First Time Fest Returns to New York City

 Aimed at discovering and providing exposure for the next generation of great filmmakers from around the world, FTF is a five-day event with a competition section showcasing new and exciting debut films as well as a series of screenings and discussions with now-prominent filmmakers presenting their first films and then mentoring the first-timers.  

In the words of Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese, who presented Darren Aronofsky with the first John Huston Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema last year,  FTF  “is very, very important to encourage young filmmakers.”

FTF will present ten Competition Films, which will be judged by a panel of industry luminaries and the FTF audience. All of the films in competition at FTF are the very first feature of the writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer or composer of each film.  All competition screenings will be followed by “Hot-Seat” discussions between the jury and filmmakers, and all audience members will vote on the films as well. Together, the jury and audience will ultimately select the Grand Prize winner, which is offered theatrical distribution and international sales representation from the renowned American film distributor, Cinema Libre Studio.  And with FTF’s new relationship with Scandinavian Locations – the consortium of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish film commissioners – the winning filmmaker will also receive a trip to Norway and Sweden to spend a week at a writer’s cottage in Northern Sweden to work on their next project.  Scandinavian Locations will also be hosting our Filmmaker Kick-Off event on April 2 at NeueHouse.

FIRST TIME FEST also features a retrospective series called First Exposure which showcases the auspicious and ambitious debuts by artists who went on to become major filmmakers.  These screenings are highlighted by personal appearances by the filmmakers themselves.  This year’s  First Exposure series features the following filmmakers and films: our Opening Night director Jennie Livingston presenting Paris is Burning, Albert Maysles (Salesman), Julie Taymor (Titus), Michael Moore (Roger & Me), Kelly Reichardt (River of Grass), Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (Eraserhead), James Toback (Fingers), and Peter Bogdanovich (Targets).

 This year’s First Exposure program kicked-off on February 24^th with an out-of-fest screening of Robert De Niro’s directorial debut, A Bronx Tale, followed by a conversation with Mr. De Niro and FTF Director of Programming David Schwartz. 

The Stand Alone series will feature incredible conversations with Peter Bogdanovich and Michael Moore on April 5 at 3.30pm at the Loews Village VII theatre.

A special panel, entitled Women in Entertainment and Media, is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada Wealth Management Group andwill include Brooke Shields, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Carol Alt.

For complete schedule and location of panels, please visit http://www.firsttimefest.com/panels/