THE ARTISTS FORUM FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE: 2022 (#theartistsforumfilmfest) returned for its seventh year with new, innovative programming. This year’s festival showcased 34 films, highlighting our 2022 Competition Theme: REFLECTIONS ON THE NATIONAL PSYCHE.
The 2022 Official Selections were created by independent filmmakers originating from 16 countries: Argentina, Canada, China, Croatia, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.
THIS YEAR’S THEME:
Filmmakers were challenged to interpret our theme: REFLECTIONS ON THE NATIONAL PSYCHE. The term “national psyche” refers to the collective thinking or attitude of a nation as a whole, and is not specific to any individual nation. This idea can be applied to or in contrast with any cultural ideology.
SCREENINGS:
Our live screenings were held October 13 – October 15th at the exclusive Dolby Screening Room NYC — a state-of-the-art, ADA compliant screening facility at 1350 Avenue of the Americas at West 55th Street (Lobby Level) in Mid-town Manhattan.
OPENING NIGHT: Oct. 13: 7PM – 9PM.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Oct. 14th: 7PM – 9PM.
CLOSING NIGHT: Oct. 15th: 6PM – 10PM.
Online festival screenings began October 16 through November 27, 2022 on VIMEO.COM
Our annual Closing Night Awards Ceremony was held October 15, 2022 at the Dolby Screening Room NYC.
Our 2022 Festival Ambassadors were The Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image: 2019‘s Best Actor Dan Parilis and Best Actress Katlin Leslie.
2022 Festival Jury: C.J. Arellano, Ashley Gerst, Martha Gorzycki, Stephen Hilyard, Henry Kanegsberg, Lee Milby, Djordje Radovanovich, David Ranghelli, Jonathan Taub, José Carlos Teixeira, Jonathan Ullman, Amos White V, Ty Whittington-Scott, and Vitkor Witkowski.
2021 Festival Media Sponsor: LinkNYC
THE ARTISTS FORUM, now in its 24th year, is a New York City based non-profit arts service organization specializing in events, juried competitions, and media for artists.
Its FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE is the organization’s flagship program, and provides an unparalleled platform for emerging and mid-career filmmakers to share their stories with the world’s creative, media, and film communities.
Follow @theartistsforum:
Facebook, #theartistsforumfilmfest on Facebook, Instagram, Linktree, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo, and Tiktok. Hashtags: #theartistsforumfilmfest #reflectionsonthenationalpsyche #dontmissamoment
2022 FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM SCHEDULE
OCTOBER 13, 2022 – OPENING NIGHT
OPENING NIGHT: PROGRAM I – 9 short films (102 mins)
AIDAN
10:43 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Donovan Wilson (US)
SCI-FI – A languishing click-bait reporter decides to go on her own and kidnap a strangely malfunctioning android to find the truth of its existence. East Coast Premiere
A FEAST THAT NEVER COMES
9:59 mins (2022)
Director: Maria Juranic (Croatia/US), Composer: Sven Britt (US), Choreographer: Chris Masters (US)
MUSIC VIDEO – Four characters inhabit cycles within cycles of contentment, discontentment, inertia, movement, desire, and betrayal. NY State Premiere
THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH PAUL
12:30 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Mark Clauburg (US)
DARK THEMES – Recently released from prison, Paul is reunited with his siblings over dinner. Some are not ready to forgive just yet, as a dark family secret is revealed.
AVOESIS
9:24 mins (2021)
Director: Mykhailo Bogdanov (US)
DOCUMENTARY – A thought-provoking exploration of natural silence and human existence within it. NYC Premiere
CORONAURA
5:33mins (2021)
Director: Sarah Kanouse (US)
EXPERIMENTAL – An animated meditation on the possibility of solidarity at a time when a pandemic, a collapsing climate, and an ongoing racial reckoning have laid bare white complicity in violence, both fast and slow.
A PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY OF MOURNING
8:30 mins (2022)
Director: Shayna Connelly (US)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT – A Psychogeography of Mourning uses static imagery and unpredictable sound to reconcile the contradictory interior and exterior experiences grief elicits. NY State Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
SPECK
3:15 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Diane Christiansen (US)
NARRATIVE – Vagina fingers character explores universe gone mad. East Coast Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
FAULT LINE
38:09 mins (2022)
Director: Lauren Himmelvo (US)
Writer: Craig Walker (US)
NARRATIVE SHORT – A sweeping drama, FAULT LINE takes us on an odyssey of loss in the far west Texas town of Marfa. World Premiere
THE STREAM XII
3:57 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Hiroya Sakurai (Japan)
EXPERIMENTAL – The twelfth film in “The Stream” series expresses the symbiotic cooperation between humans and nature. North American Premiere
OCTOBER 14, 2022 – FRIDAY NIGHT
FRIDAY NIGHT: PROGRAM II – 9 short films (92 mins)
THE CEREMONY
9:41 mins (2021)
Writer: Iman Qureshi (UK)
Director: Lisle Turner (UK)
NARRATIVE – A non-binary couple meet with an entertaining officiant to celebrate their marriage. The unique, emotionally-charged ceremony delivers a heartbreaking twist. US Premiere
BORN UNDER PUNCHES
5:39 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Gaoyang Ganjin (China/Singapore)
NARRATIVE SHORT (Student) – Tyler is trapped in his father’s dream of being a boxing champion, but he’s put up with it for too long. Following the journey of his internal chaos and pursuit of freedom.
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
MESHES OF THE AFTER
10:13 mins (2022)
Directors: Meg Case & Brad Porter (US)
EXPERIMENTAL – Myth is the facts of the mind made manifest in a fiction of matter.
VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE – CHAPTER 2
3:34 mins (2021)
Director: Michael McHugh (UK)
EXPERIMENTAL – Exploring the artistic potential of Virtual Production, we film a collaboration between two accomplished artists representing two art forms rooted in improvisation.
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
CARASOUL
2:30 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Kaeti MacNeil (US)
ANIMATION (Student) – Animated surrealist film visualizing temporal, immaterial sensations as spatially material extensions of the body. East Coast Premiere
SEA OF SILENCE
13:30 mins (2021)
Director/Writer: Jon Cuyson (Philippines)
EXPERIMENTAL – A silent yet omniscient voice searches the past to understand and reveal intimate connections of family, labor, colonialism and the sea. World Premiere
SEE TRALIER / SEE WEBSITE
WE ARE BLEACH
22:49 mins (2022)
Director/Writer: Zoë Greenbaum (UK)
NARRATIVE – The pansexual lead singer of an up-and-coming London rock band flirts recklessly with adventure, threatening to destroy the love that is right in front of him. NYC Premiere
WINTERAGE: LAST MILK
21:00 mins (2021)
Writer: Judd Morrissey (US)
Director: Lucy Cash & Mark Jeffery (UK/US)
EXPERIMENTAL – The thousand-year history of a farm in rural Doveridge, Derbyshire, UK, entangles with the singular life of queer Chicago-based artist, Mark Jeffery. North American Premiere
EXPERIENCE THAT
3:59 mins (2021)
Composer: Leo Wang (Taiwan)
Director: Cheng Kai Kao (Taiwan)
MUSIC VIDEO – Driving through the city, Leo sings about observing different versions of in himself through the window view. World Premiere
SEE TRAILER/ SEE WEBSITE
OCTOBER 15, 2022 – CLOSING NIGHT
OPENING NIGHT: PROGRAM III – 7 short films (146 mins)
AN ISLAND DRIFTS
18:32 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Vivian Ip (Singapore)
NARRATIVE SHORT – Set in Singapore, a young teacher presses for the truth from a maladjusted student, as the act leads to devastating results and they suffer the ignominy of losing everything that matters to them. East Coast Premiere
GOOD NEWS
10:00 mins (2022)
Director: Mauro Duek (Argentina/Germany)
Writer: Francisco Tursi (Argentina)
NARRATIVE – A romance, a reunion, death looming, a secret, good news. World Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
TEDDY BEAR
15:14 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Sara Shelton (US)
Writer: Jed Cohen (US)
COMEDY – Best friends Pete and Annie reluctantly head out to a bar to attend a friend’s show. Despite promising each other they’ll leave early, their nights both take a turn when they meet two strangers.
ONCE I PASSED
10:00 mins (2022)
Director: Martin Gerigk (Germany)
NARRATIVE – A profound and unvarnished portrayal of human love — intense, universal, and true. East Coast Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
THESE BODIES
12:56 mins (2021)
Director: Matthew Strasburger (US)
LGBTQ+ EXPERIMENTAL – A pair of weary teenagers journey through a desolate landscape to escape the dying world around them, forming an intense bond in the face of doom. NY State Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
PICTURES ONLY
20:53 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Charles A. Honeywood (US)
Writers: Rachel Soland & Kheirra M. Peggs (US)
NARRATIVE – At the start of a late 1950’s economic downturn, a 25 year old arts teacher is given the chance to elevate her lifestyle and secure her family’s future.
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
29:44 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Danny Ashkenasi (US)
DARK THEMES – Musical short film adaptation of the classic Poe story. A desperate composer imagines himself both the victim and the Inquisition in Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Reality and fantasy converge with frightening consequences.
OCTOBER 16 – NOVEMBER 27, 2022 – ONLINE PROGRAMS: PROGRAM IV
Online screenings include Programs I, II, III, IV, and V.
PROGRAM IV: 6 Films (96.5 mins) – 6 short films
STOP. LOOK. GO.
5:34 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Sneha Das (India)
ANIMATION (Student) – A man contemplates his entire life to understand how everything shaped him up to be where he is now. North American Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
HOW LONG YOU CAN FACE YOUR LONELINESS?
11:40 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Rachel Myriam Yedid (Isreal)
EXPERIMENTAL – The intimate dive into the depths of a women’s solitude. East Coast Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
KEREL (SEA OF LOVE)
14:30 mins (2021)
Director/Writer: Jon Cuyson (Philippines)
LGBTQ+ EXPERIMENTAL – Trapped in a cargo ship during the lockdown, Kerel, a gay Filipino seafarer escapes through his memory and recalls his complicated past, present, and future self. North American Premiere
SEE TRAILER/ SEE WEBSITE
GOOD INTENTIONS
23:22 mins (2022)
Director: Harry James Dwinell (US)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT – With conflicting emotions about the Peace Corps, evacuated volunteer and filmmaker Harry James Dwinell sits down with former volunteers to discuss critiques of the organization that have existed for decades.
ESTE CATE
36:00 mins (2021)
Writer: Nicholson Billey (US)
Director: Danielle Soames (US)
NARRATIVE SHORT – An interweaving of five Native American stories that attempt to disrupt the notion of a Native survival “stasis.” North American Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
DEMI-GODS
5:35 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Martin Gerigk (Germany)
EXPERIMENTAL – A furtive look from us mortals at the mechanics of the dark demi gods of our time. East Coast Premiere
SEE TRAILER/ SEE WEBSITE
OCTOBER 16 – NOVEMBER 27, 2022 – ONLINE PROGRAMS: PROGRAM V
Online screenings include Programs I, II, III, IV, and V.
PROGRAM V: 3 Films (96.5 mins) – 2 shorts and 1 feature length film
FLEETING HERE & THERE
2:22 mins (2021)
Director: Gilnaz Arzpeyma (Iran/Canada)
EXPERIMENTAL – A call-to-action for anti-racism, the power of voting, a personal side of COVID, and voter suppression awareness. US Premiere
SEE TRAILER / SEE WEBSITE
DREAM
3:39 mins (2021)
Writer/Director: Majid Sabri (Iran)
ANIMATION – A creation in warp and woof of a dream. North American Premiere
FACING THE SILENCE
1:33:14 mins (2022)
Writer/Director: Emilio Ruiz Barrachina (Spain)
NARRATIVE FEATURE – La Moneta, a flamenco dancer, travels to Auschwitz in order to find inspiration for her new show, inspired by a book of the poet Félix Grande. Film between documentary and fiction. North American Premiere
JUDGES
C.J. Arellano
C.J. has won awards at many festivals including #theartistsforumfilmfest 2021 and was one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch by the ISA. He’s directed commercial video (The Second City, Motorola, McDonald’s) and was an editor for the 2020 Biden for President campaign.
Ashley Gerst
Ashley Gerst is a 2D and 3D animator living in Brooklyn NY. She holds a BFA in Digital Arts from Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA in Computer Art from School of Visual Arts. In addition to her professorial work at William Paterson, Ashley is a freelance animator working for clients such as AMC, Viacom, Fast Co., Hudson Media, and CBS.
Martha Gorzycki
Martha is an award winning animator, filmmaker and media artist, experimenting in digital animation and new media. Her work screens globally in festivals, galleries, on LED billboards, as outdoor projections and online. She has produced animation for more than 30 years and teaches digital cinema and animation at San Francisco State University.
Stephen Hilyard
Artist/Educator Stephen Hilyard’s work deals with the paradoxical nature of our impulse towards the profound. His work has been supported by The Huntington Library, The Harpo Foundation, The American Scandinavian Foundation & The McKnight Foundation.
Henry Kanegsberg
A graduate of Ithaca College, Henry received his MBA from NYU and is a former finance and administration executive in the broadcasting, music, and publishing industries. He held senior positions with NBC, RCA Records and Random House. Currently, Henry is the chair of community organizations for the Mount Sinai Hospital System.
Lee Milby
Lee Milby is a New York-based director and artist known for creating unique and highly conceptual videos. Featured in both domestic and international publications, Lee’s ability to bring out the individual energy and style of each artist and brand makes for timeless, original content.
George Radovanovich
George is an independent scholar with a focus on research and writings on art and cultural criticism. Originally from Serbia, George received his US citizenship in 1995 while studying at New York’s School of Visual Arts, earning his BFA in Film and MFA in Computer Arts in 1997.
David Ranghelli
David studied filmmaking at Brooklyn College (BA), and Comp. Lit./ Cinema Studies at NYU’s GSAS (MA, MPHIL). He taught film analysis and mentored screenwriters at Tisch School of the Arts for 12 years. He has worked at the Media and Communication Arts Dept. at CUNY for 7 years, where he also educates aspiring filmmakers.
Jonathan Taub
Jonathan is an Argentinean designer and filmmaker living in NYC. He’s involved with many collaborative projects that explore and expose the human condition. Jonathan directed his film Externo with brother Leandro, winning Best Screenplay in #theartistsforumfilmfest 2021.
José Carlos Teixeira
José is an artist, filmmaker, researcher, and educator from Portugal. His work has exhibited internationally in prestigious museums, foundations, galleries, and film festivals, garnering him awards and fellowships. As a Fulbrighter, he earned a Master’s from UCLA, and was in residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude and MacDowell, among others.
Jonathan Ullman
Jonathan is a NYC-based independent filmmaker. He wrote, directed, and produced his debut feature Trouble In The Heights (Viva Pictures), garnering two Imagen Award noms for Best Picture and Best Actor. His film on Paradise Garage and DJ Larry Levan is in development.
Amos White V
Amos is an inter-disciplinary multimedia artist, event producer, and exhibit designer. A graduate of the College of Human Ecology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Amos bridges his passion for the arts and human relations with the formation of THE ARTISTS FORUM.
Ty Whittington-Scott
Ty is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer. Her films include, Parker & Angel (a Best Actress & Audience Award winner at #theartistsforumfilmfest 2018), Divine Decree, Counterblow, and LaLa Land. She’s the founder BossChics Films. A native NYer, Ty lives in LA..
Viktor Witkowski
Viktor is a Polish-born German-raised painter/filmmaker. After graduating from HBK Braunschweig with a combined Master’s in Studio Art, Art History, and Art Education, he immigrated to the US to earn his MFA in Visual Arts from Rutgers. Currently, he travels abroad creating art and lecturing at Dartmouth’s Studio Art Department.
AWARD LISTINGS
View our full List of Nominees & Award Winners
2022 WINNERS
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT: An Island Drifts (Vivian Ip, Singapore)
BEST DARK THEMED SHORT: The Pit and the Pendulum – A Musicabre (Danny Ashkenasi, US)
BEST COMEDY SHORT: Teddy Bear (Sara Shelton, US)
BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT: Once I Passed (Martin Gerigk, Germany)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Good Intentions (Harry James Dwinell, US)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Carasoul: A Portrait in Nth Dimensions (Kaeti MacNeil, US)
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: A Feast That Never Comes (M. Juranic, C. Masters, S. Britt, Croatia/US)
BEST STUDENT SHORT: Born Under Punches (Gaoyang Ganjin, China/Singapore)
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: Facing the Music (Emilio Ruiz Barrachina, Spain)
BEST LGBTQ+ SHORT: The Ceremony (Iman Qureshi, UK)
BEST SOUND DESIGN: Martin Gerigk – (Once I Passed, Martin Gerigk, Germany)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Meg Case & Brad Porter – (Meshes of the After, Case & Porter, US)
BEST EDITING: Stolis Hadjicharalambous – (The Pit and the Pendulum – A Musicabre, Danny Ashkenasi, US)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Iman Qureshi – (The Ceremony, I. Qureshi, UK)
BEST DIRECTOR (tie): Sara Shelton – (Teddy Bear, Sara Shelton, US) and Danny Ashkenasi – (The Pit and the Pendulum – A Musicabre, Danny Ashkenasi, US)
BEST ACTOR: Danny Ashkenasi – (The Pit and the Pendulum – A Musicabre, Danny Ashkenasi, US)
BEST ACTRESS: Keilly McQuail – (Teddy Bear, Sara Shelton, US)
2022 JURORS AWARD: Danny Ashkenasi – (The Pit and the Pendulum – A Musicabre, Danny Ashkenasi, US)
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
View our 2022 Festival Program Schedule
View or download our 2022 Film Festival Press Release
See our 2022 Official Festival Trailer
View or download our 2022 Official Festival Poster
View or download our 2021 Official Festival Social Media Graphics
