New York, NY – April 5, 2013 – The Metropolitan College of New York School for Business Media Management MBA program is proud to announce that Pizza Verdi, a short film by Gary Nadeau, was judged the winning entry of the MCNY 4th Annual Short Film Festival. Ice Cream by Nicholas Santos and Not Like the Commercials by Gordon S. Williams were voted Second and Third Place, respectively, in the Festival.
“We had a record number of very solid entries this year and the competition was great. In fact, only eight films were selected from all of the submissions to be official entries in final consideration at the Festival,” said Kristie Velasco, Coordinator of the MCNY School for Business Media Management MBA Program, who directed the Media Management students in producing the Festival. “The Festival is proud to be open to filmmakers around the globe and this year filmmakers from Malaysia, India, France and Serbia joined American filmmakers in submitting shorts into the competition. I’m just glad I wasn’t judging.”
Mr. Nadeau is an accomplished filmmaker and screenwriter who studied at NYU and has worked in Hollywood. His film, Pizza Verdi, has won multiple awards in various Film Festivals. “NYC is a constant source of inspiration for me and I’m very pleased Pizza Verdi was honored in the very city it was conceived,” said Mr. Nadeau. “Thanks so much to everyone at MCNY Short Film Festival for supporting indie filmmakers everywhere.”
Accepting his prizes for Second place that night at the Festival was Nicholas Santos for his short film Ice Cream. A Brooklyn filmmaker, Mr. Santos studied Cinema and Photography at Ithaca College where he developed his filmmaking style.
Rounding out Third Place in the Festival was Not Like the Commercials by Gordon S. Williams, a filmmaker who is also Studio Operations Manager at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas in the Department of Communication. Mr. Williams said, “As a filmmaker, any time you are given the chance to show your work, you greatly appreciate the opportunity. I hope that the MCNY Short Film Festival continues to give filmmakers an outlet to show their projects. To have Not Like The Commercials screen at this festival and be selected as third prize winner is a great honor.”
The MCNY Annual Short Film Festival, which grew out a classroom project, has grown into an institutionalized platform for independent filmmakers, and provides real time project management experience for MCNY School for Business Media Management MBA students. The students actively worked on branding, marketing and promoting the festival, soliciting film submissions, securing sponsors and established film professionals to judge the finalists as part of applied learning assignments built into their classroom studies.
The Feature Presentation at the Festival was Life Unscripted (Season 2), comprised of 6 webisodes filmed by teens for teens, produced by the Urban Actors Academy in collaboration with John F. Kenny High School for Digital Communications. Written by MCNY Media Management MBA alumna and Urban Actors Academy founder, Maisha Azadi, Life Unscripted lets us hang out for the day with the students of L.I.F.E. Academy, where an average high school day at an urban high school is nothing close to average, and we are provided with a real life look into the students lives, as they frame issues, question their values and develop their individual perspectives, one day at a time.
On Thursday night, Keynote speaker, film and television executive Peter Anthony Andrews, gave a lively presentation, peppered with many stories of his experiences, from his time working on over 20 films as writer and producer with Belafante Enterprises, to programming some of television’s iconic shows like Chico and the Man, Quincy, Sanford & Son, Columbo, Police Woman and Little House on the Prairie during his tenure as Vice President of NBC Entertainment. He graciously fielded questions from those in attendance at the festival and the interactive audience of the live stream of his presentation from as far as Denmark discussing all aspects of the business of the film and television industries as well as the impact of social media on film distribution and finance.
A number of sponsors, including Jambox Entertainment, the IFC Center, Cacica, Elite Market Management, Mika Japanese Cuisine & Bar and Social Cinema, LLC, joined MCNY School for Business in sponsoring the Festival and supporting the efforts of the students. As in past years, the Festival was proud to welcome Throwbax.com and Grave Shift Studios, to join returning Soi66 on the list of student companies supporting the Festival as sponsors as well. Additional information, including winning films from prior years, is available on our website at www.mcny.edu/filmfestival.
CONTACT: Prof. Kristie Velasco 212-343-1234 or (917) 719-0293 mediamanagement@metropolitan.edu or kvelasco@metropolitan.edu
