VISIONFEST 06: The Other Festival from New York

VISIONFEST 06: The Other Festival (VF06), which runs October 25-29, 2006, at Tribeca Cinemas (corner of Varick and Laight streets in New York City), announces its complete line-up for this year with 47 films, originating from 10 different states, kicking off with the New York Premiere of the award-winning feature, the little Death, by Morgan K. Nichols. Recently featured as the ‘closing night’ selection of the Atlanta Film Festival, the film also picked up acting honors for its lead player, Chris Butler. Cloaked with the elegant style and grace of a contemporary noir piece, the little Death, defined in its press notes as “a sinister tale of a very unmerry Christmas,” sets this year’s festival tone, promising many surprising twists and turns along the way. The film will be preceded by this year’s Tribeca Film Festival Short Subject award winner, The Shovel, by Nick Childs, which stars David Strathairn (Academy Award™ nominee for Good Night and Good Luck).

Among the many films unveiling as East Coast premieres, is Gordy Hoffman’s A Coat Of Snow, the chilling tale of a bachelorette party gone awry, as captured by a camcorder being operated by one of the characters in the film. Raw, visually unsettling, and sharply written by Mr. Hoffman (who is a recipient of the prestigious Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance 2002, for his brilliant work on Love Liza, featuring Mr. Hoffman’s sibling, Academy Award™ winner, Philip Seymore Hoffman), A Coat Of Snow explores the darker side of human nature with an ‘in your face’ approach and courage that is seldom seen in mainstream cinema. The film is preceded by the appropriately matched short subjects, Kill Your Darlings, by Ben Price, and Hombre Kabuki, by Leo Age.

Familiar Hollywood faces are popping up in countless indie efforts in what is becoming a rapidly growing trend. This year’s offerings, include: Friday the 13th’s Betsy Palmer, who leaves her mark in the frightening short subject, Penny Dreadful by Bryan Norton; Robert Wagner and Lori Singer have a blast in the witty, Little Victim by Dean Ronalds; Diane Venora and Greg Germann bookend the powerful ensemble that inhabits Monty Lapica’s Self Medicated; and another ensemble featuring Annabeth Gish, Steve Guttenberg, and Christine Elise shines in John Putch’s Mojave Phone Booth.

And on the closing end, is the Awards Ceremony (Sun, Oct. 29 at 10pm), which honors ‘outstanding achievement’ in 14 categories and culminates with the exclusive East Coast premiere of The Perverts, by John Gegenhuber. This pilot episode of the independent sitcom that has been hailed with positive word-of-mouth and a rumbling buzz since its recent world premiere in Los Angeles is described as “a wholesome, kinky, rough-and-tumble – knock-down-drag-out comedy about the crazy, inexplicable things we do for love.”