Visionfest
Visionfest: The Other Festival is an annual film festival commonly referred to as VF, which takes place in New York City. The film festival showcases creations of U.S. filmmakers and by production entities that are based solely in the U.S. Visionfest provides an exhibition forum for the American auteur that is specialized and focused; one that does not dilute the presence of U.S. films within a sea of international product. Eligible projects may be shot on international locations and feature globally relevant storylines, but their origin must be U.S. based. Visionfest is committed to discovering the new voices behind America’s future “works of art.” And with the support of its organizing entity, the Domani Vision Film Society, Visionfest continues its ongoing mission of ‘bringing you tomorrow’s visionaries today.’
History
Founded in 2001 by a group of film magazine publishers, film industry professionals and with the support of the Domani Vision Film Society. Visionfest employs educational forums, project planning initiatives, and other affiliated events organized throughout the year to communicate with a wide variety of audiences. Its ongoing series of creative forums and industry networking opportunities culminates each year with a five-day event of films reaching a wide audience and introducing upscale urban professionals to talented independent filmmakers from all over the U.S.
The Festival and its grass roots upbringing
Formerly known as the Guerrilla Film & Video Festival, VISIONFEST was started in 2001 by Guerrilla Filmmaker Magazine co-founders, Bruno Derlin and Mark Doyle. The humbly organized event kept true to its niche-plated moniker with its very conservative budget and grass roots approach. The film festival was predominantly programmed with independent works covered earlier that year on the pages of Guerrilla Filmmaker. The somber 'state of mind' and financial instability that were a prominent thorn of the aftermath of 9/11 also directly affected and caused a premature demise for Guerrilla Filmmaker Magazine. But the guerrilla boys, thanks to the generous support of that year's presenting sponsor, Panasonic, held on tight to their film festival and Tribeca-based screening facility, even adding a second venue, the Tribeca Grand Hotel screening room, to help them unveil their 2002 program, which included the New York premiere of "Fits & Starts," a comedic short subject film that would go on to win a Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
VISIONFEST 03, as it was quickly commonly referred to, also has the distinction of being the maiden platform that launched the highly successful initiative, the FiveXFive 'New York State of Mind' DV Project. Five up and coming filmmakers were selected by a special festival committee to individually create five, five-minute, digital shorts that were to be produced and completed within a period of five days. The filmmakers were asked to literally draw their film's location setting out of a hat: each would be assigned to shoot in one of the five boroughs of New York. And finally, the completed projects would be screened in a "world premiere" forum, preceding the film festival's awards ceremony, on the fifth and final day of the event. The positive response and coverage achieved by the FiveXFive would ensure that the 'project' would be repeated the following year, again with some very specific guidelines that would promise a challenging task for each of the five filmmakers. VISIONFEST 04 introduced another new addition to the film festival's competitive forums: a feature screenwriting competition. With entries surpassing the 500+ mark, VF04 organizers created an exciting line-up consisting of 52 films that would unspool over a five-day run at New York University's Cantor Film Center. And again, on the fifth and final day of the event, that year's FiveXFive project would have its world premiere. VF05 brought 'the other festival' back to its downtown home roots: the Tribeca Cinemas, where it would continue to run and where the festival will celebrate its fourteenth anniversary with VISIONFEST 14.
The Festival's IVA (Independent Vision Awards) Ceremony
Each year, on its closing night, VF hands out numerous "outstanding achievement" awards known as the IVAs, which consist of statuettes and/or certificates, often paired with sponsored "goods & services" prize packages. Past IVA winners include: Karen Black (for her role in Steve Balderson's FIRECRACKER); Mira Sorvino (LIKE DANDELION DUST); Patrick Warburton (THE CIVILIZATION OF MAXWELL BRIGHT); Stephen Lang (CHRISTINA); Neil LaBute (AFTER-SCHOOL SPECIAL). IVA nominations are announced on each festival's opening night and awards are handed out just prior to the event's wrap party, on closing night.