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Writer's pictureBig Apple Film Festival

Alumni in the Spotlight

Updated: Jun 13, 2023

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)

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

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

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

  • Actress/Comedian Kim Wayans

  • Doug Roland (Academy Award nominated filmmaker)

  • 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...


 

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:

  • "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, 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, Rosie Perez, Eric Roberts - Theatrical Release, available on 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 nominated 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

  • "The Harrow"

  • "Waiting" (narrated by John Turturro)

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

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

  • "Mother's Day" (starring Melissa Leo)

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

  • "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

  • "Life of a King" starring Cuba Gooding Jr.

  • "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...


 

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)

  • 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)

  • 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...


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