Winter Film Awards Is New York City. Like the city itself, the organization showcases the eclectic diversity and excitement of the independent arts world. The 8th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 14-23 2019, and includes awesome film screenings, cool discussion panels, career-building professional development workshops and super-fun parties at venues throughout NYC. The event concludes on February 23rd with a glittering awards ceremony and hot red carpet gala at NYC’s premier nightclub. The Fest celebrates the outstanding work of emerging filmmakers in all genres from around the world, with an emphasis on highlighting underrepresented and marginalized artists. For our 2019 Festival, we proudly present 89 films from 32 countries, half directed by women and 53% by or about people of color.
For our 2019 program, Winter Film Awards is honored to screen an incredible collection of seven films that address issues of aging. From missing socks to funerals for the living, couples who cannot get along to couples who cannot be together, these films show a slice of life that is both universal and beautiful.
All screenings take place at CINEMA VILLAGE, 22 East 12th Street, New York NY 10003
For tickets, visit https://wfa2019.eventcombo.com/
When Sheriff Rodgers returns with more questions, it becomes obvious that the suicide of Lester’s father is not an open-and-shut case.
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home
Pearl Simmons, an aging jazz singer in brownstone Brooklyn, fights the early stages of Alzheimer’s. While she presents a strong front to her daughter Cynthia, her sense of place and time begin to slip, and her memories of her days as a jazz singer in 1970s New York clash with the present. Cynthia, struggling to care for her mother, considers an offer to sell the family’s home.
If you or a loved one is experiencing memory problems contact the Alzheimer’s Association today, 1-800-272-3900. There, you’ll connect with education programs and support services, available throughout the five boroughs, to all New Yorkers free of charge.
Zee, an 86-year-old retired teacher decides to go back to the happiest time of her life in order to make peace with the path she has chosen and reconnect with her students from the early 90’s in East Harlem. Most of her students were non-readers, but through her non-traditional methods, they produced a pretty significant body of poetry, which she has kept all these years. Finding the kids will give Zee the closure she needs and also a sense of what her legacy is, as a teacher and as a human being.
Robert and Suzanne are an old couple who live in New York and they just don’t get along. One day Suzanne insults Robert and he takes a trip down memory lane, back to Greenwich Village in the 60’s, when Robert was a folk singer and Suzanne was a photographer. Through the music they both remember why they fell in love in the first place.
Wang Shun is an seventy-year-old single man, who lives for collecting scraps in a backward village; nobody cares about him at all. After his old dog dies, Wang Shun plans to spend all of his saving to hold a magnificent funeral for himself in advance of his death to ensure he leaves evidence of his existence in the village memory. The funeral for a living man makes Wang Shun a local celebrity.
A grieving widower copes with doing laundry for the first time and faces life’s universal mystery … a missing sock.
Inspired by real-life stories of elderly couples caught up in the social services system, Together is a powerful drama about an elderly couple who get separated into different care homes against their will. After 60 years of marriage, Rosemary and Philip Twain are happily sharing their golden years taking care of one another. When Rosemary is taken to hospital for a routine procedure, their perfect retirement starts to unravel. Philip is admitted to a care home and even when his wife is returned to the marital home, he is not allowed to join her. Frustrated by the system, they take their lives in to their own hands and fight back. They will do anything to be TOGETHER.
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. This program is funded, in part, by a grant from the NYC & Company Foundation. Winter Film Awards is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Winter Film Awards is proudly one of the Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway.
Festival Founder George Isaacs says “Emerging filmmakers are so often ignored in favor of big budget generic action films, and filmmakers with limited budgets and lack of connections can be easily overlooked. Diverse, exciting low budget films are created all over the world; it is critical for local film festivals to showcase them. WFA’s location in the center of the action provides our filmmakers with a dazzling chance to begin their careers in the film industry.”
For more information about Winter Film Awards events and sponsors, visit www.WinterFilmAwards.com.
For more information about the Winter Film Awards judging process, visit our FAQ.
For more information about last year’s Festival, including Press Information, visit our 2019 Festival page.
