VF15 ANNOUNCES SHORT SCRIPT WINNER!

Pennsylvania scribe, William Kontuly, has been selected by the Domani Vision Film Society Screenwriting Competitions Jury as the winner of the 2015 Visionfest Short Script Competition with his screenplay, THROUGH THE TREES, which was chosen from a pool of about 70 short screenplays submitted to the competition, starting as far back as September 2014.

Kontuly, who will now have his winning script brought into development with DVision Films, the creative team behind the VF initiative, the 5x5 New York State of Mind Digital Project, was ecstatic on the phone earlier this morning, when VF15 co-director, Frank Lewallen, notified him of the win.

"I can't believe this, Frank,  I have never won anything like this!  cheered Kontuly, adding: "I once won $50 on a scratch-off and I thought that was amazing, but this... this is just sick!"  He then expressed some concerns about the fact that he has never directed a film before and, of course, Frank reassured him that we'll make sure we'll have all the necessary resources in place for the project to get done and be ready for a VF16 'world premiere' screening.

In addition to the development and production package, Kontuly will receive a "featured listing" from the festival's Screenwriting Competitions co-sponsor, InkTip.com.

VF15 ANNOUNCES SCREENWRITING FINALISTS!

After arduous deliberations, Domani Vision Film Society is proud to announce its top 5 Finalists of the VF15 Feature Screenwriting Competition, and they are (listed alphabetically by title):

GALAPAGOS by Lukas Hassel
OUTSIDE MERIDIAN by Martin Ponferrada
SILENCE by Dylan Phillips
SOLE CAPTAIN by Wernher Ovalle
SPOOKED by Scott Ruane

Congratulations to the authors of these fine works and welcome to the Official Line-Up of VISIONFEST 15: THE OTHER FESTIVAL.

(Short Script Competition Finalists will be announced this Saturday, May 25, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. EST)

The 2015 Feature Screenwriting Competition is co-sponsored by InkTip
Award package includes:

InkTip Script Listing: A listing of your script on InkTip so that producers and reps can find you

InkTip Magazine: Publication of your logline in InkTip's bi-monthly publication sent to 4000+ producers, agents, and managers.

VF15 'CENTERPIECE SCREENING' IS SOLD OUT! Encore Screening Added at 9:15 p.m.

From left:  Natalie Knepp & Diana DeGarmo in a still from ALTO

VISIONFEST: The Other Festival is proud to announce the first 'sold out' program of its 15th anniversary edition:  The OFFICIAL CENTERPIECE SELECTION SCREENING,  Program 05, an LGBT-themed program block featuring the New York Premiere of the highly anticipated mob-rom-com, ALTO, by Mikki del Monico, and the narrative short, MOON PEOPLE, by Alexandra Grace, which is  also making its New York debut.

The program, scheduled for Friday, May 15th at 7:00 p.m. and subtitled "Visions of Love, Family, and the LGBT Section," is also the one block in the line-up that had already been planned as a double screening room event, being simulcast in both Tribeca Cinemas 1&2.  The 'anticipation factor' for ALTO was so high in New York, that advance online tickets had been sold out for the Tribeca Cinemas 2 theater within the first day that they had been made available.  Less than a week later, the Tribeca Cinemas 1 theater sold its last two seats, prompting VF15 organizers to immediately open sales on an added screening a 9:15 p.m encore presentation, in TC 1, since TC 2 is already hosting the festival's second shorts block, Program 06, "Visions of the Taut and Fantastic."

Harry Hains & Alexandra Grace in MOON PEOPLE

To facilitate a Q&A with cast and crew members from ALTO and MOON PEOPLE, audiences from the TC 1&2 show at 7:00 p.m. will spill out into The Varick Room, the venue's popular bar/lounge area, where a sizzling after-party is also scheduled to take place.  Drink specials, live music, the Musical Visions photo exhibit by Mark Doyle, step and repeat photo ops, and other fun surprises are among the highlights planned for that evening.  Audiences from the TC 1 encore and the TC 2 shorts block will eventually join the party, which promises to be an evening to remember...  especially since...

MOST CREATIVE & INTERESTING 'SELFIE' AT VF15 WILL GET FREE VF16 PASSES!

A Domani Vision Film Society panel will be voting for the most creative, most interesting selfie taken at Visionfest 15 and posted and/or linked to the Visionfest - Domani Vision Film Society Facebook Page on any day throughout the duration of the event.  The author of the image (which can also be a group shot) selected by DVFS as their "favorite" will receive a pair of full access, complimentary passes to next year's festival, VF16!  Photo bombing is allowed but will not win you tickets... just notoriety :)

VF15 LINEUP IS LIVE & TICKETS ARE ON SALE!

The verdict is in!  VISIONFEST 15: THE OTHER FESTIVAL has unveiled the complete line-up for its fifteenth anniversary run.  Among some of the highlights of things happening this year are:

- The Return of FKBK - For Kids By Kids, a special sidebar initiative showcasing films by filmmakers under 18 years of age (more on this when you scroll way down)

 
- MUSICAL VISIONS,  a photo exhibit by Mark Doyle, which will be unveiling at Tribeca Cinemas throughout the VF15 run.  The premiere showcase features a series of photographs of popular music artists performing live and some portraits, which will be exhibited in the theater's bar/lounge, THE VARICK ROOM.  The exhibit, which will be viewable throughout the entire film festival with the exception of Saturday, May 16,  is free and open to the public and Mark Doyle is scheduled to be on hand for the opening and closing nights.  Take a peek!

- And of course:  THE FILMS!

Still from BIRTHDAY

The competition just got fierce!  After months of Selection Committee screenings and deliberations, which saw the VF team plow through tons of shorts, experimental entries, animated films, and over 90 narrative features and 75 documentaries submitted for consideration, the festival chose 35 films for its Independent Vision Showcase and 6 for the FKBK Section.

The "Official Opening Night Selection" slot this year is held by the riveting mystery, DESERT CATHEDRAL, by Travis Gutiérrez Senger, making its New York Premiere on Wednesday, May 13, 2015.

Still from DESERT CATHEDRAL

Preceding the feature presentation are two shorts, as is customary for all VF programs, which strive to provide a rich two-hour ride for each of their program block audiences. The first short is a deep, and somewhat quirky experimental titled THE TULIP CHAIR by Courtney Marsh, who also happens to be the only filmmaker with two films in this year's Independent Vision line-up - this short and the haunting cautionary tale ZARI.  The second, SINA FORMA, by Garette Henson, is an emotionally charged dramatic piece making its World Premiere at VF15.

On Thursday, May 14, the evening ignites with an eclectic collection of films that are part of a program known as A POTPOURRI OF VISIONS in TC 1.  The 8pm show in TC 2 will feature the narrative shorts block VISIONS OF CINEMATIC SYNERGY.

Still from WENDELL AND THE LEMON

And for the evening's last program: WENDELL AND THE LEMON, a Slamdance alum, comes to VF.  Directed by Lawrence Krauser, the film is a a comic exploration of jerry-rigged sanity based on his book, "Lemon".  Opening the program will be T.J. Misny's acclaimed short, THE CRUMB OF IT.

On Friday, May 15th, VF presents its first LGBT themed program block ever - and this will be a special section the festival intends to expand upon in the imminent future.

This "Official Centerpiece Selection" screening will be headlined by the New York Premiere of ALTO, written and directed by Mikki Del Monico, with the sweet short, MOON PEOPLE by Alexandra Grace, paving the way at 7 p.m.

<--- Promotional still from ALTO

 VISIONS OF THE TAUT AND FANTASTIC is the 9:30 pm block that offers a perfect blend of sci-fi, romance, horror, and psychological mind games - a great way to spend a Frightday Night.
  

Still from LORDS OF BSV

Saturday evening, May 16, VF pumps up the volume and breaks out some new moves with the feature-length documentary, LORDS OF BSV, by Maria Soccor.  The doc will be preceded by the poignant and edgy American Film Institute short, PINKY, by Dylan Paffe.


The exciting VF sidebar initiative "FKBK - For Kids By Kids" returns to VF with a special Sunday semi-matinee program slated for May 17 at 4:30 pm. The program consists of films created by filmmakers under the age of 18 and is set up as a special "out of competition" screening, which will unveil six new films that will reignite the flame of a VF project that the festival hopes to enhance and continue for years to come.

Sunday's "Closing Night Selection" brings one of the most celebrated features on the festival circuit today to VF.

Still from FRANK VS. GOD

Stewart Schill's FRANK VS. GOD, starring the talented Henry Ian Cusick (Lost, Girl on the Train), will kick off at 6:30 p.m., preceded by the New York Premiere of DOUBLE NEGATIVE, by Brian Dilg.




TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE AT:   WWW.VISIONFEST.COM

VF15 FEATURE SCREENWRITING COMPETITION - SPRING SEMI-FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

DOMANI VISION FILM SOCIETY proudly congratulates its VISIONFEST
2015 Feature Screenwriting Competition - Spring Phase Semi-Finalists
(listed alphabetically by title)

SPRING PHASE SEMI-FINALISTS
CAN'T MUMBAI ME LOVE by Andrew Abdou
GALAPAGOS by Lukas Hassel
THE INSIGNIFICANT OTHER by Pat Streater
LOOKIN' UP by Marvin Kaplan
SILENCE by Dylan Phillips

These semi-finalists will be vying for a "finalist" position against the Winter Phase semi-finalists listed here below:

WINTER PHASE SEMI-FINALISTS
OUTSIDE MERIDIAN by Martin Ponferrada
SOLE CAPTAIN by Wernher Ovalle
SPOOKED by Scott Ruane
TAKE MY WIFE by Linda Algazi
WHAT LIES BEYOND THINE CUBICLE by Jonas Pachuski

ON APRIL 20, 2015
5 Finalists will be announced and invited to attend VF15 for an opportunity to qualify as the top three feature screenplays of 2015

The 2015 Feature Screenwriting Competition is co-sponsored by InkTip
Award package includes:

InkTip Script Listing: A listing of your script on InkTip so that producers and reps can find you

InkTip Magazine: Publication of your logline in InkTip's bi-monthly publication sent to 4000+ producers, agents, and managers.

VF15 ANNOUNCES PARTIAL LINE-UP

VISIONFEST will kick off 15th anniversary run on May 13, 2015

with New York Premiere of DESERT CATHEDRAL

Mob comedy ALTO unveils as festival’s ‘Centerpiece Screening’ on May 15th

May 17:  FRANK VS. GOD showdown is Official Closing Night Selection!

 

New York City – March 13, 2015 – VISIONFEST 15: THE OTHER FESTIVAL (VF15) is letting some early cats out of the bag this year!  Traditionally announcing its official line-up about a month before the start of the event, the film festival, which has been dubbed ‘the American Classic’ and is widely renowned and respected throughout the U.S. for its quality programming, is officially announcing some of the titles already locked into key slots exactly two months prior to the start of the event.  Running May 13 thru May 17 at Tribeca Cinemas (corner of Laight and Varick Streets in New York City), VF15, whose mission to “promote domestic filmmaking” is supported and propelled by its organizing entity, the Domani Vision Film Society, a not-for-profit arts & culture organization, this year celebrates its fifteenth annual outing with a powerful and very diverse lineup of some of the finest American indie films on the festival circuit today.

Beginning with its “Official Opening Night Selection,” DESERT CATHEDRAL, the haunting debut feature from Travis Gutierrez Senger, VF15 explores more thematic paths and genre shifts than ever before.  In this opening night feature, a broken real estate developer, played by Lee Tergesen (Oz, Generation Kill, Monster), mysteriously disappears into the Southwest in 1992, leaving behind a series of VHS tapes to his employer and family. Without the aid of the police, his desperate wife hires a private investigator, played by Chaske Spencer (The Twilight Saga), to locate his whereabouts and bring him home.  When asked about the Selection Committee’s decision to include the film in this year’s line-up, VF15 co-director and programmer, Bruno Derlin stated: “How one film manages to keep you on the edge of your seat and, at the same time, pace itself with some of the most breathtaking and eloquently paced visual poetry you’ll ever see is beyond me.  This is the work of a true visionary.  We are so proud to be able to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary with such beautiful work.”

The “Special Centerpiece Selection” this year is reserved for ALTO, another debut feature in a completely different genre.  Here, writer-director Mikki del Monaco blends improbable love, the mob, and family non-conformity in a comedic tale whose tagline boasts “Two Girls. One Gun. The Mob. Because coming out to family is hard. But coming out to ‘family’ is funny.”  VF15 co-director and co-programmer, Frank Lewallen, called the film as “a breath of fresh air.  It’s clear to me that everyone in this movie had a blast making it and the love, passion, and dedication for the project are all too evident on the screen.”  The film, which features vibrant turns by Diana DeGarmo (American Idol) and Natalie Knepp (Orange Is The New Black), also stars Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos, Don Peyote – she is also billed here as one of the producers).

“Official Closing Night Selection,” FRANK VS. GOD, by Stewart Schill (Big Time Rush, Charmed) offers a perfect blend of comedy, drama, and existentialism.  After his house is destroyed by a tornado (what his insurance company deems an "act of God"), former hotshot lawyer David Frank, played immaculately by Henry Ian Cusick (Lost, Hitman, Scandal) is determined that someone must pay. He decides to serve God... with a lawsuit.  VF15 producer, Jana Frindtova shared that:  “Films like this one make all the work we put into this festival worthwhile.  I laughed. I cried. I laughed again and cried from laughing so hard, but ultimately, I was entertained above and beyond anything that the local multiplex can offer these days.  I think everyone should see this film.  It says so much without ever preaching.  It stays with you long after the end credits have rolled.”

On the ‘short subjects’ front, VF15 has already secured screening rights to Chris King’s BIRTHDAY, one of the most highly acclaimed and anticipated shorts on the film festival circuit this year, screening at the Tribeca Film Festival prior to making its way to VF15.  Also already confirmed in the line-up of shorts:  William Speruzzi’s THE EXAM, Brian Dilg’s DOUBLE NEGATIVE, and VF alum, Jeremiah Kipp’s THE MINIONS.  These last three filmmakers all collaborated on one another’s projects as part of a special New York City filmmaking collective known as the 3x3 Project.  Also confirmed at press time, John Mattiuzzi's animated ZEROGON, fresh from its recent Slamdance Film Festival premiere.

VF15’s complete line-up will be announced in the next few weeks and tickets will be going on sale in early April. – www.visionfest.com


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