Roselle Park’s inaugural film festival – titled Roselle Park Loves Shorts! – took place this Friday and Saturday as the newest part of the popular Roselle Park Loves Arts! festival. The two-day event had over 100 films in short format (under 45 minutes) that accumulated to over 14-hours of celluloid stories.
Award recipients ranged from first-time and student filmmakers to seasoned documentarians. Both men and women from as far as Syria and as close to home as Roselle Park were recognized for their art. The 24 different categories had stories that involved a wide range of topics but in the end dealt with the most basic of all themes – relationships. Relationships between people, the world, one’s self, and even the audience watching. Expressing their stories through laughter or tears or introspection, the group of filmmakers had entries that lasted close to a half-hour while others were as short as two minutes in length.
Of note was the festival’s first Lifetime Achievement Award being given to Roselle Park’s own Patricia & Nicholas Pagnetti. These documentary filmmakers were the vanguards in putting the borough’s history on film from the 1990s. Mrs. Pagnetti was at the festival to discuss how film has progressed from the old cut-and-splice on an actual splicer to the modern cut-and-paste on a laptop. Receiving the award on behalf of herself and her husband, who passed away in 2010, Mrs. Pagnetti gave the advice that almost all other filmmakers on-hand gave, just pick up a camera – or even an iPhone – and press record.
Other filmmakers at this year’s festival whose entries were Official Selections included:
- Valerie Alexander (Ballpark Bullies)
- Marianne Bator (Earth Bound)
- Brett Boon (Prom?)
- Sashko Danylenko (Bike Portraits)
- Claire Fishman (Never Been Sicker)
- Scott Giameo (Home Without Borders)
- Dylan Keselman (Chat Room)
- Christopher Macias (Left Behind)
- Patricia Pagnetti (Roselle Park: Then & Now)
- Foster Vernon, Shayne Kamat, Michael Posner, Ben Carolan, Charlie Hudson, Brock Boroczyck, Scott Giameo (Hell-Bent)
A listing below of each award is accompanied by a link to either the filmmaker’s website or the film itself.
Roselle Park Loves Shorts 2016 Award Recipients (Main Categories)| Category | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Film | Ballpark Bullies | link |
| Best Foreign Film | Calendar | link |
| Best Animated Film | Finito | link |
| Best Experimental Film | Earthbound | link |
| Best Narrative Film | La Última Función | link |
| Best Documentary | Santas of Cochin | link |
| Best Comedy | Madrid, Drawings... and Foreign Girls | link |
| Best Drama | I Desideri | link |
| Category | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Student Film | Never Been Sicker | link |
| Best Student Foreign Film | Lola | link |
| Best Student Animated Film | Iktsuarpok | link |
| Best Student Narrative Film | Ladyhood | link |
| Best Student Experimental Film | I Am Ellen, this Is My Dog | link |
| Best Student Documentary | Las Calles Que Halban | link |
| Best Student Comedy | Hell-Bent | link |
| Best Student Drama | Doll House | link |
| Director's Choice Student Film | Home Without Borders | link |
| Category | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award | Pat and Nick Pagnetti | link |
| 2016 RPLS Recognition Award | Maggie Kaszuba | link |
| Best First Time Filmmaker | Dinner Time | link |
| Best Teenage Filmmaker | Gumball | link |
| Best Cinematography | Eye for an Eye | link |
| Director's Choice Film | Jenny-A Beach Movie | link |
| Audience Choice Award | Left Behind | link |