fridays” showcase; and the New York Premiere of Douglas Horn’s Entry Level, a slick, very funny, L.A. comedy featuring D.B. Sweeney (Gardens of Stone), scheduled for Saturday, the 22^nd, at 8:00 p.m.  Two feature-length documentaries are also included in the 2007 Independent Vision line-up.  Gary Null’s AIDS Inc., and Adrian Belic’s Beyond the Call, which marks Mr. Belic’s second documentary feature since his Oscar®-nominated, Genghis Blues, a 1999 Sundance Audience Award winner.  The two docs are screening on Thursday, September 20, at Tribeca Cinemas.

 And finally, rounding out the “narrative features” line-up, are the New York premiere of Her Best Move, by Norm Hunter, starring Leah Pipes (Life Is Wild; Pixel Perfect) – Sunday at 3:00 p.m., and the award-winning dramatic feature, pretty in the face, by Nate Meyer, which will officially close the Independent Vision Competition on Sunday evening, starting at 7:00 p.m., at the Tribeca Grand Screening Room.  An Awards Ceremony will follow after a brief intermission, culminating in an after-party at the Tribeca eatery, Walker’s (which will also be featured as the venue that is hosting the opening night after-party).  Other VF07 after-party venues include Dirty Disco (Sept. 21) and Novo (Sept. 20 and 22).

For additional details and/or to request Press Accreditation, please contact Dee Imbert:

E-mail: press@visionfest.com  / visit: www.visionfest.com