Inaugural Made In Huntington Film Festival Prepares For Kick Off

TOWN OF HUNTINGTON, NY — The Made in Huntington Film & TV Festival is set to run its inaugural four-day event from April 3 through April 6, the Town of Huntington announced.

The full schedule includes 14 screening programs at the Cinema Arts Centre, at 423 Park Ave., Huntington. Each daily line-up includes screenings with feature-length films, plus a collection of short-format projects, clustered by specific genre or theme, like humor, drama, documentary, arts, music or romance.

The producers of the Made in Huntington Film & TV Festival are encouraging the public to personally experience and enjoy this first-ever festival that "celebrates the creativity and art of filmmaking and spotlights films and TV that are made locally on Long Island, and especially within the Town of Huntington," the town stated.

In addition to the screenings, the festival also offers emerging filmmakers the chance to attend an Industry Day program on Saturday morning, April 5. The day will feature three panel conversations with film and television industry executives who share advice on seizing opportunities for distributing film or television projects in today’s expanding market.

"This festival offers area residents the unique chance to see locally-produced film and TV projects that they would not likely see anywhere else at this time," Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said in a news release. "You never know, one of these local filmmakers might someday be the next big Oscar or Emmy winner. It’s worth catching them now on their way up."

The Opening Day’s program, scheduled for Thursday, April 3, especially celebrates "Hometown Huntington" by featuring content focused on people and places within the township.

Thursday starts with the Opening Ceremony hosted by Smyth as part of a "Making It in Huntington" Media Day and Meet the Filmmakers program at 1:30 p.m. The Opening Program is free of charge and the public is encouraged to attend.

The ceremony will be followed by a panel conversation with some filmmakers. The first screening, titled "Our Town" is slated to begin immediately after the Opening Program at 2:30 p.m. Later, at 5 p.m. viewers can watch a shorts program featuring four locally-focused documentary narratives, including "Northport Beatnik" about beat-generation author and Northport resident, Jack Kerouac. At 7:30 pm, the day will end with a feature titled, "Undocumented," which includes a conversation with the filmmaker and talent.

Friday, April 4 offers two features, one at noon titled "It’s About Friggin’ Time" and "Death’s A B--ch," at 7:30 p.m., plus two short programs, one at 2:30 p.m. that features six short titles on Art, Music and Romance, and another program featuring eight humor-based short titles at 5 p.m. Huntington residents will likely recognize local scenes and faces in these short features.

Saturday, April 5 offers four screenings, each devoted to drama, starting at noon with the feature "Five Days on The Pile" followed by a short program of five titles at 2:30 p.m. and another short program with five different titles at 5 p.m. The day concludes at 7:30 p.m. with the Long Island premiere of the feature, "Ebenezer: The Traveler." This screening concludes with a conversation with the filmmaker and some cast members.

Sunday, April 6 has two screenings: The shorts program at 11 a.m. offers ticket buyers a final chance to catch the eight titles in the Humor category, while the 1:30 p.m. program is the final screening for the festival. It is the skateboarding-based, and celebrity-filled documentary feature "Humanity Stoked" and is followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and some cast and crew.

The Awards Ceremony and Closing Reception for the festival is also set to take place on Sunday evening at Newsday Studios, located at 6 Corporate Center Drive in Melville. The Red Carpet is slated to begin at 5:15 p.m., and the ceremony at 6 p.m. The Awards Ceremony will be hosted by Elisa DiStefano, host of Newsday TV. The ceremony will be recorded and will be streamed on Newsday TV beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 7.

Nine awards will be presented, including a best of show and an honorable mention.

"We appreciate that Newsday is willing to host the Awards Ceremony and Closing Reception at their beautiful Studios," Joe Schramm, the festival’s executive producer and the town’s director of film and television, said. "This offers the Town of Huntington the chance to show off just one of the several state-of-the-art television production facilities we have here."

Those wishing to obtain more details about the schedule, or to read each program’s description, or to purchase tickets online for the screenings or Industry Day, are encouraged to check here.

Tickets are $20 each per screening program. Members of the Cinema Arts Centre are eligible for a member discount.

Tickets for the Industry Day are $50 each.

The Made in Huntington Film & TV Festival is presented by the Town of Huntington’s Cultural Affairs Institute, a 501c3 corporation and produced by the Town’s Office of Film & Television.