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Long Island Film Festival 2006 By Tiffany Razzano The Long Island Film Festival, held from May 4 to the May 7 at the Glen Cove Cinemas, brought together both local and national filmmakers to create a huge success. The film Brooklyn Lobster, the festival's Best Feature, was the star of the weekend, featuring a stellar Danny Aiello (Best Actor) and Jane Curtin. The movie, loosely based on the family lobster shop of director Kevin Jordan, is the heartwarming story of a family on the brink of loosing their family business, and featured an excellent mix of drama and humor. Scores to Settle, the Howard Stern Film Festival entry, was a fictional depiction of a successful Howard Stern dealing with his "enemies and vendettas." The fictional Stern assembled his loyal team to kill off his enemies, including his former radio station manager and the "CEO Executive," one by one. The award for Best Animated Short was given to Chiropteramania, which utilizes both animated sequences from the Batman cartoon and actual video footage. Essentially, a nerdy, skinny guy dressed as Batman grapples with the cartoon version of the caped crusader, beating him in the end. Rocco at Cedarmere was bestowed the award for Best Documentary - Musical Performance. Rocco is a Glen Cove-based singer-songwriter. The documentary is a filming of the CD release party of his second album, held at Cedarmere. Rocco's music is all over the place, from bossa nova to Beatles-influenced pop. Those, of the many who joined him on stage, included his wife Tori on piano, his father and the mentally impaired charge he works with at his day job. Locust Valley was featured in Mother of Normandy, a short documentary by Doug Stebleton that celebrates the life of Sainte Mere Eglise's Madame Simone Renaud, who cared for the graves of fallen American soldiers in France during World War II, and formed relationships with veterans and family members of those that died. After the war ended, a group called Operation Democracy was formed in Locust Valley to aid various towns and cities in France that were harmed during World War II. Part of the reason Sainte Mere Eglise was chosen as the first town to receive aid was because that's where General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was buried. This was the second film on Normandy that Stebleton put together; the first was The Moth Child: Return to Normandy. Mother had already been completed when Stebleton discovered the connection between Sainte Mere Eglise and Locust Valley, which he learned about when visiting friends who lived in the town. Garlic Knots, directed by Ray Genadry of Glen Cove, received the festival's award for Best Short Long Island Comedy. The short is the story of a hapless trio of friends who work at a local pizzeria. Their boss, in order to motivate them, bought them a handful of lottery tickets. When the numbers are announced, they're ecstatic because they have the winning ticket but quickly discover that the winning ticket has actually been baked into one of the pizza pies they delivered. The movie documents their hilarious quest to retrieve the pie with the winning ticket. The movie was filmed all over the island, including Deer Park and a pizza parlor in Massapequa, but Genadry also used local landmarks, including the First Presbyterian Church in Glen Cove and the beaches of Sea Cliff. The documentary Under the Covers, directed by music industry veteran Peter Blachley, won Best Feature Documentary. The documentary reminisces about the career of rock photographer Henry Deltz and Gary Burton. The duo collaborated on a number of classic CD albums, from Joni Mitchell's Blue, to albums by the Mamas and the Papas, the Eagles, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Jackson Brown. The two told the stories behind each album cover, telling stories that defined the '60s generation. Two films by Glen Cove's Scott Goldberg were also featured, All I want for Christmas and The Day They Came Back. The Day They Came Back won the award for Best Short Screenplay. The incredibly tight and well-written film portrayed a Glen Cove over-ridden by zombies. Goldberg shot on various streets and locations in the town, including an abandoned structure at the Wellwyn Preserve. |
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