NYC Food Film Festival

NYC Food Film Fest - One of the Coolest!

2011-01-12T04:25:00.000-08:00

Last month, MovieMaker magazine called our fest One of the 20 Coolest of 2010. Awesome! Thanks for that. Read on...

Submissions Have Begun for 2011

2010-11-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year again, time to enter your film(s) in the 5th Annual NYC Food Film Festival! Click here to read the rules and download the official application. This year we have added a new award category - Best Food Porn. What could be better than your favorite food set to music?

The Fifth Annual NYC Food Film Festival will be held in Fall 2011, dates will be released soon.

NYC Food Film Fest & Edible Manhattan

2010-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

We are working with Edible Manhattan to screen a few food shorts for a dinner they are having Nov. 17th at Inside Park. The Perfect Oyster, Buttermilk: It Can Help, and the award-winning Mr. Okra will be screened along with a full meal incorporating elements from each film. Space is limited so get your tickets!

On To Chicago!

2010-08-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

If you find yourself in Chicago at the end of Sept make sure that the 1st Annual Chicago Food Film Festival is part of your plans. And if you have friends in Chicago make sure they know! To see the full list of films for the 2 day festival click here.

Harry's Snofrisk Sliders, for Free!

2010-08-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

This August 28th 2010 starting at 1:00pm Harry Hawk will be giving away free slider burgers at the Sparkling Pointe Winery in Southhold NY (North Fork of LI).

The burgers will feature the famous house blend of chop meat from NYC's Pat La Frieda meats and will be topped with the most amazing cheese called Snofrisk, which is from Norway and it's much like cream cheese but is made from 80% goat milk. Harry first served similar burgers in June 2010 at the James Beard House for the preview of the 4th Annual NYC Food Film Festival. Since then these Snofrisk burgers have become increasing popular. He's bringing enough meat to make 200 sliders, starting at 1pm. So come down, check out the burgers, the music (Live Music by Ray Penney) and the Sparkling Pointe Wine.

In Case You Missed It...

2010-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Last Night Kelly Choi of NYC Life celebrated the kick off of the 2010 NYC Food Film Festival in her show "That's So New York"..

In case you missed it...check out the video here!

Festival Sugar

2010-06-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

One of our generous sponsors, Sugar in the Raw, has taken their involvement to a whole new level and put our name on their product. Come to the festival and get your sugar on, double branded!

Mapping the Plaza for the Food Trucks

2010-06-19T04:45:00.001-07:00

Casey and Zach spent some time the other day mapping out where (and how) the trucks will park for the World's First Food Truck Drive-In Movie. This enormous task involved street chalk, a crazy measuring wheel and lots of patience. The huge, paved area under the Brooklyn Bridge will be filled with food trucks from all over the NYC area all day on Saturday, June 26th. Hope you can be there!

Press Preview and Party at the James Beard House

2010-06-04T19:56:00.001-07:00

The press conference and Festival Preview were a huge hit yesterday. A handful of our filmmakers and film subjects were invited to the Beard House to give the press and membership a sneek peek at what to expect at the festival this year. Filmmakers Liza De Guia (Widow's Hole Oysters and Fatty Que) and David Sigal (Florent: Queen of the Meat Market) were there to support their films as well as the stars of some of the films. Florent Morellet answered questions for the press, as did Bruce Becker from Max & Mina's Ice Cream and Joel Bukiewicz from Cut Brooklyn.

And in support of his takedown series paired with our screening of It's Grits!, Matt Timms was there (in an awesome pair of shoes) to get the crowd pumped about his upcoming Grits Takedown.

Harry and a very large kitchen staff sent out some of the best food I've ever consumed at the Beard House, most of it in support of the festival. Pitmaster Robbie Richter from Fatty Que was there, as well as pitmaster Scott Smith from R.U.B., Jimmy Carbone from Jimmy's No.43 and Marcus Jernmark from Aquavit. Widow's Hole Oysters were also consumed (over 450 of them) and some of our most dedicated sponsors, Jarlsberg, Woolwich, and Old Amsterdam cheeses, supported the night and sent everyone home with ridiculous amounts of cheese in sturdy gift totes. I also had my first Snofrisk Slider which was damn tasty..pictured below..

NYC Food Film Fest Preview at the James Beard House

2010-06-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

There are still a few tickets left for the NYC Food Film Festival preview at the James Beard House this Thursday (June 3rd).

Festival director George Motz will lead a sneak-peek of the festival and show clips from Stan Woodward's It's Grits!, Florent - Queen of the Meat Market, Food.Curated's Widow's Hole Oysters, and Bruce Becker - Ice Cream Picasso.

Get ready for some amazing food including Jarlsberg tarts, cured herring and gravlax from Aquavit Executive Chef Marcus Jermark. There will be dishes from Fatty Cue pit masters Robby Ritcher and Steve Haritopoulos & Chef de cuisine Andrew Pressler. Smoked hogget and bacon is coming from RUB pit master Scotty Smith and NYC Food Film Festival executive chef Harry Hawk will be preparing fresh Widows Hole Oysters, gin braised Beef calf muscle, burgers and much, much more.

The event features cocktails from Alan Katz, Bulldog gin and the Aquapolitan from Aquavit head bartender John Knight. Also look for custom-made ice cream by Max 'N Mina's.

Schedule is Up - Tickets are on Sale

2010-05-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

After many months of hard work the result of our programming effort is finally available to the public. Click here to see the schedule and click here to buy tickets to events.

Some events/screenings are free and some require purchase but ALL events require tickets. Opening night for example, our huge oyster party, has a ticket price and our Edible Adventure at Water Taxi Beach in LIC is free. Please reserve your tickets now - the Food Truck Drive-In Movie sold out in 24 hrs...

Stay tuned here for more info. We'll be posting regularly thru the end of June.

Official Submissions List is Posted

2010-04-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

It was not easy for anyone on the Selections Committee this year. The Festival received well over 100 entries that had to be narrowed down to 36. It was so amazing to see the genre of 'food filmmaking' grow over the past few years (in contrast, I think we received only 15 films for consideration in our first year as a festival and screened them all).

And once again we are stunned by the range in subjects we've received. This year we'll be screening films about everything from squid chips to oysters, backyard farming to knifemaking, and films about grits, pasta, and oysters. We'll also be screening a range of awesome food porn and narrative food subjects from chefs to taboo food consumption. We guarantee this fest will have a little something for everyone.

We will also be screening Anat Baron's Beer Wars this year followed by a beer bash filled with local and independent brewers for your tasting pleasure. There are MANY events planned for this year...stay tuned for more details.

To view the Official Selections for the 2010 NYC Food Film Festival click here. We'll see you in June!

Submission Deadline is Here

2010-04-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

We have received amazing films this year. Thank you all for submitting to this year's NYC Food Film Festival. There are so many great films to choose from that the Festival Selection Committee will have quite a time trying to decide what we'll show at the festival. And thanks to the procrastinators the office received 11 overnight packages yesterday!

The 2010 Official List of Films will be posted on the website soon. Stay tuned.

Submission Deadline Pushed Back

2010-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Our festival producer Seth is your new best friend. If you are one of the procrastinators that we seem to get every year you are in luck. The submission deadline has been pushed back to March 31st. Now instead of getting 25 FedEx packages from around the world on March 12th we'll be seeing those packages on the 31st. (which is a Wednesday)

Submit Your Food Film

2010-01-10T10:10:00.001-08:00

Submissions end March 12th, 2010 so get your food film in now! Use this link to enter. No food film is too weird, too short, or too old. We are looking for food docs, food narrative films, food porn, whatever. If the film has a food item or method that we can recreate for an audience we like that.

Buttermilk on The Takeaway

2009-10-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this clip shot by The Takeaway where they visited the opening night of the 2009 festival. They were obviously drawn to Earl Cruze who had come up to NYC with hundreds of sample pints of his amazing Knoxville buttermilk. Note: when you watch the clip, the first taster is my MOTHER...thanks Mom.

George and Harry on NYCTV

2009-07-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Kelly Choi made us look good. Click here to see.

What A Success!

2009-06-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Annual NYC Food Film Festival was a huge success on many levels - great food, great films, and amazing people showed up for the screenings. The rain may have kept a few filmgoers away on certain nights but rain or shine thousands came to the 7 nights of films. And just before last night's awards ceremony the FDNY's fireboat Kane delighted the crowd at Water Taxi Beach, LIC with an incredible hose display.

We'll have a full recap of the week here soon and a photo gallery is on the way. Unlike last year where only 7 photos were snapped, this year a nightly photographer captured thousands of images on every night of the festival.

Thanks again for a great year. We'd be nothing without your support.

That's A Lot of Peeps

2009-05-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just incase you were wondering what 8,650 Peeps looks like just check out the photo on the left. Just Born must have gotten the dates for the festival wrong and shipped these three weeks early!

Make sure you are at closing night of the festival when we'll be screening Matthew Beals' Power Of The Peep. And as you can clearly see there will be enough Peeps for everyone.

UPDATE -

Another 1,100 Peeps just showed up bringing the total now to 9,750...

The Schedule Is Up

2009-05-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long...

THE SCHEDULE

List of Films for 2009 is Public

2009-04-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

The selections have been made and the schedule is being formed. Click here to see the impressive list of films for this year's festival. We have films about Peeps, Clam Pie, Cranberries, and Honey Bees among others. And we are also screening our first-ever food horror short film. This year the festival received close to 65 films and we wish we could show them all...

We are also proud to announce continued support from Peroni Italy, the festival's returning master sponsor.

Submissions Are Complete

2009-04-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

The deadline has arrived and the selection of films is enormous. Harry and I are amazed at the quality of the films this year.

We have room for approximately 25-30 films and we received over 50 this year. The selection process is going to be very difficult.

The selection of films will be posted on the website by May 1st but we believe it could happen much sooner than that. After the films are posted a schedule goes up.

One film we can tell you about is the out-of-competition screening of the 1996 feature Big Night, June 18th at the new South Street Seaport, Water Taxi Beach. See if you can guess what we'll be making for dinner that night...

If you sent in a food film we thank you for submitting!

Entry Deadline is Near!

2009-02-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

Well, sort of. You have until April 3rd to submit your food film for consideration in this year's festival. Many submissions have been received so far but there are still slots to be filled in the schedule. And think of the Slotted Spoon Award you could win! The award we hand out for the 4 judged categories and the Food Filmmaker of the Year is meant to be used, not framed and displayed. It has many uses, including doubling as a weapon (read this craziness).

Submit Your Food Film - Call For Entries

2008-11-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

The application and rules for the 3rd Annual NYC Food Film Festival are now available here. Please read the ALL of the rules if you plan on submitting films. Only films about food will be selected (it is the Food Film Festival after all). The festival selection committee looks for films that celebrate food - scolding polemic about the production of veal for example need not apply. We are a multi-sensory film experience that recreates the food in the films we select for a live audience. Films about barbeque, local farming, and milk among others are acceptable. Food porn is also encouraged and any film genre accepted (animation, doc, narrative...).

This year we have lowered the entry fees in all categories by $5 because the economy blows. Also note that the category for 'Super-Short' has been expanded from 3 to 5 mins and the 'Feature' category now starts at 45 mins.

Good luck and we'll see you next summer! Tell your friends about the festival. It seems like everyone has a food film to share these days. Check here frequently for festival updates and look for schedules and information on the festival home page.

Call For Entries Late October

2008-10-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

This year we are moving up the call for entries for the 2009 festival. We wanted to have more time to choose the right films this year. It takes us longer than most festivals out there because we try to replicate the food in these films. That said, the entry deadline has also been moved up to April 2nd, 2009 so that we have over two months to plan menus.

If you want to enter the NYC Food Film Festival please don't wait until April 1st to send in your material! (unless of course you are editing right up until the deadline). We seem to get 1/2 of our entries at or just before the deadline. Go to the website in about 3 weeks for an entry form and the rules (there are very few rules).

The NYC Food Film Festival is a celebration of food, film, and people. If you know of a film that fits this profile we'd like to hear about it. The 2009 festival will include NYC's first ever drive-in movie theater experience where we transform the Water Taxi Beach commuter lot into a classic drive-in. Bring your fuzzy dice.

2008 Festival - A Smashing Success

2008-06-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

In its second year, the festival grew in ways we only dreamed of. The rain this year was a colossal bummer for the first few days but hearty film fans still showed up to fill the tent in the wind, thunder, and rain most nights.

The true capacity of the festival was reached on the beautiful nights of Thursday and Friday with around 750 people filling the beach both nights. Barbeque night was a hit and brought

NYC barbeque pitmasters Robbie Richter, Scott Smith, and Andrew Fishel to the beach. Robbie and his team made a barbeque chicken with a Birmingham, Alabama inspired white sauce as

Scott and Andrew turned out succulent pulled pork sandwiches. A line of over 200 waited for free samples of both and over 150 pounds of barbeque were handed out. It was the perfect food for the screening of Max Shores' Holy Smoke Over Birmingham. We also screened Matthew Graves and Joe York's The Rise of Southern Cheese and had excellent Woolwich Dairy goat cheese and Jarlsberg to match.

On Friday we began the night with the first ever NYC Food Film Festival Awards Show. For the 2008 winners click here. To see the official festival Slotted Spoon Award click here. Best Feature went to Craig Noble director of Tableland who came in from Vancouver, BC for his

screening that night. The soon-to-be-prestigious Food Filmmaker of the Year award went to Donna Lennard for her involvement with the festival supplying an olive oil tasting for 200, for allowing the festival to premiere her film La Raccolta, and for the promise that she'll make more food films. We heard a rumor that a salt film is in the works. Director Adly Rizal from Malaysia understandably could not make it to Water Taxi Beach to accept an award for his super-short The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia, but he emailed an acceptance speech that was played for the crowd of 750.

The feature of closing night was Craig Noble's Tableland which was matched with a vegan tasting menu made from local ingredients and prepared by Chef Matteo.

Overall the 2008 festival was an unequivocal success. Next year will be even better and we are already planning fun events. Cooking demos matched with films are planned at a yet-t0-be-announced Manhattan event space. Harry and I are also planning on re-creating a huge drive-in movie experience in the enormous commuter parking lot at the beach complete with the audio dialed into your AM radio and food delivered to your car...stay tuned.

The call for entries will go out a bit earlier this year (mid-November) giving us more time to plan. See you next year.

Currywurst, Pizza, and Olive Oil

2008-06-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a week. Following the free cheesesteak extravaganza and a day off, the NYC Food Film Festival braved the rain once again and celebrated the Berlin street food Currywurst with a screening of Grace Lee's Best of the Wurst. We closed the evening with Su Friedrich's portrait of coffee production From the Ground Up and we thank Su for being on hand for the screening. We'd also like to thank the hearty souls that ventured out to the beach on such a soggy night. We are considering changing the name of the festival to the NYC Food Film & Weather Festival since the thunder, lightning, and torrential rain are becoming part of the entertainment.

On Tuesday, the festival successfully moved to Brooklyn for one night and we actually lucked out on the weather. It was a beautiful night and around 175 people crammed into the parking lot between Toro Asian Fusion and Grimaldi's Pizzaria to watch three short films. The owner of Toro, who generously donated his lot for the evening, spent the day with a large crew cleaning out the lot so we could set up the screen and 50 rental chairs. It was a great NYC social

experiment in free cinema that even attracted Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz who came by to say a few words to the audience. Directors Fabrizia Galvagano and Julia Haslett were on hand for the screening of their Pure and Simple as well as the star of their pizza film Anthony Mangieri from Una Pizza Napoletana. Grimaldi's surprised the crowd by sending over 10 pies for tasting that were quickly devoured. The event went so well that I promised to be back in the same parking lot next year for the screening of my yet-to-be-completed documentary Brooklyn Pizza.

last night we were back on the beach and greeted by more weather. A brief downpour around 6:30 forced us to set up once again in the enormo-tent for the World Premiere of Donna Lennard's La Raccolta (The Harvest). The event was heavily publicized so despite the weather hundreds showed up. We also screened the award-winning A Love Supreme (accompanied by hand-made samosas) and The Mighty Humble Blueberry (Harry's tasty blueberry gin drinks were available). Thanks to director Nancy O'Mallon for attending the screening of her blueberry film as well as the creators of The Death and Life of Ice Cream who showed up to see their internet sensation on the big screen. A HUGE thanks goes out to Donna Lennard who was on-hand to offer the enormous crowd toasts drizzled with the olive oil portrayed in her film.

Tonight is barbeque night. Bring your appetite and feast on pulled pork from R.U.B. and chicken prepared by the award-winning Queens pitmaster Robbie Richter. To accompany all that 'que is the film Holy Smoke Over Birmingham.

Cheesesteak Heaven

2008-06-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

Wow what an opening night! The rain dumped from the sky, thunder roared, lighting struck something in the parking lot, and Manhattan disappeared into the think clouds, but AMAZINGLY 200+ hearty souls still showed up to the first night of the 2008 festival. Thankfully, we were all crammed into but dry under the enormo-tent. I called the audience 'nuts, but smart', smart because they were the ones who would benefit from eating authentic Philly cheesesteaks, made by Tony Luke III (pictured holding my cheesesteak) who came up from Philly in the pounding rain with enough ingredients for hundreds of cheesesteaks. Last night, those smart filmgoers were able to eat the real thing while watching Ben Daniels ode to his favorite sandwich This Is My Cheesesteak. A huge thanks goes out to Tony Luke's for supplying free cheesesteaks for the crowd, to Ben Daniels for flying in from LA for the event, and to all those who attended. I can only imagine how big the crowd would have been had the weather been better. A big thanks also goes out to Amy Levine from the film Donut Day who also came in from Michigan for the screening of her film. See you Monday at the beach (check the schedule).

Festival Starts Tonight!

2008-06-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

The rain will not deter us! If it rains tonight we'll be under the huge tent at Water Taxi Beach. Tony Luke III is coming up from Philly and bringing with him enough meat and rolls for over 200 authentic cheesesteaks and Tony himself will be manning the griddle. Director Ben Daniels (pictured) of This Is My Cheesesteak will be at the beach as well as Director Amy Levine from the film Donut Day. Hope to see you there!

The Festival Trailer is Complete

2008-06-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Each year I create a montage of the films screening in the festival. I just showed this year's to the wife and she said it was 'great'. It's so good not because I'm such a great editor but because the selection of films we have this year are first-rate. The music for the trailer was graciously donated by friends of mine in the NYC blues band French Cookin' Blues Band and was originally recorded for a scene in my film Hamburger America. Click here to view the trailer and make plans to come to the beach mid-June for the festival!

Pizza Night - Doubling Up

2008-05-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

The word is out and the response has been huge. So huge that we are considering running the program on Pizza Night twice (in the parking lot next to Grimaldi's). The films being shown that night are all short and the entire program will only take about 35 minutes. That will allow us to have a second seating and run the films again.

At this time we are not saying if free pizza samples will be available, but don't forget that the line for Grimaldi's will be only steps away.

Pizza Night Has Been Set

2008-05-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Most nights of the festival will be held at Water Taxi Beach in LIC. Tuesday June 17th is a different matter. We knew we had to move 'off campus' at least one night of the festival but did not have a venue to screen films. Then I had a brainstorm. In keeping with the NYC Food Film Festival philosophy of having food available that is portrayed in a film, why not screen the pizza films as close as possible to a NY pizza icon? I inquired about the parking lot adjacent to Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn and after a 3 minute conversation with its owner (Toro Asian Fusion next door) we had our remote screening facility.

On Tuesday, June 17th, we are going to set up our projector in the parking lot, put out 50 rental chairs, and screen the fantastic short Pure and Simple, a film about Anthony Mangieri, my pizza short Brooklyn Pizza (that features Grimaldi's), and In Pignata, a short film about Calabrian fireside cooking. If all goes well, Grimaldi's will send over pizza to sample and if you can stand the wait (which is not that bad) get in line with the German tourists to score a table at this famous Brooklyn pizza outpost after the screening.

The parking lot space is not as big as the beach (see above), has no sand, but will prove to be an intimate screening (for FREE) for anyone that wants to attend. No rain and this screening will be a winner.

Here We Go Again!

2008-05-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

The Second Annual NYC Food Film Festival is only a few weeks away and the schedule has been set. The directors of the festival (George Motz & Harry Hawk) and the selection committee wish to thank everyone who entered films in the festival this year. We were slightly overwhelmed by the robust response to the call-for-entries and screened over 50 films this Spring.

Check here often for updates and check the schedule regularly because it may change over the next few weeks. We are looking forward to a great festival with amazing food and beg for good weather. Remember that admission to the festival is FREE but food and drink can be purchased at the beach.

We'd also like to thank our 2008 Master Sponsor Peroni Beer. Without them this festival would just feel like a backyard party with a big movie screen.