WHAT A SEASON!
Our second year was something special, and we have a lot of people to thank!
Thank you to all the filmmakers that submitted their incredible work, and for attending to see how great it looks on the big screen! We hope you’ll continue to create art and submit your creations in the future!
A huge thank you to our featured Friday filmmakers –
@robeimbriano for coming this year to screen an episode of Amend (which is streaming on Netflix), watch all the festival submissions, and receive the inaugural Harriet Tubman Freedom Award!
Loch Phillips and David Chanatry from Utica: The Last Refuge for screening their film and staying for a Q&A after! You all elevated our festival and made it something really unforgettable!
The biggest thank you to Cayuga Tourism for sponsoring the inaugural Harriet Tubman Freedom Award as well as bringing Robe Imbriano to the area. This was their second year as a sponsor and we’re so lucky to have them!
Our partners Auburn Public Theater, Cayuga Community College, Telecom Cayuga, as well as Juliette Zyg Picture Studios for directing the festival for the second year in a row.
Our wonderful volunteers who joined us both days and made this event so successful and run extremely smoothly.
And our lovely photographers, Mark Feocco, and @blueharp who took the amazing photos and documented the event perfectly.
This was such a grand time and we can’t wait to do it all over again next year. Check out our list of events and films for next year!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 SCREENINGS
5:30pm – Utica: the Last Refuge
Followed by a Q&A with the Director, LOCH PHILLIPPS and Producer, DAVID CHANTRY, after the film
ABOUT THE FILM: Imagine you are a refugee from Sudan. After six years in an Ethiopian camp. You arrive in cold Upstate NY. You just got lucky.
Utica: The Last Refuge follows the Azein family from their arrival in the US in 2017, just as an administration hostile to refugees is sworn in. Over 2.5 years they will transition from isolation to being part of a larger, thriving community.
About the filmmaker: LOCH PHILLIPS has been making films for 30 years. His work for international organizations has been televised from China to Brazil and on CNN International. More recently Loch has been working with the multiple Emmy winning production company Hock Films, directing films for ESPN, Fox Sports, and Major League Soccer. He was the main director for Hock’s series, MLS Insider, which ran for 5 seasons and was Emmy nominated.
Watch the trailer: https://vimeo.com/504113045
Learn more about the film: https://www.lastrefugedocumentary.com
8:00pm – Amend Episode
Followed by a Q&A with Creator, ROBE IMBRIANO after the film
ABOUT THE EPISODE: Amend looks at the evolving, often lethal, fight for equal rights in America through The lens of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Robe Imbriano is a New York based Creator, Writer, Director, Producer known for his work on ABC’s Soul of a Nation (2021), Amend: The Fight for America (2021), The Constitution Project (2005-2018), ABC News, CBS News, Nova Science Now, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Imbriano has spent his career exploring America through its founding principles and the lived experiences of its most vulnerable people.
Learn more about Amend: https://www.netflix.com/title/80219054
Screenings and Q&A are sponsored by Cayuga Community College, TOUR Cayuga, Auburn Public Theater and SOMA: School of Media and the Arts
OCTOBER 29 SCREENINGS
The Second Annual Cayuga Film Festival at Auburn Public Theater
Winners and Award of Distinction recipients will be screening their films on Saturday, October 29 at the Auburn Public Theater.
Following the screening, filmmakers will be invited to talk about their films in a brief Q&A!
Congratulations to all our Winners, Award of Distinction Recipients and Honorable Mentions!
Screenings are sponsored by Cayuga Community College, TOUR Cayuga, Auburn Public Theater and SOMA: School of Media and the Arts