Long Island International Film Expo was proud to feature over 120 films this year, including 19 World Premieres, 5 US Premieres, 28 New York Premieres and 50 Long Island Premieres! Plus, there were also 32 Female Directors. The Pre-Fest feature on Tuesday night at 7pm was the NY Premiere of “The Strangers Case”, a film currently creating international conversation, where tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, starting a chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries.
There was a press conference on Wed. July 10th at 3pm at the Bellmore Movies with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Actor Lukas Hassel (The Blacklist), Academy award nominee Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull, Neighbors etc), and Emmy award winning actress, Jennifer Jiles, with others in attendance.
Then, the Wednesday Opening night film was the Long Island Premiere of “Colibri’”, by Juanpedro David Salazar and Francisco Salazar originally from East Meadow, which tells the story of a young Colombian couple who are faced with a major change in their lives, where each one will go on a personal journey to right the wrongs of the past in order to build a stronger future. Special screenings of note throughout the week included: the NY Premiere of “Child Machine” a fun Sci Fi/Comedy feature, the “Scared For Your LIIFE” block that included “Screamwalkers”, alumni Sean Quincy King’s unique shot-on-video 90s-styled horror feature, the NY Premiere of “Hidden Flora”, a coming of age queer trans-produced romantic dramedy from Writer/Director Ryan Rox, and a short doc on Long Island based NYS Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg entitled “Harvey: The Voice for The Voiceless”.
The Closing day feature was the Long Island Premiere of “Scrap” starring Anthony Rapp and Vivian Kerr. Then, everything culminated at LIIFE Closing Awards Ceremony hosted by Kevin Brown (dotcom from NBC’s 30 Rock) with Lukas Hassel, Jennifer Jiles and Sal Rendino (Billions) as presenters.
LIIFE has become a summer playground for filmmakers, with local and international film screenings, celebrity appearances, entertaining and informative panels, a star-studded awards ceremony, and networking galore. LIIFE is presented by the Long Island Film/TV Foundation (LIFTF) and sponsored by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, Gold Coast Studios, and the County of Nassau.
For more information on LIIFE please visit: www.LongIslandFilm.com
