Mazurkas

Local Bucks County artist Marty Krzywonos cites a long history of performances, beginning with his 8-year-old boy recreations of West Side Story that included leaps off his parents' sofa, and this film continues in that energetic history because, as a first feature, it is a risky and bold leap. But that is about where the similarities between his early life as a producer and his current one end, because Mazurkas is a mature and serious work.

The story centers around elderly widower Sydney Flanders, who is convincingly played by auteur Krzywonos himself. A semi-retired piano teacher who gives private lessons in his own home, Flanders is a lonely man who has little to keep him going except his memories, which torment his soul, and his creative works—and the latter are amazing. Yellow Rose Mazurka, his magnum opus, is a work of ethereal, neoclassical genius, putting Krzywonos's under-appreciated talents on full display with depths of feeling and melodic complexity reminiscent of Beethoven. Watch the trailer for a sample.

The musical score of Mazurkas is astonishing, but credit is also due for the film's true to life portrayal of an aging man who lives under the weight of his sins. How can he possibly lift these burdens as his life slips and slides away? His former and beloved wife, who is now deceased, was a promising concert pianist until he sabotaged her career to serve his jealousy and male insecurity, and to add gasoline to the fire, he lives with full awareness of how far he let his own life crumble. The life of a solo performer is unique, and when placed in a committed relationship, such pyrotechnics can and do arise.

You can watch the trailer here: Mazurkas Trailer

2016 Award Winners

Dan Rather, Lifetime Achievement Award

Special Award

Lifetime Achievement Award - Dan Rather

Film Jury Awards

Danny Award, Best Picture - Bridge (Amit Ranjan Biswas, India)
   Nominees: Look Again, Changeover, Intersection, Apparition, Niyazi Gul, The Galloping Vet,
                     Bridge, The Frogmarch, Primrose Lane

Best Director - Estes Tarver (Changeover, USA)
   Nominees: Estes Tarver (Changeover), Quinn Snyder (Apparition), Teddy Cecil (Helio), Calvin
                      Steinken (Doug's Christmas), Mike P Nelson (The Goodbye), Richard Cousins
                      (Waiting for Dawn), Tim French (Intersection)

Best Documentary - Shallow Waters: The Public Death of Raymond Zack (Jaime Longhi, USA)
   Nominees: Shallow Waters: The Public Death of Raymond Zack, Getting Better, The Legend of
                      Swee' Pea, She Started It, Chasing the Light, Hard to Believe, Stained Glass Windows
                      of the Shenandoah Valley, 2E: Twice Exceptional

Best Student Film - Escapement (Jae Williams, USA)
   Nominees: Ruth's Great Escape, Babygirl, The Surface, Escapement, D. L.
                     Fitzsimmons Presents: The Class Acts!, Tunnel Vision, Empty Space, Escapement

Best Alternative Feature -  Blood and Curry (Atul Sharma, USA)
   Nominees: America is Still the Place, Blood & Curry, Empty Space, Intersection, Primrose
                      Lane, Roman Citizen

Best Short Film - Poor George (Jim Harris, USA)
   Nominees: Doug's Christmas, Inertia, Figs for Italo, Brother of Abraham, Poor
                     George, Helio, The Mother, Waiting for Dawn, We Remember, The Goodbye

Best Short Documentary - The Birth of an Artist (Nataliya Babenko, Ukraine)
   Nominees: The Birth of an Artist, My Fight at 50, Source of Hope, The Ballad of the Dreadnought,
                      Today is the Day

Best Foreign Film - Waiting for Dawn (Cousins Richard, UK)
   Nominees: Bridge, Waiting for Dawn, We'll Meet Again, Niyazi Gul, The Galloping Vet

Best Biography - The Legend of Swee' Pea (Benjamin May, USA)
   Nominees: The Legend of Swee' Pea, The Soul of a Tree

Best Experimental Short - The Great Grunklumpen Circus (Corri Voorhees, USA)
   Nominees: Simon, Inertia, Avaritia, The Great Grunklumpen Circus, The Super, Terra Incognita,
                      Recently, Long Ago, The Goodbye

Indie Spirit Award - The Frogmarch (Jonathan D'Ambrosio, USA)
   Nominees: Intersection, Look Again, Changeover, America is Still the Place, The Frogmarch,
                     Chemical Cut, Blood & Curry, The Bridge

Female Eye Filmmaking Award - Chemical Cut (Marjorie Conrad, USA)
   Nominees: She Started It, Primrose Lane, Babygirl, Birth of an Artist, Out, Chemical Cut, Two
                     Weeks, Everything

Best Sci-Fi Film - Helio (Teddy Cecil, USA)
   Nominees: I Am the Doorway, The Surface, Helio

Best TV Pilot - Life on a Leash (Thiago DaDalt, USA)
   Nominees: Life on a Leash, Little Champion, Big Heroes

Best Comedy - Niyazi Gul, The Galloping Vet (Hakan Algul, Turkey)
   Nominees: Niyazi Gul, The Galloping Vet, Life on a Leash, Poor George, Look Again, Miss
                     Teri, Playing Through

Student Cultural Spirit - My Fight at 50 (Deepashri Varadharajan, USA)
   Nominees: Babygirl, Two Weeks, Birth of an Artist, My Fight at 50

Cultural Spirit Award - She Started It (Nora Poggi, Insiyah Saeed, USA)
   Nominees: Getting Better, Shallow Waters: The Public Death of Raymond Zack, She Started It,
                     2E: Twice Exceptional, Writers Matter, Hard to Believe, Unslut: A Documentary
                     Film

New Hope Award - Getting Better (Gulserene Dastur, India, Switzerland)
   Nominees: Getting Better, Source of Hope, Birth of an Artist, Dream Job Life, Second Chance,
                     She Started It, SMART, Titanium, Writers Matter

Artistic Spirit Award - Chasing the Light (Geoffrey Young, Australia)
   Nominees: Dropped Bars, She Started It, Chasing the Light, SMART, Dan Rather: Courage
                     Under Fire, UnSlut: A Documentary Film

LGTB Spirit Award: Unconditional (Kent Igleheart, USA)
   Nominees: Unconditional, Reinventing the Reel, We Remember

Best Supernatural Thriller - Apparition (Quinn Saunders, USA)
   Nominees: Legacy, Apparition, Primrose Lane

Best Webisode - What Martha Said (Susan Skoog, USA)
   Nominees: What Martha Said, Miss Teri, Dream Job Life, Downward Departure

Best Music Video - Our People (Albert Kahn, USA)
   Nominees: Witch in Me, Our People, Mr. Bluebird, Masheenee Alcketiara

Film Audience Choice Awards

Best Webisode - Dream Job Life (Darrell Gurney, USA)
Best TV Pilot - Little Champions, Big Heroes (Stephen Stahl, USA)
Best Music Video - Witch in Me (Jacopo Miceli, UK)
Best Narrative Feature - Intersection (Tim French, USA)
Best Documentary - Getting Better (Gulserene Dastur, India, Switzerland)
Best Short Film - Second Chance (Tom Wardach, USA)
Best Student Film - Ruth's Great Escape (Thomas Bangert, USA)

Script Competition Awards

Best Script - Buenos Aires (Olga Rojer)
   Nominees: Knights of the Shadows, Buenos Aires, Catch the Devil, Lion of the Sea, Dismas
                      and Gestas, About Bates: A True Urban Legend, Reaper's Time, Zinicala Chronicles:
                      The Arrival

Best Teleplay - Knights of the Shadows (Austin Priester)
   Nominees: Palookaville, Knights of the Shadows, Fluke

Best Fantasy Script - Zinicala Chronicles: The Arrival (Dillon Betros)
   Nominees: Matt and the Epic Microwave Odyssey, Post Tense, Switch Me Off, Tangled Spirits,
                      The Fallout, Zinicala Chronicles: The Arrival, Dismas and Gestas

Best Action Thriller Script - Reconquista (George Reese)
   Nominees: About Bates: A True Urban Legend, Buenos Aires, Catch the Devil, Knights of the
                      Shadows, Lion of the Sea, Reaper's Time, Reconquista, Dismas and Gestas

Best Period Script - Catch the Devil (Martin Blinder)
   Nominees: About Bates: A True Urban Legend, Fluke, Buenos Aires, Catch the Devil, Dismas
                     and Gestas, Fluke, Lion of the Sea, My Appointed Round, Palookaville, The Fallout

Best Short Screenplay - Matt and the Epic Microwave Odyssey (Michelle Sarkany)
   Nominees: Switch Me Off, Post Tense, Reaper's Time, Matt and the Epic Microwave Odyssey

Markham Tactical

Talk about timeliness.

Completed in July 2015, Markham Tactical bears an uncomfortable resemblance to current events, raising the stakes in what is already a tense, action-packed film. Co-Directors Bayley Pokorny and Jeremy Earl are based in Chicago, where the latter works as a police officer. Their take on the day-to-day complexities, hardships and hair trigger decisions that necessarily come with a law enforcement career is sympathetic, yet raw, drawing a metaphoric thin blue line between reality and film, order and chaos.

The verisimilitude is uncanny when a fictional documentary film crew visits the police station in Markham, Illinois, where they've been invited in a bid to improve community relations. The station's outreach is an apparent success, but when a stakeout goes bad, the police are forced to handle an escalating situation while the cameras roll.

Sound familiar? You can watch the trailer here: Markham Tactical Trailer

The Frogmarch

Drug intervention.

If you've ever wondered why independent films exist—what the risk, sacrifice, and burning passion is really all about—The Frogmarch is your answer. The story is oceans deep and relevant to your life, not as escapism or entertainment, but as life really is when you are fully present in it. No one but filmmakers Jonathan D'Ambrosio and Matthew C. Flynn could tell this story of friendship and love quite as well because it is their story—fictionalized, but true to their own experience.

Drug addiction is viewed in different ways by different people, but it takes a special kind of insight and courage to transition from an attitude of "this is someone else's problem" to "this is my problem, and I'm going to do something about it." Whether one is the addict or not, it's a quantum leap.

Travis Portman, reunited with his best, oldest friends after serving five years for a drug offense, is ready for a relaxing holiday at a remote lake house at the start of this film, but something much more important lies in store for him. His friends send off the car keys, leaving themselves stranded and, in a real sense, living in a makeshift rehab center with an addict who desperately needs their help. Travis will get that help, whether he likes it or not; he has lost has freedom again, but release from prison is a mirage for someone who isn't free from drugs.

This is an exceptional film. At times, it's a shocking one, yet also wise and tender. D'Ambrosio and Flynn grab you and won't let go, as if The Frogmarch needs you in the myriad ways these friends need each other, proving once again that the emotional impact of a humble little indie flick can be epic.

You. Must. See. This. Film. Watch the trailer here: The Frogmarch Trailer

Out

In this touching portrait of a woman who has just been released from prison, filmmaker Jen Woldrich brings a heartbreaking social problem into the light of day. Gina is an adoring mother, but her toddler daughter doesn't even know she exists.

Gina travels to the girl's present home, and despite the cool reception she receives from the adoptive parents, the recent inmate enjoys a golden opportunity to sit with and speak to her child. But she doesn't reveal her identity, and the question quickly shifts from how to connect with her daughter to how she can let her go.

Forever. You can watch the trailer here: Out Trailer

Stained Glass Windows of the Shenandoah Valley

Take a contemplative walk through historic churches in Stained Glass Windows of the Shenandoah Valley, an informative film by Virginian D. Lee Beard that focuses on one of art history's less explored crafts. The film covers a wide range of styles, from medieval gothic revival to Tiffany windows and on to more modern, abstract designs, lending many opportunities to see how philosophy, theology and technology combine to produce a continuum of art history and change.

Along the way, Beard discusses what these beautiful windows mean to the communities they serve, elevating an art form into the broader contexts of what a community values and how communities engender self-worth.

You can watch the trailer here: Stained Glass Windows Trailer

Changeover

Teenager Haley Thompson acts awfully bratty after moving in with her tennis pro relative, Uncle Chad, but not without reason. In the back seat of the car when her parents were broadsided and killed by a truck, this heretofore typical seventeen-year-old now suffers the PTSD horror of reliving her parents' intense suffering, and her horror, over and over again.

What's more, she's hurting herself, a habit that could turn deadly soon. Her bachelor uncle, already struggling to raise an eight-year-old son on his own, isn't well equipped to handle the emotions of a troubled girl who constantly lashes out at him for his inadequacies. They both want to connect and heal, but the road to this place is impassable.

Director Estes Tarver, who superbly plays Uncle Chad alongside an explosive performance by actress Madeline Taylor, literally pulls no punches in his portrayal of family life, and does so with a single-parent structure that heightens the agony, vulnerability and social relevance. Changeover is a film puissant, one that pulls the drapes on parent-child issues that are even more tectonic in real life.

You can watch the trailer here: Changeover Trailer