Alumni in the Spotlight

Congratulations to BAFF alumni featured in the 97th Academy Awards:

• BAFF official selection and award nominee, "I’M NOT A ROBOT", Oscar® winner in the Live Action Short Film Category

  
  

• Festival alumni Krushan Naik served as producer on the Oscar® nominated short film ANUJA

  
  

• Congrats to BAFF Golden Apple Award recipient Jesse Eisenberg on his Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for A REAL PAIN. Big Apple Film Festival was proud to present the NYC premiere of Jesse's earlier film, THE LIVING WAKE, now streaming on Prime and Apple TV.

  
  

Congratulations BAFF alumni!

Throughout the years, Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition has been proud to welcome a long list of distinguished and critically acclaimed alumni, consisting of filmmakers, screenwriters, producers, actors, keynote speakers, honored guests, industry mentors and award recipients. Our list of alumni includes:

• Kevin Bacon (Golden Globe and SAG award winner)

• Kyra Sedgwick (Emmy and Golden Globe winner)

• Jesse Eisenberg(Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee)

• David Krumholtz (SAG Award nominee, HBO's "The White House Plumbers", "The Deuce", Academy Award nominee "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")

• Cuba Gooding Jr.(Academy Award winner)

• Sawyers Spielberg ("Materialists" - Sony Pictures, A24)

• James Sunshine (producer, FOX's "Hell's Kitchen" CBS' "Big Brother", "Project Runway", NETFLIX/HULU)

• Matthew Rhys(Emmy Award winner, Golden Globe nominee, SAG Award nominee)

• Morgan Spurlock(Academy Award nominee, WGA Award winner)

• Ginger Gonzaga (Disney's "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law", CBS' "True Lies", Hulu's "The Morning After", "Famous" distributed by A24)

• Krushan Naik (Academy Award nominated producer)

• Scott Evans (Filmmaker/Producer/Editor - Paramount Pictures "Katy Perry: Part of Me", HBOmax Emmy nominated “McMillions,” Apple+ "Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me", Netflix's "Tag")

• Alan Cumming(Tony Award and Independent Spirit Award winner)

• Actress/Comedian Kim Wayans

• Catherine Curtin (SAG nominee, "Orange is the New Black", "Stranger Things", "Homeland", "Saturday Night")

• Doug Roland (Academy Award nominated filmmaker)

• Tina Alexis Allen ("Outsiders" Sony Pictures, "Park Avenue" starring Critics Choice winner Katherine Waterston, Emmy Award nominee Fiona Shaw, Independent Spirit Award nominee Chaske Spencer)

• Academy Award winning screenwriter Jose Rivera

• Jerry Stiller

• Olympia Dukakis(Academy Award and Golden Globe Award winner)

• Kevin Corrigan

• Mario Cantone

• Roger Sherman(Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner)

• Haley Joel Osment(Academy Award nominee),

• and many more...

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FILM ALUMNI

Big Apple Film Festival has been proud to present an array of critically acclaimed films throughout the years, many of which have gone on to receive prestigious awards, and be distributed on major streaming platforms, TV/cable networks, as well as theatrical releases. Alumni films include:

• "Sweetwater"(Distributed by Universal Pictures, Hulu, Amazon), starring Emmy Award and Golden Globe Winner Jeremy Piven, Everett Osborne, Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss, SAG Award winner Kevin Pollak

• "I'm Not a Robot" - Oscar winner, Live Actior Short Film

• "The Living Wake" starring Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg, Mike O' Connell, and Jim Gaffigan

• Until - directed by and starring Golden Globe Award winners Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick

• "Life of a King" starring Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr.

• "Killing Mary Sue", distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, starring SAG Award nominee Dermot Mulroney

• "Taste the Revolution" starring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book, House of Cards, The Hunger Games, True Detective)

• ​"Thirsty" (Apple TV, Prime Video), starring Jamie Neumann (HBO's The Deuce), Image Award nominee Tyler Lepley (Harlem, Tyler Perry's Duplicity), Golden Globe Award winner Kyra Sedgwick, Golden Globe Award nominee Thora Birch

• "Mother's Day" starring Academy Award winner Melissa Leo

• "Amerikatsi" (Armenian selection for 96th Academy Awards, Best International Feature Category, released theatrically in NYC and LA)

• "The Shepherd" (shortlisted for the 96th Academy Awards, Short Film Live Action Category, distributed by Disney+), starring Ben Radcliffe, Academy Award nominee John Travolta, directed by BAFTA nominee Iain Softley, produced by Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron

• "The One Note Man" (shortlisted for the 96th Academy Awards, Short Film Live Action Category)​

• "A Stage of Twilight", starring Independent Spirit Award nominee Karen Allen and William Sadler, repped by Buffalo 8 Productions, streaming on Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Plex and Tubi

• "Bones of Crows"(Writers Guild of Canada Award nominee, Canadian Screen Awards nominee, theatrical distribution Elevation Pictures)

  
  

• "Of Things Past" (starring Golden Globe and three-time Emmy winner, Michael Moriarty and Tara Reid, released by Lion Heart Distribution)

  
  

• "Stargazer", directed by Alan McIntyre (Amazon's "Are you Happy Now"), produced by Justin McCarty (producer, "SNL"), starring Matthew Bogart (HBO's "Vinyl", "Jersey Boys")

  
  

• "Brightwood" (distributed by Cinephobia Releasing)

  
  

• "King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones", directed by Harriet Marin, featuring legendary Grammy Award and Academy Award winning producer Quincy Jones, written by WGA nominee Michael Fessler("March of the Penguins") and Giles Gardner (co-director "A Cooler Climate", co-directed with Academy Award winner James Ivory)

  
  

• "I am Not", directed by Tomer Heymann (SXSW Audience Award winner)

  
  

• "Americonned", released theatrically in NYC and LA, available on Apple TV, directed by Sean Claffey, produced by David Pederson (producer of the Oscar-nominated film "Super Size Me", and the Cannes Award-winning "The Third Wave" and Christopher Seward, editor of Michael Moore's Academy Award nominated "Sicko", Critics Choice Award winner "Fahrenheit 9/11")

  
  

• "If Anything Happens I Love You" (Academy Award winner, Best Short Animation Film, Netflix Release)

  
  

• "Kiss the Ground" (featuring Woody Harrelson, Gisele Bundchen, Ian Somerhalder, Patricia Arquette, David Arquette, Rosario Dawson, directed by Sundance Film Festival winner Josh Tickell, released on Netflix)

  
  

• "Inside the Rain"(Starring Aaron Fisher, Ellen Toland, Academy Award nominees Rosie Perez and Eric Roberts - Theatrical Release, and Hulu, Showtime, NBCUniversal's Peacock Network)

  
  

• Chasing Childhood (distributed by Abramorama, nationwide virtual cinema release, produced by Independent Spirit Award nominee Eden Wurmfeld and Margaret Munzer Loeb)

  
  

• Feeling Through (Academy Award nominee, Live Action Short Film)

  
  

• "Forced Change"(directed by Emmy nominated producer Rennik Soholt)

  
  

• "Blush"(previously titled "Imaginary Order", Sundance Film Festival premiere, directed by Independent Spirit Award winner and Producers Guild of America Award winner Debra Eisenstadt, released by Gravitas Distribution, available on iTunes)

  
  

• "Just One More Kiss" - Released theatrically in Hollywood, San Francisco and additional cities, as well as available on iTunes and other streaming platforms

  
  

• "Washed Away" directed by Heather Langenkamp(A Nightmare on Elm Street)

  
  

• “Ask For Jane”(Hamptons Film Festival premiere, Theatrical Release), directed by Rachel Carey, starring Cody Horn(Magic Mike, Demonic), Sarah Ramos(American Dreams, Parenthood), Emmy Award nominee Alison Wright(The Americans), Sarah Steele (The Good Wife)

  
  

• “A Girl Named C”(world premiere, Austin Film Festival), directed by Emily Kassie, executive produced by Sophia Bush

  
  

• "Soul to Keep"(Netflix, 2019 #1 listed film in the horror genre)

  
  

• "Showtime", executive produced by Nate Parker (The Birth of a Nation, Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award)

• "Holy Moses" starring Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, HBO's Big Love, Mamma Mia!)

  
  

• "We Only Know So Much", starring Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn(HBO's Big Love, CBS' Criminal Minds), Damian Young (House of Cards, Wonderstruck, The Greatest Showman), Donal Logue (Gotham), Noah Schnapp(Stranger Things)

  
  

• "ReRun", starring Christopher Lloyd(Back to the Future, Addams Family Values)

  
  

• "Personal Statement" (AFI DOCS, opening night film)

  
  

• "Money" starring Jesse Williams (Grey's Anatomy), Kellen Lutz (Twilight, Tarzan, Legend of Hercules), and Jess Weixler (The Good Wife)

  
  

• Edith+Eddie(Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Short Subject)

  
  

• 20 Weeks(World Premiere, Los Angeles Film Festival, Starring Anna Margaret Hollyman, Amir Arison)

  
  

• 62 Days(World Premiere, AFI Meet the Press Film Festival)

  
  

• "The Visit" starring Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee June Squibb

  
  

• "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud" directed by Karen Allen and starring James McMenamin(Orange is the New Black), Jeffrey DeMunn(Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile)

  
  

• "Bean" directed by Emilie Bunnell of Emmy Award winning Gigantic! Productions(World Premiere Woodstock Film Festival)

  
  

• "Sugar!" starring Tony Award Winner Alice Ripley and SAG Award Winner Robert Clohessy

  
  

• "6 Love Stories" starring Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominee Peter Bogdanovich, Gotham Award Nominee Matthew Lillard, Emmy Award Winner Carrie Preston, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Ashley Williams

  
  

• "Monsters" Best Horror / Suspense Short Film Comic-Con

  
  

• "Waiting" (narrated by John Turturro)

  
  

• "It Had to be You" (starring Cristin Milioti)

  
  

• "Beneath the Olive Tree" (narrated by Olympia Dukakis)

  
  

• "Manhattan Romance" starring Tom O'Brien (Fairhaven), Gaby Hoffmann (Transparent, Wild, Obvious Child, HBO's Girls, Veronica Mars), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Caitlin Fitzgerald (Masters of Sex)

  
  

• "Bread and Butter" starring Lauren Lapkus (Jurassic World, Blended, Key and Peele) and Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live)

  
  

• "In the Eye of the Spiral" narrated by Grammy winner Annie Lennox

  
  

• "Jake Squared" (Freestyle Releasing) starring Elias Koteas, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Virginia Madsen, Jane Seymour, Mike Vogel

  
  

• "Breaking Upwards" (IFC Films)

  
  

• "Against the Current" (IFC Films)

  
  

• "Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags" (HBO Documentary Films)

  
  

• "Harvest" (Showtime Network)

  
  

• "Love, Ludlow" (Warner Home Video, Starz Network, Sundance Channel)

  
  

• "The Magic Bracelet" starring JK Simmons (Golden Globe Award Winner), Bailee Madison, James Van Der Beek, written by Diablo Cody

  
  

• and many more...

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SCREENPLAY COMPETITION ALUMNI

Big Apple Film Festival has been proud to support and promote a long list of talented and innovative writers through our screenplay competition. Previous screenplay competition winners and finalists include:

• Shia LaBeouf (SAG Award, People's Choice Award and Independent Spirit Award nominee)

  
  

• Ron Friedman (Emmy nominee and WGA Award winner)

• Jyllian Gunther (Emmy Award winner, producer for NBC, ABC, A&E)

  
  

• Matt Giacheri (producer of NETFLIX's "The Block Island Sound", "Funeral Kings", SXSW premiere, available on AMAZON)

• Elizabeth Reichelt - writers’ assistant for Bridgerton (NETFLIX), Inventing Anna (NETFLIX), and Physical(APPLE TV, AMAZON). Co-wrote/co-produced Full Picture, executive produced by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Rachel Bloom. Writer for the CBS Diversity Showcase.

• Vanessa Esteves (creator and writer of "Super Wish", series distributed by Discovery Kids and Warner Bros., available in the U.S. on NBC's Peacock Network)

• Emily Lansbury (writer and producer of "Story of a Girl", starring Kevin Bacon, directed by Kyra Sedgwick, distributed by Lifetime Network)

• Elizabeth Page - Six time Emmy Award and three time WGA Award winning writer and playwright (ABC, CBS, TBS)

• Mike Gerbino (writer of "Freelance", distributed by Gravitas Ventures, previously on Apple TV and Amazon)

• Stuart Feldman (BAFF Screenplay Competition winner) - WGA writer, has written for the NBC drama LAW & ORDER, the USA series ROYAL PAINS, and his teleplay for LAW & ORDER: SVU ("Justice Denied") ranked #21 on the TV Guide list of "Best Episodes".

• Silvan Schmid (writer of "Humans", released theatrically in France, distributed by Overlook Entertainment)

• Leonora Pitts (TV credits include "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "The Rookie", and is a recurring character on the Apple+ series, "For All Mankind". Leonora collaborates with the Duplass Brothers, co-starring in the films "The Freebie", and "Manson Family Vacation", and guest-starring on two of their HBO series, "Togetherness" and "Room 104")

  
  

• Kent Moran (Feature films have been released by Warner Brothers, Netflix, Showtime, Paramount+, Starz, Apple, Hulu, Amazon, Hallmark, Lifetime, LMN, Regal Cinemas)

  
  

• Rosemary Griggs (2x Quarter Finalist, award winning author, published by Fence Publishing)

  
  

• Daniela Saioni - script supervisor on countless studio films, including "13: The Musical" (NETFLIX), "Another Simple Favor" starring Blake Lively (AMAZON STUDIOS), "The Big Cigar" (Warner Bros.), "Shazam! " (Warner Bros. D.C. Comics, HBOmax, Hulu), "Suits" starring Meghan Markle (NETFLIX), "The Craft: Legacy"(Columbia Pictures, Blumhouse) and many more...

• Cam Smith - served as writer and creative consultant for Paramount, BET, VH1 and MTV, for shows such as "All Star Shore", "TRL AM" and "After the Show", "Wild n' Out". Cam was also selected for the NBC Late Night Writer's Workshop.

  
  

• Larry Collins (Emmy Award Winner, NBCUniversal/Peacock Network)

  
  

• Henry Sarwer-Foner (Directors Guild of Canada Award nominee)

• Daniel Talbott (writer ABC's "The Conners", "The Mist" produced by The Weinstein Company and Spike TV)

• Michael Vaynberg (writer/director Cannes Film Festival selection "9.8 m/s²")

• Shruti Tewari (member of the Sundance Collab Directing Program)

• Bill Brock (Semi-Finalist - Stage 32 Feature Screenwriting Contest)

• Ken Krauss (writer "Tom, Dick, & Harriet" - Hallmark Channel)

  
  

• Kevin Emerson (author of over twenty novels published by HarperCollins, Random House, Scholastic)

• Linda Shayne (writer/director "Undercover Kid" released by WARNER BROTHERS, HBO Family, "Little Ghost,” distributed by PARAMOUNT video airing on HBO)

• Chris Phillips (Finalist - Sundance Institute Development Track, Award for Overall Excellence in Playwriting-New York International Fringe Festival)

• Maia Henkin (Second Round Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, repped by Abrams Artists Agency)

  
  

• and many more...