The Fire Island Golden Wagon Film Festival continues to grow with the third annual festival taking place on July 15th -17th , 2005 in the town of Ocean Beach on Fire Island. “The goal of the festival is to create a local venue for independent filmmakers to share their films with the Fire Island community and industry leaders,” said Sue Panzer, President and Festival Co-Founder. In 2004, the festival attracted over 1000 people from the film, theatre, advertising and cable industries.
The Festival recognizes and honors independent filmmakers whose works inspire and open minds to the virtue of their artistic _expression. While honoring the creative talents of independent filmmakers, the festival pays tribute to an artist of film and television who has a sincere connection and love for Fire Island. The 2003 Festival honored long-time Fire Island resident, Tony Randall and in 2004, cinematic achievements of Harvey Keitel were recognized. The 2005 honoree will be announced shortly.
This year, the festival received hundreds of film submissions from all over the world. “We are so excited that so many filmmakers are interested in our festival. With the quality of films we received, our programming schedule is sure to inspire and entertain the audience,” said Greg Pace, Director of Programming and Co-Founder. The panel of judges includes executives from The Sundance Channel, Showtime Networks and Lifetime Television. The top three films selected by the judges will each win cash prizes of $1000, $500 and $250 respectively. Also, an Audience Choice award will be awarded on Sunday, July 17th. The full festival schedule will be announced shortly.
The festival will begin on Friday, July 15th with an outdoor screening of independent shorts and films while the audience snacks on picnic dinners. The festival continues on Saturday, July 16th with indoor and outdoor screenings, a panel discussion with independent filmmakers and directors on the ferry pier and the popular “Taste of Ocean Beach” where the attendees can sample the food from the local restaurants. The award-winning films are honored at a ceremony on Saturday evening. The festival ends with a children’s screening on Sunday morning and additional screenings of independent films and shorts on Sunday afternoon.
For more info, visit the Fire Island Golden Wagon Film Festival website.
