Like last year, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the closing night awards ceremony for the First Time Fest, which was held at the New York City nightclub 42West. The ceremony continued the festival’s celebration of first time filmmakers, which over the course of the long weekend also included several famous guests who spoke to audiences about their own experiences in the industry, including Julie Taymor, Elliot Goldenthal, Slash, Duncan Sheik, Carol Alt, Rosie Perez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Brook Shields, Lake Bell, Frederick Elmes, Jennie Livingston, Tom McCarthy, and Michael Moore.
Director of Programming David Schwartz, Eye For Film‘s Anne-Katrin Titze, and Village Voice Chief Film Critic Stephanie Zacharek, Actor Nicholas Haden-Guest, and Festival Producer Mitch Levine
The Grand Prize winning film this year was Love Steaks, which also took home the award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing. As a result, Love Steaks will receive film distribution by Cinema Libre, something every first time filmmaker craves. Check out the full list of winners here.
Sondre Lerche accepting the award for Outstanding Achievement in Scoring for The Sleepwalker
After the competition awards were announced, the evening’s highlight was Julie Taymor being awarded the John Huston Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema, which is awarded to prominent directors who have made a mark in film from their very first movie. In Taymor’s case that movie was 1999’s Titus, which was screened earlier in the festival. Taymor would later direct Frida, Across the Universe, and The Tempest and many theatrical productions, including Broadway’s The Lion King.
Elliot Goldenthal introducing Julie Taymor
Taymor was introduced by her longtime collaborator Elliot Goldenthal, who began working with her when she made Titus and won an Oscar for scoring Taymor’s Frida. Goldenthal joked that every time they began a new project, a frazzled Taymor often claims that she doesn’t remember how to do anything properly. Goldenthal said that in that sense, “Every movie Julie makes is her first film.” He also revealed that they are collaborating on a film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream based on their production at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience that ran last year to great acclaim. Upon being presented with the award, Taymor spoke briefly about her work in film and how important it was to seek out strong collaborators.
Julie Taymor accepting the John Huston Award with Festival Co-Founder, Mandy Ward, looking on.
It’s a cliche to say that First Time Fest was bigger and better this year than it was in its inaugural year, but that’s the absolute truth. Second years are difficult for events like film festivals because the buzz from the lift-off is no longer there, yet the organizers (including Co-Founders Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward, Director of Programming David Schwartz, and Festival Producer Mitch Levine) were able to bring in even bigger-name guests and a more eclectic selection of films the second time around. I definitely will continue to urge film fans to support this festival in year three and beyond. It won’t be long until a major name in filmmaking will be able to point to First Time Fest as the launching pad for his or her career.
Special thanks to Springer Associates PR for inviting Movie Buzzers to cover the First Time Fest again this year!
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