Festival of Cinema NYC

Founded by three local independent filmmakers, The Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema is the first and only film festival of its kind held in Kew Gardens, NYC, and its surrounding neighborhoods. Running for 10 days in August, the festival will showcase more than 100 films of all genres from around the world. Films will be shown at Queens' only operating art house theater—Kew Gardens Cinemas, located in the heart of Kew Gardens in Queens NY. The festival will culminate with a grand award ceremony gala on the rooftop penthouse of the world-famous Terrace on the Park, built for the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Conveniently located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, it features panoramic views of some of Queens' greatest landmarks, including the renowned Unisphere and the New York State Pavilion. Awards will honor the best films presented at the festival, and winners will walk away with beautiful statuettes. What makes our Festival stand out from the other opportunities available to filmmakers is that we are focusing on the TRULY independent film, not the film that is funded by the indie film division of a major studio. Nor are we focusing on what celebrity or 'name' actor may be in your film. We want to see the work of filmmakers and their teams who have poured their blood, sweat and tears into making their vision come to life. We are showcasing the best in all genres, including themes often overlooked by other major film festivals, like Horror, Sci-Fi, LGBT, Comedy, Animation and Experimental. We are a Film Festival founded by independent filmmakers, so we have a great understanding of the filmmaker needs when it comes to getting films made and in front of an audience. Along with filmmaker Q&A's after each screening, we will also be holding industry panels featuring some of the best names in independent cinema discussing their strategies, their struggles and how they broke into the film business. Other panels will consist of conversations with independent Producers, Casting Directors and Distributors. Our goal is to bring back and remind people why film festivals exist in the first place - which is to give otherwise unknown filmmakers the opportunity to screen their film in front of large audiences and have their work seen. In addition, we will be screening all our films in an actual operating Art House movie theater, unlike other festivals that show their films in screening rooms or otherwise other rented facilities that aren't prepared to screen films the way they should be. Upon acceptance each filmmaker will receive up to four (4) Filmmaker Badges that will allow access to all the screenings and panels being held throughout the festival, along with exclusive access to our Filmmaker Cafe & Lounge. Filmmaker badge holders will also be entitled to a 5% discount on all merchandise being sold at the festival. All selected filmmakers and respective cast & crew will be given the opportunity to purchase Gala Award tickets at a 30% discount. Opening night will consist of a meet the filmmakers mixer, where filmmakers will have the opportunity to network and promote their film with other festival attendees. Certain selected films to be featured in our Festival Spotlight programming will have a red carpet premiere as well as an after party hosted by the festival. Our Opening and Closing night films will consist of specially invited premieres following a red carpet event. While the festival will not be offering transportation or lodging for its inaugural year, through our sponsors we will be offering discounts and coupon codes to be used towards Hotel accommodations and commuting. We guarantee to have distributors and producers in attendance alongside our selected panel of industry professionals who make up our Jury. Winners for every category will each be receiving a personally engraved unique statuette. Industry guests who have expressed interest in participating in our festival are Lloyd Kaufman, founder of TROMA films; Larry Fessenden, actor/writer/director/producer with Glass Eye Pix; Joe Minion, writer of Vampires Kiss, After Hours. Our Festival will be taking place in Kew Gardens Queens in NYC, USA. Our venue, THE KEW GARDENS CINEMAS is Queens' only art house theater dedicated solely to playing independent and foreign films. Named one of the top 7 theaters in Queens, the theater was built in the 1930's and it is one of the oldest movie theaters still operating in NYC. A little known area of NYC, Kew Gardens and its surrounding neighborhoods - Forest Hills, Rego Park, Woodhaven and Glendale - are a major stomping ground for most television shows being shot today in New York. Not only is Kew Gardens known as the neighborhood that raised comedians Rodney Dangerfield and Ray Romano, but just a few minutes away is the recently built Broadway Stages. This area of Queens has now been featured in several blockbuster Hollywood films like The Babysitter, Goodfellas and Spiderman as well as major Network TV shows including- Daredevil, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, The Get Down, Luke Cage and SNL.