In-Person Film Festivals Return To Astoria This Weekend

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A couple of film festivals are returning to Astoria this Oct. with in-person screenings for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The events, including the month-long Astoria Film Festival and the ten-day-long New York Greek Film Expo, both kick off on Friday Oct. 1.

Screenings for the Greek film festival, which is entirely in-person, will be split between the Directors Guild Theater in Manhattan and the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. The Astoria Film Festival, by contrast, will divide its lineup between online and in-person events.

The Astoria Film Festival

The bulk of the Astoria Film Festival’s in person-events are slated for the first weekend in Oct., starting with an opening night of youth films at Heart of Gold’s backyard theater on Friday, followed by a lineup of screenings, workshops, and panels at Kaufman Astoria Studios’ backlot and Zukor Theater throughout the weekend.

There will also be movie screenings at Heart of Gold on Sunday evenings throughout the month, concluding with a “Halloween horror fest” on Sunday Oct. 31.

This wide-ranging lineup of festival events will also take place online, including movie screenings and filmmaker meet-and-greets alike.

“Astoria Film Festival is very much a hybrid organization, as committed to education and community as we are to independent filmmaking,” said the festival’s executive director Nina Fiore in a statement, alluding to the month-long event’s extensive lineup.

The festival tickets range from free of charge to $125 for a festival-long pass. See the full festival schedule here, and buy tickets here.

The New York Greek Film Expo

While the New York Green Film Expo kicks off on Oct. 1, screenings won’t come to Astoria until the following weekend, when films will screen at the Museum of the Moving Image from Friday Oct. 8 through Sunday Oct. 10.

Screenings include four feature length films and three shorts. Movies that aren’t made in English will include English subtitles.

Since the movies are being shown indoors at a museum, all movie goers must be vaccinated in order to watch the films, per the city’s indoor vaccine mandate. Attendees should bring proof of vaccination and a photo ID.

Also, everyone at the screenings needs to wear a mask during the movies.
Tickets cost $15 per-person, with a reduced fee of $11 for seniors and students, $9 for kids ages 3-17 and $7-11 for museum members. Festival goers can also use the code NYEXPO21 to get a 20 percent discount.

Find the lineup of screenings and get tickets here.