"The Burden of Choice" Wins Best Story at Long Island International Film Expo!

Last night was the closing ceremony of the 2016 Long Island International Film Expo and as usual, it was an amazing night that involved hundreds of incredible upcoming filmmakers. To my surprise, our 13-minute short film The Burden of Choice was nominated in two categories: Best LI Film (which Halina took home last year) and Best Story.

I'm so proud to say that The Burden of Choice is the winner of the 2016 Best Story award!

Here are a few pictures I snagged from the festivities. It starts with a red carpet walk with myself and the star of The Burden of Choice, the infinitely talented Elisa Pupko.

Here we have some of our key crew members, including Peter the grip, DP Marc, and Rob the sound guy.

This year's honoree at LIIFE was film and TV legend Ed Asner!

Here we are the the after party with our award. DP Marc and Peter were also each nominated in the Best LI Film category for short films they each directed.

Last we have Elisa and Kevin "Dot Com" Brown making loser signs for not nabbing the actor awards. I say they were both robbed!

I generally do not enjoy doing the film festival circuits (as those closest to me will tell you) but LIIFE continues to be the exception. Besides the recognition I receive from my Long Island community, they constantly put on an amazing ceremony with the effort you just don't see in many other festivals. I really appreciate how LIIFE goes the extra mile to support indie filmmakers, which is why it's always an honor to screen there.

"The Burden of Choice" Accepted into the 2016 Long Island International Film Expo!

Here's some exciting news: for the 2nd consecutive year, a WM Production will be screening at the Long Island International Film Expo!

The Burden of Choice, a 13-minute dramatic sci-fi short, will premiere in Bellmore NY on Sunday July 17, 2016 at 1:30 pm. There will be an online service to buy advanced tickets soon, and I'll put the link up on this blog.

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, then you already know this festival means the most to me personally, and it's always a tremendous honor to be invited back. Congratulations to the cast and crew of The Burden of Choice for this win, and thank you to the Long Island International Film Expo for having us back again!

"Halina" Wins Best LI Film & Best Supporting Actress at Long Island Film Expo!

Last night was the closing ceremony of the 2015 Long Island International Film Expo. Some awards were announced a couple of weeks ago so we already knew that Hannah Jane McMurray won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Halina.

What we didn't know, however, was if we were nominated in any other categories. But it turns out we had a nomination in Best Long Island Film, a category which includes both short and feature length productions! And in a category that held 7 amazing nominations, Halina won!

This is the same award that Purgatory Comics won 5 years ago.

It goes without saying that it is a tremendous honor to win these awards. From the ceremony, you can tell that this festival has grown exponentially in the last 5 years, and the competition has become much more fierce as more talented filmmakers from around the world are discovering LIIFE. So this is a huge win for both Halina and Warm Milk Productions, and hopefully only the beginning.

Onto some pictures! Here's some Halina/The Burden of Choice crew on the red carpet before the ceremony, including Marc, Peter and Rob and myself.

Here's a picture I grabbed from the ceremony of the hilarious host Dot Com (as seen on 30 Rock).

 After the show! Peter demanded I do the multiple trophy pose and I complied.

Here's Elias Plagianos (winner of the Best Director award) weirding out Mara (1st AD from The Burden of Choice) and DP Marc. Elias and I also wound up doing festival and panel rounds back in 2010, so it was really cool to have crossed paths again and receive recognition together again.

The Lifetime Achievement Award this year went to John Amos. Now, many people know him from Good Times, or Roots, or Die Hard 2 . . . but I know him most as Cleo McDowell in my all-time favorite comedy movie Coming to America. Meeting him and getting this picture was a tremendous honor.

Festival wins are always exhilarating. But as someone who's been a Long Islander his entire life, a win from this festival means much more for me. This is recognition from my home; my community. These are the people that, like me, come from New York and also like me, have a burning passion to tell stories. Last night was a night I will always be incredibly thankful for.

Here is the complete list of winners.

"Halina" Wins Special Mentions for "Best Film Short" & "Creativity/Originality" in Best Shorts!

Halina has won an Award of Excellence Special Mention in this season's Best Shorts Competition. 

To explain how the award tier works (and why this is exciting): of all entries there is one Best in Show, eight special mentions (including us), and then 30-40 winners for the next tier. So basically out of thousands of entries, we made the second place tier . . . which is amazing.

Our awards are in "Best Film Short" and "Creativity/Originality" and right now, a still from Halina is included on their home page.

Another win for Halina . . . I'm so honored that it's getting such recognition. I hope to keep this momentum going and post more laurels for you guys.

Hannah Jane McMurray wins Best Supporting Actress at 2015 LIIFE Awards!

The 2015 Long Island International Film Expo officially opens July 10th with a block of films that includes the premiere of Halina . . . however some of the awards have been revealed today in select categories. And I'm very proud to announce that Hannah Jane McMurray has won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Halina!

LIIFE has been growing exponentially over the last few years and it's fast becoming recognized as a definitive New York festival. This brings in much more competition for filmmakers like me (from some big name films, as it seems), which makes this win even more special. This award will be officially given out at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on July 16th.

If you're in the Washington DC area this summer, you can see Hannah Jane live in the touring production of Peter Pan.

If you'd like to see her on a big screen on Long Island for the world premiere of Halina on July 10th, hurry up and get your tickets here (purchase tickets for day 3 block 3).

Congratulations to Hannah Jane on the first of what is hopefully many instances of recognition for her amazing portrayal as Halina!

"Halina" Accepted into the 2015 Long Island International Film Expo!

I've entered Halina into a good handful of festivals so far, and our first acceptance comes from one of the best ones: The Long Island International Film Expo!

Now obviously, this is a personal achievement for me because we're being recognized by the film community from my own home (which is Long Island) and because this festival helped put Purgatory Comics on a path to distribution back in 2010 . . . but also, this is a tremendous win for the entire cast and crew on a much grander scale. LIIFE is one of the most legit festivals I've ever found and it continues to grow exponentially every year. Being accepted for a screening is a major victory for Halina, and I can't think of a better place to premiere this short on a big screen. Plus, celebrities!

Even more of an honor: Halina will screen the opening night of the festival at the Bellmore Movies! The worldwide premiere of Halina will be Friday, July 10th at 6:45 pm. There will be an online service to buy advanced tickets soon, and I'll put the link up on this blog.

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Halina for this win, and thank you to the Long Island International Film Expo for inviting us to be a part of the 2015 festival. What great news!!!

LIIFE 2013 Script Writing Competition Finalist

Just a cool thing I thought I'd share: last year I had started on a new full length screenplay. It was a drama I'd never intended to shoot myself and also something I didn't share with many people. Earlier this year, I figured why not enter it into the Long Island International Film Expo's Script Writing Contest. And wouldn't you know it - the script won a certificate as the Finalist.

See the complete winner's list here.

This was a real big honor of course, but also a very special win for me personally. It was nice to be recognized for my writing this time (in contrast to directing and producing), since writing is my true love. Moreover, the script was an extremely personal story, so it was an extra special achievement to communicate such strong feelings in a way that resonated with the judges.

Back to the keyboard for me . . . I've got some stories in mind that might be more likely candidates for shooting. I'll let you know how it goes!

Videos, Interviews, and Articles on Festival Wins

Before we get to the goods, I have to proclaim that Patch.com is an awesome concept. It's owned by AOL, and it's a network of news sites that really focus on community. I think that's such a great concept and I'm only sorry I didn't learn about it sooner.

The Sachem Patch did a piece on Purgatory Comics that went up today. The editor of the site, Chris Vaccaro, wrote it himself. It gives a nice shout-out to my projects of yester-year and some of the supportive teachers I've met along the way.

• Read the Sachem Patch Article Here

Then they included a full news report video! This is from reporter Chris Collora. The video shows Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling announcing our win, which I was excited to see, and also an interview I did in the theater lobby shortly after winning (notice my glowing).

And here's something that came out last week but I haven't linked yet: a festival wrap up from the Bellmore Patch.

• Read the Bellmore Patch Wrap up Here

And they also have a video that summarizes the entire festival. It also features a different clip from the same interview with me (still glowing).

• See the Bellmore Patch Wrap up Video Here

Lots of awesome coverage there. Enjoy!

Purgatory Comics Wins Best LI Feature, Nomination for Best Feature

Last night was the 2010 Long Island International Film Expo closing ceremony and party. It was a big day for Purgatory Comics and we've got a lot to go over, so let's get started!

You're going to see a lot of familiar friends in this post. Recall Todd Giglio, writer and director of Drawing with Chalk. He took home the Best 1st Feature Film Award at the ceremony.

Sean King, who played the zombie in Purgatory Comics (I don't think a lot of people know that), stopped by to check out the ceremony. Here he is with Drew and I at the pre-party.

My new friend, assistant director and tie-knot-fixer Jim Cook.

And of course Leo Fiorica, who we met in the last blog entry when his film screened in the same film block as Purgatory Comics.

Brian O'Halloran (Clerks) showed up to cohost the ceremony, to my complete surprise. I first met Brian when I interviewed him for my old web series back in 2003, and then again at the Clerks 2 premiere at the IFC theater. If you're around Holmdel New Jersey, you can see him perform in the Crucible on select days from July 22-25th.

Here's Peter Greene (The Mask) who presented at the ceremony.

The beautiful acoustic music of Gathering Time opened the show.

Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling opened with a set of jokes, and then began presenting the awards.

Here's where things get crazy. We already knew about the 3 awards Purgatory Comics had won, but it turns out we were also nominated for 2 others! And one of those was Best Long Island Feature. Another nominee in that category worth mentioning is a film called A Little Help, starring Jenna Fischer (the Office) and Chris O'Donnell (NCIS).

Needless to say I was shocked to win. I tried to deliver a decent acceptance speech but I was quite overwhelmed. I thanked my family, LIFTF, fellow filmmakers who helped make Purgatory Comics happen, my girlfriend, and of course the cast and crew.

Here I am returning to my seat, glowing because I won a trophy but also a little starstruck because many celebrities shook my hand on the way back to my seat, including Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull).

I returned to the stage to accept Angela's Best Actress in a Film Award, and I made a joke that if any actresses in the audience want to work with me in the future, I'll get them an award too. A little later Brian did a bit about how I thanked my girlfriend earlier, and then was propositioning the other girls in the audience. When I returned to the stage to accept Jonathan's Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature, he came back with some playful jokes and it led to some great banter.

But later I got to tell him how much it meant to me to share a stage with him. There's no doubt that Clerks is a source of inspiration for Purgatory Comics, so to receive an award and be onstage with Brian was a very poetic moment in my life. Here he is with me and Stevan Mena (Malevolence).

Here's what made my night, maybe even more than the awards I won. We were nominated for Best Feature, and the company we were in were some quality, high-end productions. Stevan's prequel Bereavement won the award, and I can't wait to see it.

Folks in the New York area will no doubt recognize Jill Nicolini, an anchor for WPIX, actress, and media personality.

I got to do a lot of interviews through the course of the evening. Hopefully I'll be able to post some here in the future. In most talks, I mentioned what a struggle it was to make the film, and how grateful filmmakers are to have the support of an organization like LIFTF.

Here's J.Mullee, a screenwriter who won the writing competition. Thank God she didn't shoot the film yet or I would've had some serious competition!

Here's actor Drew Henriksen and I trying to look tough. I look startled. Which is why I don't do much acting.

And here's Michael Arbouet, the award-winning cinematographer of Last Day of Summer.

Cheryl Martin returned for stage duties and interviewing again, and also to tease me about a great idea she has for a script she's going to write (but not tell me what the idea is).

Here's Cheryl interviewing 4 winners at once. I had already put my trophy in the car so I held my DVD.

And here's me getting one last post-ceremony interview.

It was an amazing night of acknowledgment, networking, and overall fun. LIFTF puts on a hell of a film festival that exceeded my expectations as well as many of the other filmmakers there. It felt great to be in my "element" too and make some new friends, and it definitely motivated me to get started on a new project. So here's one more public thank you to Debra Markowitz, LIFTF, and everyone else who made the festival happen.

One last note, I do have pics from the panel I was in the day before. I'll post them soon, but come on . . . the news in this post just couldn't wait.

UPDATE: Here is a complete list of winners.

Purgatory Comics Wins 3 Awards at LIIFE

Purgatory Comics has won 3 early special awards from the Long Island International Film Expo. The awards will be officially presented during an awards ceremony Sunday July 18, 2010. Angela Benedict won Best Actress for a Feature Film for her portrayal of Cola.

For his role as Berner, Jonathan Zungre got the much deserved Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film.

Fox Vulpini, the incredible acoustic band from Finland, won Best Song for "In the Spin." And seriously, if you haven't downloaded this track yet, you're missing out on some amazing music. Go to their myspace right now! Seriously, bias aside, you regular readers know I love my music, and their sound is so remarkable that they need to get signed in America, like, now.

It's an honor to win these awards from a Long Island festival, as the island has been my home for 30 years now. The recognition humbles me, so here's a sincere thank you to the Long Island Film / TV Foundation.

I'm told we're nominated for at least one more award, but I won't know the category or results until the end of the festival. In the meantime, make sure you get to the 2pm film block on July 9th at the Bellmore theater!

Purgatory Comics Wins Two Accolade Awards!

Purgatory Comics won two Awards of Merit from the Accolade Film Awards out in California. It's a competition I used to enter my old short films in back in the day. You can choose which categories to compete in, and I entered Purgatory into four categories (I honestly can't remember what the other two were). Looks like we're one of 13 winners for feature film for this award, and the only winner for casting. I was hoping we 'd get a mention for casting because I think my awesome group deserves the special recognition. So, congrats guys!

Most of the other festivals I've entered so far haven't closed out yet, with the exception of the Tribeca Film Festival. Yeah, that one was a long shot. Don't forget we're headlining the Lancaster Area Film Festival May 2nd! Click here for all the information you need!