VISIONFEST ANNOUNCES 2015 IDEPENDENT VISION AWARDS

VISIONFEST 15: THE OTHER FESTIVAL wrapped its five-day run last night with the 2015 Independent Vision Awards Ceremony & After-Party!

The 15th Anniversary Edition of the annual Domani Vision Film Society event gave out Outstanding Achievement Awards in the following categories:

Mr. Senger accepts Domani Vision Award

Domani Vision Award – Filmmaker of the Year

Travis Gutiérrez Senger DESERT CATHEDRAL

Alan Pruzin accepts Production award

Production

Alan Pruzin - Scott Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Directing

Travis Gutiérrez Senger DESERT CATHEDRAL 

Cast & crew pose with VF15 co-director Bruno Derlin

Audience Award

ALTO

 

Writing

Stewart Schill FRANK VS. GOD

 

The Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award

Chaske Spencer DESERT CATHEDRAL

Bruno Derlin & Todd D'Amour

Acting Male – Long Form

Todd D’Amour WENDELL & THE LEMON

Acting Female – Long Form

Ever Carradine FRANK VS. GOD

Cinematography

Michael Ragen DESERT CATHEDRAL

Editing

Chris King BIRTHDAY

 

Maria Soccor and her Outstanding Documentary Award

Documentary

LORDS OF BSV

 

Marilyn D'Amato and her award

Production Design

Marilyn D’Amato ALTO

SHORT FORM PROJECTS

Garette Henson accepts for Outstanding Short

Outstanding Short Subject

SINA FORMA

DVFS Visionary Award

Courtney Marsh ZARI

Acting - Male

Stephen Plunkett SINA FORMA

JoAnna Rhinehart accepts her acting award

Acting - Female (tie)

Mandy Moody BIRTHDAY

JoAnna Rhinehart DOUBLE NEGATIVE

Short Form Screenplay

Brian Dilg DOUBLE NEGATIVE

Jury Prize – Technical/Artistic Achievement

HELIO

Social Consciousness

BIRTHDAY

Sound Design

ZARI

Score

David Gregory Byrne THE BLOOD OF LOVE

FEATURE SCREENWRITING COMPETITION

1^st Place

SOLE CAPTAIN by Wernher Ovalle

Bruno Derlin with 2nd Place recipient, Lukas Hassel

2^nd Place

GALAPAGOS by Lukas Hassel

3^rd Place

OUTSIDE MERIDIAN by Martin Ponferrada

ALL IVA CEREMONY PHOTOS BY DEREK SOTO - SINESTRA STUDIOS

VF15 ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION DEAL FOR "ALTO"

Following NYC premiere at VisionFest NYC, Cinema Libre Studio Acquires

‘Official Centerpiece’ film, ALTO

starring American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo and Annabella Sciorra in an LGBT ‘family’ film

Cast and crew from ALTO on red carpet during the film’s VF15 premiere

(photo by Derek Soto – Sinestra Studios)

New York, May 16, 2015:  Following its New York City premiere at VisionFest 15, Cinema Libre Studio has acquired ALTO, a ground breaking independent film that turns the mob comedy on its ear by introducing a lesbian love story that seeks to bridge differences and unite families. Written and directed by transgender filmmaker Mikki del Monico, the film stars American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo and features her vocals in original music.

ALTO is a quirky love story set in the midst of an unanticipated run-in with the New York Mafia, its comedic elements making it accessible as a story about family as much as about personal growth.  Improbable love, the mob, and family traditions gone awry pave the way for laughter in this character-rich story that explores how the most surprising discoveries often come when we least expect it, in the midst of murder plots, federal investigations, and …oh yeah, lasagna!

The film was produced by Toni D’Antonio and Shake the Tree Productions. 

From left to right:

Producer Toni D’Antonio, Writer-Director Mikki del Monico, and Executive Producer Ellora DeCarlo

It features Diana DeGarmo as “Frankie del Vecchio,” Melanie Minichino (Sopranos, Law & Order) as her sister with Annabella Sciorra (The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Cop Land) and David Valcin (Person of Interest, New Year’s Eve) as their parents. Natalie Knepp plays “Nicolette” (The Last 5 Years, Orange Is The New Black) the mobster’s daughter, a modern day femme fatale.

DeGarmo first caught America’s attention by earning the runner-up position on American Idol’s third season, a platform she used to launch a successful music and theatre career, including the Tony award-winning revival of Hair. She is currently wrapping up a national tour as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Alto features original music performed by DeGarmo with vocals added by her husband Ace Young, also an American Idol alumnus, and the chart topping girl-group Antigone Rising.

The unique take on this Romeo-and-Juliet family comedy was conceived, written, and directed by del Monico. “I know what it’s like to step outside the everyday world and play by my own set of rules. The path to making this film involved my coming out as transgender, something I’d felt completely unprepared to discuss for many years.  I have a great family, but I wasn’t prepared for their acceptance.  I’d tied myself in knots because I didn’t want to hurt them.  Instead they gave me the gift of any great family: their love.”

The film was unveiled publicly for the first time in New York on May 15, as the ‘Official Centerpiece Screening’ at VisionFest 15: The Other Festival (aka VF15), which celebrated its 15^th annual run with this special anniversary edition.  Organized and curated by the Domani Vision Film Society, a non-profit arts and culture organization dedicated to “bringing you tomorrow’s visionaries today,” VF15 continued its tradition of ‘promoting domestic filmmaking’ by presenting works made exclusively by some of the most talented U.S. based indie filmmakers on the film festival circuit today. 

VF15 also introduced a sidebar, art component this year with Musical Vision, a photo exhibit featuring live concert performance images captured by New York photographer, Mark Doyle. The festival selected 41 films, originating from 12 states, for this year’s line-up, with 32 of the films vying for the prestigious IVAs, the Independent Vision Awards.  ALTO is one of the films up for multiple award categories, with 4 nominations:  Outstanding Achievement in Production, Outstanding Actor – Lead Female Role (Natalie Knepp), the Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award (Diana DeGarmo), and Production Design.  In light of its two consecutive ‘sold out’ screenings at VF15, ALTO is also a front-runner for the festival’s first-ever Audience Award.  IVA winners will be announced during an Awards Ceremony on Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 8:45 p.m. in the TC2 screening venue of Tribeca Cinemas.

Cinema Libre Studio, the Los Angeles based distribution company known for distributing a wide array of social-issue documentaries and provocative films by passionate filmmakers has acquired worldwide rights.  Says Richard Castro, COO and VP of Acquisitions, “Our company is proud to shine a light on films and filmmakers with unconventional perspectives.  Mikki has made a fun film that not only serves up a fresh take on the traditional mob story, but champions the LGBT community while doing so.  That’s a win-win-win in our book."

Learn more about the film:

Website: http://www.altothemovie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltoTheMovie

Twitter: https://twitter.com/altothemovie

About Cinema Libre:

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Cinema Libre team has released over one hundred films including the Sundance Audience Award‐Winning FUEL, THE END OF POVERTY?, Rachid Bouchareb’s LONDON RIVER and Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER. The studio is developing John Perkins’ best‐selling memoirs, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, into a major motion picture and is currently releasing CAN’T STAND LOSING YOU: SURVIVING THE POLICE and DAYS OF GRACE (DIAS DE GRACIA). For more information and updates, please visit: www.cinemalibrestudio.com| Updates | Facebook | Twitter .

VF15 ANNOUNCES IVA NOMINATIONS!

Narrative Features DESERT CATHEDRAL and FRANK VS. GOD

and the short subject, HELIO, lead race with 9 nods apiece

On shorts front, SINA FORMA racked up 8 nominations, followed closely by

BIRTHDAY and ZARI with 6 nods each!

New York City – May 14, 2015 – VISIONFEST 15: THE OTHER FESTIVAL (VF15), which runs May 13 thru May 17, 2015, at Tribeca Cinemas (corner of Laight and Varick Streets in New York City), officially announced its 2015 Independent Vision Award (The IVAs) nominations last night.  Festival co-director, Bruno Derlin, revealed the contenders for this year’s IVAs during the after-party that followed the “Opening Night Selection” screening.  The announcements were greeted with cheers and applause by many of the participating filmmakers and their supporters present for the kick-off celebration.

The opening feature, DESERT CATHEDRAL, received a very warm and enthusiastic reception as the film’s writer-director, Travis Gutiérrez Senger, and its two male leads, Lee Tergesen and Chaske Spencer, went up to talk about their respective experiences on the film in a very intense Q&A session, which saw nearly every single attendee stick around way beyond the film’s closing credits. All three gentlemen were celebrated and singled out for their work just thirty minutes later, when IVA nominations were announced and the film piled up 9 mentions, including the festival’s top prize, the Domani Vision Award, named after the festival’s organizing entity, the Domani Vision Film Society, a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization, whose tag line is: “Bringing you tomorrow’s visionaries, today.”

The festival’s “Closing Night Selection” feature, FRANK VS. GOD, by Stewart Schill, and the futuristic short, HELIO, by Teddy Cecil, also racked up 9 nominations apiece, with each director also named as a candidate for the fest’s top prize.  The FRANK VS. GOD nominations mirrored 8 of the DESERT CATHEDRAL category nods, with the exception of one (DC has a Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award mention, while FvG is in the running for a Production Design Award), making this race a very exciting showdown for the two features.  Two other narrative features, ALTO, by Mikki del Monico, and WENDELL AND THE LEMON, by Lawrence Krauser, also matched their respective nominations tally, with 4 nods each, but only mirrored a mention in a single category:  Outstanding Production.

The narrative short subjects race is also populated by a slew of films with multiple nominations.  In addition to the aforementioned HELIO, SINA FORMA, by Garette Henson, the festival’s opening night short,, landed 8 nods, including Outstanding Achievement in Short Subject Filmmaking and the Domani Vision Award.  Following close behind, with 6 nominations apiece, were ZARI, by Courtney Marsh, an “Outstanding Short” contender who has the distinction of being the only filmmaker with two projects included in this year’s line-up (her experimental, THE TULIP CHAIR, was screened during last night’s program), and 2015 film festival circuit darling, BIRTHDAY, by Chris King, who happens to be the one VF alum who already has several IVA statuettes on his mantle and has now been given a chance to double his “Outstanding Short” score.  Rounding out the Outstanding Short category are DOUBLE NEGATIVE, by Brian Dilg, which collected 5 nominations, and PINKY, by Dylan Paffe, with 4 nods.

The feature documentary, LORDS OF BSV, by Maria Soccor, landed a nomination for its editor, Barry Rubinow, and one for Outstanding Documentary, which will see the sparring competition of THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW, by Timothy Bradley.

Winners will be announced on Sunday, May 17, 2015, during the IVA Ceremony, which will kick off at approximately 8:45 pm.  The full list of IVA nominations follows:

Domani Vision Award – Filmmaker of the Year

Travis Gutiérrez Senger DESERT CATHEDRAL

Stewart Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Teddy Cecil HELIO

Garette Henson SINA FORMA

Courtney Marsh ZARI

Production

Toni D’Antonio, Ellora DeCarlo, Mikki del Monico, Annabella Sciorra ALTO

Travis Gutiérrez Senger, Michael J Mouncer,  Chip Hourihan DESERT CATHEDRAL

Alan Pruzin - Scott Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Teddy Cecil - David Kenneth HELIO

Josh Wick WENDELL AND THE LEMON

Directing

Chris King BIRTHDAY

Travis Gutiérrez Senger DESERT CATHEDRAL

Stewart Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Garette Henson SINA FORMA

Lawrence Krauser WENDELL AND THE LEMON

Writing

Travis Gutiérrez Senger DESERT CATHEDRAL

Stewart Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Garette Henson & Laurie Rose Savage SINA FORMA

Lawrence Krauser WENDELL AND THE LEMON

Courtney Marsh ZARI

The Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award

Diana DeGarmo ALTO

Ashley Carvalho BROKEN JAM

Chaske Spencer DESERT CATHEDRAL

Maximus Britton DOUBLE NEGATIVE

Alison Lani PINKY

Acting Male – Long Form

Lee Tergesen DESERT CATHEDRAL

Henry Ian Cusick FRANK VS. GOD

Todd D’Amour WENDELL & THE LEMON

Acting Female – Long Form

Natalie Knepp ALTO

Petra Wright DESERT CATHEDRAL

Ever Carradine FRANK VS. GOD

The Abe Shrager Award for Cinematography

Adam Newport-Berra THE CRUMB OF IT

Michael Ragen DESERT CATHEDRAL

Stephen F. Campbell FRANK VS. GOD

Byron Werner HELIO

Julian Amaru Estrada PINKY

Editing

Chris King BIRTHDAY

Marc Vives DESERT CATHEDRAL

Stewart Schill FRANK VS. GOD

Carlos David Rivera HELIO

Barry Rubinow LORDS OF BSV

Documentary

LORDS OF BSV

THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW

Production Design

Marilyn D’Amato ALTO

Natasha Liegel THE CRUMB OF IT

Holley D. Morgan & Matthew S. Naumann FRANK VS. GOD

Aprile Lanza Boettcher THE HAIRCUT

Kurt Braun HELIO

SHORT FORM

Outstanding Short Subject

BIRTHDAY (Chris King, Producer)

DOUBLE NEGATIVE (Miguel Parga,Eckhard Stiller, Producers)

PINKY (Celina Hyojong Kim, Producer)

SINA FORMA (Nicole Delaney, Producer)

ZARI (Jerry Franck & Kristof Ruzics, Producers)

DVFS Visionary Award

Jeff Meyers THE BLOOD OF LOVE

Teddy Cecil HELIO

A.J. Schmitz PERIPLANET

Garette Henson SINA FORMA

Courtney Marsh ZARI

Acting Male (Short)

Chris Gouchoe BIRTHDAY

George R. Golden THE EXAM

Franco Pulice INFINITE

Rick Kincaid LULLABY

Stephen Plunkett SINA FORMA

Acting Female (Short)

Mandy Moody BIRTHDAY

Mali Elfman THE BLOOD OF LOVE

JoAnna Rhinehart DOUBLE NEGATIVE

Bailey Noble THE HAIRCUT

Sofiya Akilova SINA FORMA

Short Form Screenplay

Jeff Meyers THE BLOOD OF LOVE

Brian Dilg DOUBLE NEGATIVE

William Speruzzi THE EXAM

A.J. Schmitz PERIPLANET

Dylan Paffe PINKY

Jury Prize – Technical/Artistic Achievement

CHEESE DOG: THE MOVIE

HELIO

INFINITE

PERIPLANET

ZARI

Social Consciousness

BIRTHDAY

BROKEN JAM

DOUBLE NEGATIVE

THE HAIRCUT

SINA FORMA

Sound Design

Brandon Kim CLOSE THE DOOR

P. Daniel Newman HELIO

Ray Chung LULLABY

Roman Chimienti THE MINIONS

Courtney Marsh ZARI

Score (Short Form)

David Gregory Byrne THE BLOOD OF LOVE

White Widow CHEESE DOG: THE MOVIE

Milosz Jeziorski CLOSE THE DOOR

Ryan Stratton INFINITE

P. Daniel Newman HELIO

FEATURE SCREENWRITING COMPETITION FINALISTS

GALAPAGOS by Lukas Hassel

OUTSIDE MERIDIAN by Martin Ponferrada

SILENCE by Dylan Phillips

SOLE CAPTAIN by Wernher Ovalle

SPOOKED by Scott Ruane

For additional details and/or to request Press Accreditation, please contact: press@visionfest.com

WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW TO PERFORM AT VF15

THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW is the title of a documentary by Timothy Bradley, screening this year at VISIONFEST 15.  The screening will be held on Thursday, May 14th, at 7:00pm, in TC1, as part of the program, A POTPOURRI OF VISIONS, an eclectic collection of animated, experimental, narrative, and documentary shorts.  The screening will be followed with a Q&A featuring the filmmakers & cast/crew members of the projects being presented, and an after-party in the adjacent VARICK ROOM, where members of THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW will perform live, in an intimate, "unplugged" show.



THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW IS A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT THAT BRINGS TOGETHER MASSACHUSETTS SINGER-SONGWRITERS IN THE VEIN OF AMERICANA, ROCK AND ROOTS-FOLK MUSIC TO AUDIENCES THROUGHOUT THE COMMONWEALTH AND BEYOND.

This particular program is especially significant, as it is a special benefit screening where a portion of the proceeds will be donated to NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.  The initiative to bring awareness to mental illness was inspired by the several projects featured this year at VF15, which feature thematic elements or characters dealing with mental illness - amongst these:  SINA FORMA, A SILENT STRUGGLE, BROKEN JAM, and the Feature Screenplay Competition Finalists, SILENCE and SOLE CAPTAIN.

Other films in the A POTPOURRI OF VISIONS line-up:  BUMMERTOWN, CHEESE DOG: THE MOVIE, SEPTEMBER SKETCH BOOK, A SILENT STRUGGLE, WITHOUT A DOUBT, ELLA AT THE LIBRARY, ELGIN PARK, and PERIPLANET.

Tickets are now on sale at: www.visionfest.com