Fest News Round-Up: Awards Won, Dates Moved

Festival season snuck up suddenly and unwittingly this week at Reeler HQ with a burst of news from around the NYC circuit:

--NewFest and the Brooklyn International Film Festival both wound down last weekend by deploying hardware to some of their more celebrated entrants. Among them, Outing Riley and Times Have Been Better claimed NewFest's best American and foreign narrative awards (respectively); the gerund strek continued with the best doc winner Saving Marriage.

Daniel London in Arranged, a two-time award winner at last week's Brooklyn International Film Fest (Photo: Cicala Filmworks)

Meanwhile in Brooklyn, Stefan Schaefer and Diane Crespo took the "Grand Chameleon Prize" and the Best Narrative Film awards for their interfaith Brooklyn tale Arranged. New York filmmakers including Bari Pearlman (Daughters of Wisdom), Kerry Douglas Dye and Jordan Hoffman (Body/Antibody) and Valeria Ruiz (A Moment) fared well in the Audience Award categories while the jury awards tended to recognize Europeans including Gerd Schneider (The Edge of Hope), Alessandro Angelini (Salty Air) and Hanro Smitsman (Contact). Congrats to all.

--The enduring, endearing pervs at CineKink sent word that they've shifted their festival out of the congested fall season and into the more hospitable late winter/early spring --- Feb. 26 - March 2, to be exact.

--Tribeca's outdoor summer screening series in Rockefeller Center (where else, right?) launches June 19 with Paul Soter's recent TFF premiere Watching the Detectives. The Lucy Liu/Cillian Murphy starrer starts around 9 p.m.; the series continues the following night with the New York premiere of Arctic Tale. Admission is free, but seats are limited. Check Tribeca's site for addtional program info, including shorts screening at the observation deck at Top of the Rock.

--The New York Asian Film Festival announced its complete schedule a few days ago, including the latest special appearances and events sure to provoke, titillate, shock and surprise. Oh, and entertain, if we're to recall what fest boss Grady Hendrix told The Reeler in our exclusive preview last month.

--Finally, a viewing tip: The Manhattan Short Film Festival's alumni film of the week is the Irish stunner Take it Back. I could take or leave the short's closing shot, but fuck if that first three-quarters isn't the most lights-out thing I've seen in a while.

Posted at June 13, 2007 12:07 PM