  After an international search, the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival has named award winning filmmaker Christie Conochalla as Guest Festival Director for their 11th year. Art of Brooklyn Executive Director Joseph Shahadi said, "I met with filmmakers and programmers from all over America—and the world— this year. There were several great candidates but in the end it was clear that Christie was the perfect choice for 2021. I can’t wait to see her vision for this season unfold." Christie is a writer/director/producer in Los Angeles with a passion for creating complex stories about queer women for a mainstream audience. She is an AoBFF alum, with two shorts in the 2020 edition, "August in the City," which she directed and "House of La Reine" which she produced. Her body of work showcases her love for telling widely relatable stories about lesbian characters. Best known for the multi-award winning " August in the City" and the lesbian rom-com "Once Upon a Zipper," Christie's first feature "Forever Not Maybe" recently earned her Best Director at the North Hollywood Cinefest Film Festival, and has been rated the most-watched film on the LesFlicks streaming platform . Her most recent short "Marry Christmas," also available on LesFlicks, was released on Christmas Day 2020. Christie's screenplay for her magical realism dramatic feature "Finding Yesterday" placed in competitions including the Black List Writer's Residency, Script Pipeline, and the Golden Script Competition. She also works as an entertainment professional in the television and live event industry and is heavily involved with the Alliance of Women Directors organization. Of her role curating the films of the 2021 AoBFF, Christie said, "Having spent almost a decade with various projects in festivals all over the world, it is such a special opportunity to be on this side of the process and entrusted to work with the Art of Brooklyn for the programming of their 2021 festival. Thank you for your trust in me. Ok, enough about me, time to talk about the filmmakers! Let's do this." The Art of Brooklyn Film festival's mission is to bring the borough's vibrant independent film scene into conversation with their peers around the world. Since 2016, AoBFF has invited a different Guest Festival Director each season, to keep its programming vision fresh and diverse. Past Directors include León Mexico/ Brooklyn-based film programmer Alan Mclane Alejos and award-winning filmmakers Eric Trenkamp, Victoria Negri, Dave Chan and Sean Mannion.  Submissions for the 2021 AoBFF, including films and series in all genres and a screenplay competition, are open on Film Freeway until May 2.
 Every year the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival invites a new Guest Festival Director to curate the films for our upcoming season. For 2021, we're excited to be casting our net wide. If you would like to be considered, read the full post below and answer these 3 questions:
Please email us your cover letter, CV, and any relevant links. Use the subject "2021 Guest Festival Director" WHO: The Art of Brooklyn is an award-winning international film festival that brings Brooklyn's vibrant, diverse independent film and media makers together with their peers around the world. Founded by working artists in 2011, ten+ festival premieres have gotten theatrical distribution to date — and one became an HBO series. AoBFF has been awarded One of the Top Seven US Film Festivals (2014), Brooklyn Creative Group of the Year (2016), and One of the Five Notable American Film Festivals Worth Traveling For (2020). Acclaimed for being only festival in the world to produce screenings in neighborhoods across Brooklyn, including those underserved by art and cultural organizations, AoBFF pivoted during the pandemic by producing one of the most successful digital festival editions of 2020, earning a mention in Film Festival Today. WHAT: Every season AoBFF invites a different film professional to serve as Guest Festival Director for our upcoming season. WHY: AoBFF invites a new person to direct the festival every season to prevent any single point of view from dominating our curation. This is one way AoBFF builds equity and inclusion into our organizational structure. WHERE: Since 2016, the Guest Festival Director has been drawn from Brooklyn independent filmmaking community. Past Festival Directors include award-winning filmmakers, screenwriters and programmers Eric Trenkamp, Victoria Negri, Dave Chan, Sean Mannion and Alan McLane Alejos. For the 2021 season the call is opened up internationally. HOW: Our 2021 Guest Festival Director will curate the films remotely from anywhere in the world and work closely with festival staff via regular video calls during pre-production and production. For 2021 we are planning a hybrid event, with live screenings in Brooklyn (depending on pandemic conditions) and live streamed screenings and real time filmmaker talkbacks and panels using a secure digital festival platform with integrated video conferencing software. This technology allows the Guest Festival Director to play an active role with filmmakers and audiences during the festival. FAQs: What do I have to commit to? You'll watch all the films submitted to us for our 2021 season and decide which will become official selections. You'll meet regularly with AoBFF staff pre-festival. You'll make a first draft of a schedule, deciding what screens with what, and when. And during the festival you'll facilitate filmmaker talkbacks and audience Q&As. This is a purely creative opportunity by design, so you wouldn't be responsible for any administrative tasks. We work with you on all of these areas. Will I have any help? Of course. Our diverse Selection Committee watches every film and provides you with their notes and recommendations, but the final decisions are yours. Our Program Manager will keep you on track with calendar benchmarks so you don't fall behind and you'll meet regularly with our Executive Director, who'll help you design the schedule when the time comes. But you would be directly responsible for the curatorial vision of the 2021 AoBFF. Do I have to have curatorial experience? Not necessarily. We've had very successful Guest Festival Directors who'd never curated before, and none had been responsible for an entire festival. This is designed to offer a creative opportunity to the broadest possible group of potential curators. Will I get paid? The 2021 Guest Festival Director will receive a nominal stipend, but this is NOT a salaried staff position. If you are seeking a salaried staff position at a film festival this is not a good fit.  And just like that, 12 days of screenings, workshops, panel talks and international live stream filmmaker talkbacks is in the history books. To say that producing this 10th anniversary edition of AoBFF was a challenge would be a world-class understatement. But thanks to YOU, our wonderful filmmakers and enthusiastic audiences, we put on a world-class festival, digital or otherwise.
Please join us in celebrating our all of our 2020 selections, our award winners, and everyone everywhere who creates independent art, no matter what their challenges may be. Art matters and is always essential. Outstanding Cinematography: RUBY RED Directed by Emily C. Chang Cinematography by Alejandro Wilkins Outstanding Sound: PUSH THE POINT Directed by Bryan Lawrence Burton Sound by Bryan Burton & Robert Gongora Outstanding Editing: THE KEEPER Directed by Bob Celli Edited by Cecilia Potenza Jimenez Outstanding Ensemble: Izzie Steele and Jefferson White in THE MOUSE AND THE LION Directed by Lain Kienzle Outstanding Performance in a Narrative Short: Daniela Mastropietro in AUGUST IN THE CITY Directed by Christie Conochalla Outstanding Performance in a Narrative Feature: Aunjanue Ellis in THE SUBJECT Directed by Lanie Zipoy Outstanding Animation: UNCLE GRIOT Directed by Paul Charisse The Dark Side Award for Outstanding horror/thriller/Noir/ Sci Fi: THE RED MARSH Directed by Drake Woodall The Vanguard Award for Outstanding Experimental Film: STAR-SPANGLED BRIGHTON BEACH Directed by Lynn Bianchi Outstanding Comedy: MY NEW PANTS Directed by Gerard Zarra Outstanding Drama: CAMBIO Directed by Bob Giraldi Outstanding Short Documentary: FALLING FORWARD Directed by Caroline Macfarlane Outstanding Feature Documentary: BORN JUST NOW Directed by Robert Adanto Outstanding Screenplay: AKTION T-4 Written by John Martins III Jury Award: PERMANENT COLLECTION Directed by Michael Irish Audience Choice Award: IN ACTION Directed by Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera Outstanding Director of a Narrative Short: Amit Shamir for RED Outstanding Director of a Narrative Feature: Lanie Zipoy for THE SUBJECT Outstanding Narrative Short: BUTTBALL Directed by Maryll Botula Outstanding Narrative Feature: THE SUBJECT Directed by Lanie Zipoy  Legendary actor and indie film icon Annabella Sciorra (Truth Be Told, Sopranos, Jungle Fever) is set to present at the Award Ceremony celebrating the filmmakers and screenwriters of the 2020 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival on Friday, June 12 at 9:30PM. A long-time AoBFF supporter and member of the Judging panel, Sciorra said, “I love what the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is doing. Their mission to focus on Brooklyn films and filmmakers speaks to me because I was born and raised here and it influenced who I am as an artist.” Sciorra has been a booster for AoBFF since co-founder Anthony DeVito connected with her years ago on social media. “I was tweeting via our festival account and I saw we had a new follower — Annabella Sciorra. Since we were a very new festival at the time I was really surprised. I followed her right back, and we ended up chatting. Annabella truly loves Brooklyn arts and culture, plus we found out we both grew up in Brooklyn’s Bergen Beach, so it was meant to be!” Annabella has been a part of AoBFF ever since, acting as a festival judge, attending launch parties, and headlining a panel discussion on acting in indie film alongside actors Nico Tortorella and Craig “MuMs” Grant. 2020 will be the first time she will be part of the festival’s awards ceremony, presenting prizes virtually via Zoom. AoBFF 2020 marks the festival’s first-ever Digital Edition, a creative response to the global pandemic that made live theatrical screenings impossible. “It’s our 10th anniversary and we'd planned live screenings and events in multiple venues across Brooklyn,” said Executive Director Joseph Shahadi. AoBFF produces screenings for thousands of people, so the prospect of scaling down was not appealing. But cancelling or postponing wasn’t ever an option, says Shahadi. “We are mission-driven to bring the best of Brooklyn’s independent film scene into conversation with their peers around the world and missing an entire season would be disastrous for our community.” Choosing instead to rise to the challenge, the AoBFF team set about rebuilding the 2020 festival from scratch, employing a brand new virtual festival platform to showcase films securely and livestream interactive filmmaker talkbacks and workshops with industry experts. Anthony DeVito said, “After the hard work of the past few months it’s very gratifying to see how happy both filmmakers and audiences are that we produced a full festival this year instead of cancelling or scaling down. Having Annabella join us to honor our filmmakers makes it even more special.” The 2020 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival awards ceremony
Friday, June 12 - 9:30PM Reserve a spot for our Free livestream event HERE.
Experimental Films of the 2020 AoBFF:FILM AS ART - BLOCK 'A'
Uncle Griot/ In This Life/ 77(8) Birthdays, Killing Floor/ Two/ Unborn Rivers of Sky/ Stan/ Shivering Wall Screening and Livestream Filmmaker Talkback Saturday, June 6 - 6PM INFO & TICKETS FILM AS ART - BLOCK 'B' The Split/ Digits of Pi/ Half Light/ Temporary Solution for the Permanent Problems #1/ Star-Spangled Brighton Beach/ The Crash! Or, a Patch of Gravity/ Kopacabana Screening and Livestream Filmmaker Talkback Monday, June 8 - 7PM INFO & TICKETS The 10th Annual Art of Brooklyn Film Fest (June 1-12 2020) is using the new Eventive Virtual Festival platform to convert their annual live event to a robust, interactive Digital Edition to audiences around the world in real time — with a full schedule of screenings, livestreamed filmmaker talkbacks and webinar panel talks and career-building workshops. NEW YORK - May 27, 2020 — The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival team had already worked for six months to produce their 2020 fest when Coronavirus first threatened. "It's our 10th anniversary and we'd planned live screenings and events in multiple venues across Brooklyn. By February it became clear that those plans would have to change, although we couldn't have known how much," said Executive Director Joseph Shahadi. AoBFF produces screenings and events in neighborhoods across Brooklyn, including those underserved by arts and culture, for thousands of people, so the prospect of scaling down was not appealing. And cancelling or postponing wasn't ever an option, says Shahadi. "We are mission-driven to bring the best of Brooklyn's independent film scene into conversation with their peers around the world and missing an entire season would be disastrous for our community." The AoBFF team knew they had to find a creative way to salvage their 10th anniversary season. Enter Iddo Patt. AoBFF began working with Patt's company Eventive to create an interactive film guide and manage ticket sales in 2018. "I had the opportunity to collaborate with Iddo as he programed the tech we used for our film guide and ticketing platform, and we ended up with the best versions of both. So when he approached us with his new Virtual Film Festival platform we were confident we could customize it to our specifications," said co-founder and Director of Communications Anthony DeVito. Eventive's Virtual Festival allows for ticketed on-demand and live streaming on its own site and compatible streaming TV apps with studio-grade DRM protection for films. "We did not want to do a placeholder event and just put a bunch of films up on a YouTube or Vimeo channel and call it a day. When we connected with Iddo and realized that we could translate a lot of what makes our live event special into a digital format using his Virtual Festival platform, it was very exciting," said Shahadi. The challenges of producing an international film festival under these conditions were numerous. This season's Festival Director Alan McLane Alejos, who splits his time between Brooklyn and Leon, Mexico, was at home in the latter when the lockdown began. So Alejos curated the entire festival long distance and met with the rest of the team via video conferencing. "It was a blessing in disguise," said DeVito, "the success of our collaboration with Alan over video conference convinced us we could keep the interactive elements of our festival that filmmakers and audiences love — our lively post-screening talkbacks, panels and roundtables — in this new format." Using Eventive's cutting-edge technology Art of Brooklyn will bring a robust, interactive Digital Edition to audiences around the world in real time. "We are leaning into this challenge," Shahadi said, "instead of going dark in 2020 AoBFF is going to be bigger in size and scope than ever before." The 2020 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival runs from June 1-12. It features over 70 films from all over the word, including the best of Brooklyn's indies. AoBFF opens with the world premiere of THE SUBJECT, a topical drama starring Jason Biggs (American Pie, Orange is the New Black, Outmatched). Interactive Film Guide and Schedule HERE. The Don't-Miss Picks of the 10th Annual Art of Brooklyn Film Festival: 2020 Digital Edition5/26/2020  10th Annual Art of Brooklyn Film Festival: 2020 Digital Edition June 1-12 There's a lot that makes AoBFF unique, including our commitment to diverse points of view. To ensure no single perspective dominates our curation process, we work with a different Guest Director every season. Alan McLane Alejos took on the role for the festival's 10th Annual edition, June 1-14, 2020. Alan divides his time between León Mexico and Brooklyn, and has 15 years experience curating and programming film festivals including IndieBoom, Cinema23, and Jaipur International Film Festival in India. He currently works as a Film Program Associate for Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin, TX. Here are some of Alan's personal favorite films of #AoBFF20! Narrative Features
The Subject World Premiere 1hr 58min | United States | 2019 Drama, Psychological Thriller Directed by Lanie Zipoy A successful documentarian (Jason Biggs) deals with the moral fallout from his last film, which caught the murder of an African American teenager on tape. Now, someone else is videotaping his every move, threatening his idyllic life. INFO & TICKETS Permanent Collection 1hr 31min | United States | 2019 | Feature Drama, Comedy Directed by Michael Irish After a catastrophic accident leaves one of them paralyzed; misanthropic, aging New York City transplants are forced to outgrow their cynicism while the other forges a friendship with a Brooklyn native who is just discovering it. INFO & TICKETS Documentary Features Born Just Now 1hr 24min | United States | 2018 | Feature Documentary Directed by Robert Adanto A sensitive, steadfast Belgrade-based visionary struggles to cope with the abuse and violence that ended an eight-year marriage. Through provocative acts of endurance exploring intimacy, motherhood and the trauma of the Balkan wars, artist Marta Jovanović seeks to confront, release and liberate her own pain in the name of art. Robert Adanto's BORN JUST NOW is an intimate look at a charismatic woman, a brilliant outlier, who dares to live on her own terms. INFO & TICKETS Forgotten 1hr | United States | 2018 | Feature Documentary Directed by Adam Gell The story is a documentary film about a journey across time in search of a grandfather erased from his family's memory. A young Brooklyn boy is shown photos, told stories, and with the help of his grandmother's diary is able to piece together a past of tragedy, loss, and heartache. This now NYC school teacher goes in search across time to discover the fate of his biological grandfather. INFO & TICKETS Narrative Shorts Bad Furniture 9 minutes 59 seconds | United States | 2020 | Drama Directed by Randall Maxwell - US Premiere A man insists on being furniture for his wife. INFO & TICKETS Brooklyn Baby 19 minutes 20 seconds | United States | 2019 Drama/Comedy Directed by John M Wager Lucy, a young professional white woman who lives alone in Brooklyn, leads a rather self-serving and predictable life... until one night when a stranger suddenly shows up at her doorstep. We quickly learn that she is an illegal Syrian refugee and she’s bearing a child that will be born within days. A collision of cultures ensues and a heartwarming drama unfolds — at times tense and at others comical — putting Lucy’s ethics and character to the biggest test of her life. INFO & TICKETS Cambio 15 minutes 28 seconds | United States | 2019 | Drama Directed by Bob Giraldi Gisela, working at a laundromat in Brooklyn, comes across a five dollar bill with a very personal message written on it. As she becomes obsessed with finding the owner and understanding the history behind this token of luck and love, her own secrets begin to unravel. INFO & TICKETS Cosmic Playtester 8 minutes 30 seconds | United States | 2019 Drama/Horror/Thriller Directed by Arthur Vincie Two board game playtesters get together after the death of their best friend, to figure out what it all means. Oh, and one of them is an alien. INFO & TICKETS Lesson #9 by Alberto Ferreras 5 minutes 34 seconds | United States | 2019 Drama/Comedy Directed by Alberto Ferreras The office holiday party got a little frisky, and when two colleagues decide to complain about each other, they learn that the Human Resources director is more human and resourceful than they ever thought. INFO & TICKETS Lonely Hearts 16 minutes 30 seconds | United States | 2019 Horror/Thriller Directed by Dennis Cahlo Alone and down trodden, a woman tries to find a connection online only to get much more than she bargained for. INFO & TICKETS R4CH43L 14 minutes | United States | 2018 | Drama Directed by Noah Bewley Five year old Bob, finds out that his Ukrainian Catholic family is hiding Jews from the Nazis in the barn that overlooks the Kiev Jewish cemetery. He is witness to the routine murder of his neighbors and friends. Fifty years after his family is punished for their acts of humanity, Bob has a chance encounter with the Nazi executioner. He has never forgotten the face in his nightmares. Based on the memoirs of Robert A. Kramarczuk, PhD. INFO & TICKETS Ruby Red 8 minutes 38 seconds | United States | 2019 Drama/Horror/Thriller Directed by Emily C. Chang In a dystopian future where blood has replaced currency for the working poor, a woman goes on the run when she finds out there's a price on her head due to her rare blood type. INFO & TICKETS Withdrawals 12 minutes | United States| 2020 Directed by Jorja Hudson Four friends quit their antidepressants together and all experience very different side effects. INFO & TICKETS Short Documentaries Falling Forward 19 minutes 46 seconds | Canada | 2019 Documentary Directed by Caroline Macfarlane Caroline Macfarlane sets out to make a documentary about Jane Marx, a wildly eccentric New Yorker. Marx has worked as a Manhattan tourist guide for thirty-eight years, and she’s no shrinking violet. Her offbeat sense of humor and larger-than- life personality are front and center as she guides Caroline through New York City in the opening scenes. But when the filmmaker and subject sit down for their first on-camera interview, they discover that they have a sadness in common. They both lost brothers to whom they were very close. Jane’s brother, Paul, died of AIDS in 1989; Caroline’s brother, Blake, died of leukemia in 2018, and this shared tragedy becomes the basis of their friendship and the subject of the film. INFO & TICKETS Flux 1 37 minutes | United States | 2020 Documentary Directed by Christoph Green Flux.1 is an intimate portrait of T. Wise, a Hebrew teacher living in Brooklyn, who quits his job and gives up his apartment to follow his dream of pursuing a career in comedy just one year after beginning his gender transition from female to male. We follow T through the ups and downs of comedy as he performs at open mics in unfriendly dive bars; at parties for friends; and at comedy clubs in Times Square. We spend time with T’s loving, supportive parents, a rabbi and an educator, as well as his sisters, friends and girlfriend. We are with T. as he struggles to keep his spirits up to perform in front of potentially hostile strangers; and as he experiences a painful reminder of his former body when he finds that, even as a man, he has to go to the doctor for a pap smear. T. is open about his sexuality, his emotional life and every other aspect of life as a trans man. INFO & TICKETS Orville + Bob 39 minutes 58 seconds | United States | 2019 Documentary Directed by Alan Griswold The story of how an unlikely couple met and have remained together, despite seemingly insurmountable differences and societal pressures, for over forty-eight years. INFO & TICKETS Under The Paving Stones, the Beach 16 minutes 9 seconds | United States | 2019 Documentary Directed by Amanda Katz On Brooklyn's East River waterfront, a new park built on tenuous ground, a new residence converted from a formerly industrial shell, a promise of lives of convenience. A film that circles around rhythms of labor and leisure. INFO & TICKETS |
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The Art of Brooklyn is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the independent film, media and art of Brooklyn, New York.
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