Pros and Stars Mentor Up-and-Coming Filmmakers and Actors at North Fork Summer Film Workshop Series
The next generation of filmmakers and actors will get the opportunity to work with major film and television professionals including Chazz Palminteri and Tony Goldwyn as The Manhattan Film Institute sets up shop at Peconic Landing for the fourth annual North Fork summer workshop series.
“Peconic Landing created this sort of Eden of filmmaking, and the energy of it all and the embrace from all the residents were really incredible,” said Goldwyn of his first experience with the program in 2012.
Writer, actor and producer Tony Spiridakis founded the boutique conservatory that pairs world-class faculty with aspiring film professionals. Participants were handpicked by the institute earlier this year and throughout the two-week program students will create 26 short films and each student will be cast in two films.
The historic mid-19th century Brecknock Hall mansion serves as the schoolhouse where most of the classes take place. Students’ work will then be screened for the first time at the Greenport Movie Theatre on Sunday, July 19, at 10 a.m.
There will also be three celebrity Q&A screenings hosted at Peconic Landing’s Community Center. During each screening an actor, writer or director from the film will be on hand to answer questions after the film. Both screenings and star-studded Q&A sessions are free and open to the public.
“It’s our desire to have a presence on the North Fork for years to come to help revitalize the community by attracting established and emerging artists,” Spiridakis said.
John Slattery of Mad Men fame was present for Saturday’s screening of God’s Pocket, a film that stars the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman and marks Slattery’s directorial debut.
Academy Award–nominated actor Palminteri will be on hand Thursday, July 16, at 7:30 p.m. for the screening of HurlyBurly, in which he co-stars with Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin and Meg Ryan. The independent film is based on the acclaimed play by David Rabe who adapted it for the screen. Directed by Tony Drazan, the story chronicles the dysfunctional intersecting personal lives of Hollywood players and wannabes.
Academy Award winner Bobby Moresco will attend the Saturday night, July 18, screening of his 2005 Best Picture winner, Crash, another film with an ensemble cast. Moresco also co-wrote Million Dollar Baby, the 2004 Best Picture winner.
While the screenings are free, public registration is required. To register visit peconiclanding.ticketleap.com.