The New York International Independent Film Festival and Festival week, is a grand opening party with style on April 12TH at Club Confidential.
Paul Fegen, the attorney, who is known as “Fantastic Fig” and his cat “Newton, of Americas Got Talent and Kathy Griffins D List, were performing magic card tricks as well as J.T. Tran, “The Asian Playboy, along with Sy Richardson of Repoman fame and Larry Crown with Tom Hanks. Stuart Alson, the festival president, assured everyone that this year’s festival would bring some of its best films to be screened, which indeed it did.
Raleigh Studios was this year’s showcase for independent filmmakers. Golden Globe nominated actress, from Anna, Sally Kirkland, and Aileen Quinn star of the film Annie were there to support filmmakers Jason Alexander and Randy Crawford.
Through the festival director, Rich Rossi, who conducted the interviews, I learned about two fabulous films. Mont Rev is a comedy about Marco dela Riva, played by Mario Rivelli, an Italian student at the elite Swiss boarding school, Mount Reve, who is quite the ladies man. Marco is a competitive athlete and a writer who is the trouble maker, dealing with his on campus nemeses, the drug dealing Spanish gang, vowing to cause him and his Italians trouble.
The story unfolds with a love interest in Davina V. Rawling, played by Lynn von Kesting, a British classmate and dancer with a perfect record and lineage extraordinaire, where his charm is tested. Mario Rivelli displayed some believable roles as the rich kid who really showed sincerity in his role as a true woman’s man and his true feelings about the girl he loves.
The director, Rocky Collins and Lynn von Kestling have a good synergy in directing this film. India Irving, also in this film performed well, made Mont Reve a winner at Festival week. Another excellent film featuring Paul Sorvino, Ella Raw Peck, Bruce Davidson, Lucas Salvago and Robert Prescott, entitled, “God Don’t Make The Laws” was superb. This film was about a town that was frozen in time where a boy with a past meets a girl with no future.
The setting is in the Village of Rockville, where nobody ages or dies due to a tragic bus crash that took the lives of the 1977 undefeated Rockwell High School Basketball Team. Basketball was like a religion where the gymnasium is symbolic of a cathedral becoming a Faustian Bargain where people are never limited by time. The outcome shows, everyone is living unhappily, until the mysterious Hawk Kodak arrives with a basketball.
As the hands of time begin to move forward, fear and resistance arise and the good people of Rockford discover that time waits for no one. David Sabbath, the director is to be congratulated on this film as well as all the actors. “The One Nightrer” has the cast of veteran actress Jill Jaress, Timothy Buttoms and L.A. musical award winner Jamie Meyer was a very funny feature, which had some nice production values.
The most technical, film however, was “Rule Of Law” produced, directed, edited and filmed by Moziko Wind. A new age of terrorism takes place in the United States on this film.
FBI director, Frank Fitzgerald, is helping an Iranian terrorist group frame innocent American citizens rendering them guilty for terrorist acts they did not commit. The seventh victim, Tom Cali, is on the run trying to prove his innocence. Circus Szalewski, John Brody, Stephanie Betesh and Stephanie Czajkowski are excellent in their character roles. The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, including Festival Week will continue in September of 2012.
