The 8th annual International Filmmaker Festival of New York today announced the jury members of its competition featuring a host of acclaimed filmmakers from across the globe. Juries will review films competing for prizes in the following categories: feature film, short films, documentary films, animation and music videos.
The International Filmmaker Festival of New York jury will award ten prizes for the best participatory works: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Feature Documentary Film, Best Short Documentary Film, Best Actor Award, Best Actress Award, Best Production Award, Cinematography Award, Best Animation, and Best Music video.
IFFNY takes place at the iconic arts center of New York city from May 17-21, 2019 in two popular venues, Dolby Laboratory Theater and Producers Club Theaters. Celebrity Photographers Ivan Morales of Innovation Media New York and Olsi Beçi are the Official Photographers of IFFNY 2019 covering the Red Carpet, Awards Gala and the festival special events. To learn more about the film screenings, tickets, and festival events please visit www.iffny.com.
IFFNY Organizer
Mrika Krasniqi (Writer, Director, Producer) – IFFNY Founder and Festival Director
IFFNY has been organized every year since 2012 by award-winning director Mrika Krasniqi, founder of Nil Production. IFFNY has become a big success thanks to the hard work and dedication of Mrika Krasniqi and her team.
Mrika Krasniqi is a visionary film director, writer, producer and successful entrepreneur, known for her ground-breaking documentary films. As a filmmaker she is considered highly influential in shaping social issues movies, addressing issues of human rights, gender equality, domestic violence, and the treatment of Jews in the Nazi era. She is most famous for writing and directing “Proof” (2018), “Soldier” (2014), “Four Chimneys” (2013), “World’s Noblemen” (2009), and “The Land of Kelmend” (2008).
Mrika Krasniqi is named “Woman of the Year” by U.S. Congress, “Best Director” and “Ambassador for Peace” by the Universal Peace Federation. She won “Best Human Artist” for her film “Soldier” by the European Community of Jewish Artists in Paris and “Certificate of Honor” at the Producers Network at Cannes Film Festival in France. Her other accolades include: “Best Organizer” by One World, Kosova; “Best Director” by DOCU Independent in Freiburg, Germany; “Best Production” by New Poland Film, Poland; “Best Social Documentary” by NYIFF, USA; “Best Historical Documentary” by Los Angeles Film Festival;
Mrika Krasniqi has worked as Associate Director for the National Geographic, building communication capacity to counter infectious disease threats.
IFFNY Host
The 8th Annual International Filmmaker Festival of New York will be hosted by the critically acclaimed filmmaker Dr. Amina Zhaman, who will be the main presenter and host during the IFFNY Opening Ceremony on May 17th following the Red Carpet event and the Awards Gala Ceremony on May 21st, 2019.
Dr. Amina Zhaman (Writer, Director, Actress) – Festival Art Director and Host
Amina Zhaman is a NY-based Circassian filmmaker, musician, theatre director, critic and scientist. Winner of Golden Apricot 2013 (Armenia, “Contribution in a Debut Film” Award), Loutraki International Film Festival 2013 (Greece, “Brightest Debut”), International Rights Film Festival “STEPS” 2013 (Ukraine, “Best Script”, “Best Actress”, “Best Music Video Against War”), Albanian Film Week International Festival in New York 2013 (USA, “Audience Award for Best Feature Film” – “Right to Love”), International Festival of Circassian Culture 2014 and 2016 (Russia), International Film & TV Festival Slavic Fairy Tale 2016 (Bulgaria, “Best Short Film”).
Screenwriter of an internationally acclaimed hit feature “Right to Love” (dir. by Paul Kurti, USA, 2012). Amina Zhaman directed and starred in the first ever screen versions of American classical plays “Before Breakfast” (USA, 2014) and “The Movie Man” (USA, 2016) written by Eugene O’Neill.
In 2017 Zhaman premiered her debut stage production “7 Days. 7 Nights”. Currently she is working on her second theatre show and gives master-classes on filmmaking, film management, American drama, journalism in entertainment industry and importance of English language in international career at the best academies around the world.
IFFNY Jury
This years IFFNY Jury includes acclaimed American writer, director and producer Jon Russell Cring, who will be presiding over the festival as the President of the Jury; award-winning Macedonian filmmaker, writer and producer Ibër Deari, whose films have wowed audiences world wide (IFFNY Festival Selector); along with the incredible actress and director Maja Wampuszyc, successful actress and producer Miranda Jean Larson, and renowned director and producer Carlos Freire.
About the 2019 International Filmmaker Festival of New York Jurors:
Jon Russell Cring (Writer, Director, Producer) – President of the Jury
Writer/Director/ Producer, Jon Russell Cring’s contention is that all of our journeys are an epic tale. As he’s apt to say, “Everyone’s life is Ben Hur.” Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1971 to creative powerhouse parents, Jon grew up around the arts. Traveling and performing with his family, presenting music and drama on stages criss-crossing the USA. There was nothing abstract about entertainment. It was a business to enthrall and he would get on the phone to book their traveling gypsy show as young as fourteen. His interest in film, besides rabid fandom, began when he met his future wife and muse Tracy Nichole. Writing a variety show together, STREETWALKING, Tracy started editing and contributing her own unique and sometimes demented ideas.
An unstoppable team was born. After purchasing one of the earliest Digital Video Cameras (Sony TRV 950,) Jon and Tracy spent a resident time in the wilderness of Indy Horror Filmmaking with a collaborator before making their first short film, HANK’S PLACE, which was immediately accepted into regional film fests (Southern Appalachian Film Fest 2006). After completing a string of fifteen experimental short films, Jon decided to do the same with feature-length films and the idea for the ExtraOrdinary Film Project was born.
In 2007, traveling across the country from Nashville, Tennessee to San Francisco, California, Jon pumped out one feature film after the other, in every genre from a Rock Musical, FOUR ON THE FLOOR, to a Psycho Thriller, LENDERS MORGAN, and even a kids’ movie starring puppets, TOO. “This was my film school,” says Jon, adding “Twelve micro budget features is a handson education like no other.”
Many films from the ExtraOrdinary Film Project appeared in film festivals: Top Ten Films in America, “Bernee,” “FOUR ON THE FLOOR,” (Best Screenplay and Actress) Washougal Fest; Best Feature in the Michigan Film Fest for “WONDERFUL”.
In 2010, the couple moved to upstate New York. “I found fertile ground for my renegade style of filmmaking there,” says Jon. Since then, upstate New York has been the backdrop for three more features, and PBS honored his work twice, as has Fangoria Magazine for his film “Creeping Crawling, An Entomological Anthology of Terror.” Further, most recently, Jon and Tracy’s LGBT feature, LITTLE BI PEEP, was decorated with the honors Best Actress and Supporting Actress, Best Comedy, and Best Director at the 2013 Atlantic City Cinefest.
In the meantime, seemingly unable or willing to put their pens down, Jon began writing scripts with Tracy, accumulating ten in the past three years, and have sold three, thus far. Jon’s soon to be released project HOBO HEYSEUS, featuring THIS IS NOWHERE producer/actress Heidi Philipsen, and co-written with authors Joshua Owens and wife Tracy Nichole, brought on a new collaborator: Tony Award-winning Nathaniel Kramer as their Cinematographer.
On the slate in 2014 is “THIS IS NOWHERE,” a drama which Heidi Philipsen has optioned and is producing, bringing endless International connections and using her writing, directing and acting experience to bring a hands-on approach to creative producing. “THIS IS NOWHERE” marks their first joint project and a step for Jon toward focusing and perfecting his very own, distinct version of the great 1970’s auteur director’s style. “There are so many stories to tell, and I have found my voice,” Jon says.
Ibër Deari (Director, Producer, Writer) – IFFNY Festival Selector
Director, writer, producer, DOP Ibër Deari is born in 1990, in Macedonia. He is a talented director and writer, known for his award-winning movies: My City Screams (2015), Toka (2016), A long way Home (2017). Filming is his biggest passion and he has been making films since high school. He has also written and directed a number of short fictional and documentary videos. Ibër Deari studied Film School at the University of Audiovisual Arts “ESRA” in Skopje. He graduated in 2013 with the film “Last Confession”. Deari earned his Master of Arts in the Department of Film Direction with the film “Toka” (Land) and thesis “To Film or Not to Film”.
Ibër Deari is the winner of numerous prestigious international awards, including: Best Artist in Macedonia from Milingona e Artë; Best Film for “Between Paradise and Hell” from Gässli Film Festival in Basel, Switzerland; the Audience Award for Best Film for “Last Confession” at New York Albanian Film Week in Manhattan; Best Director and Best Film for “My City Screams” at the Nine Eleven Festival in Prishtina, Kosovo; Best Short Film and Best Directorfor “Land” and Best Director for “A Long Way Home” at the International Filmmaker Festival of New York in Manhattan.
Maja Wampuszyc (Actor, Director)
Maja Wampuszyc is known for: The Immigrant by James Gray (Cannes and New York Film Festival 2013) opposite Oscar Winner Marion Cotillard. Produced by Oscar Winners Anthony Katagus (Twelve Years a Slave) & Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker); Mrs. Zygmund on The Knick, directed by Oscar Winner Steven Soderbergh; Magda Nagy on Madam Secretary directed by Robert Greenlea.
Most recently she produced the award-winning documentary Where are we now? The Italian American Today by Richard Vetere. On Broadway: Irena’s Vow at The Walter Kerr Theater, by Dan Gordon, directed by Michael Parva. Off-Broadway, NYC & regionally: Irena’s Vow at Baruch, Richard Vetere’s Lady Macbeth and Her Lover; Mark Ravenhill’s pool (no water) at The Barrow Street Theater; Geraldine Connelly in The House of Connelly by Paul Green (first actress to play the role since Stella Adler) with the ReGroup Theater; Foggy Bottom by James Armstrong at The Abingdon Theater; The Obie Award winning play An Oak Tree by and with Tim Crouch at The Barrow Street Theater; Rewriting Her Life, by Barbara Masry, directed by Tony Award winner Trazana Beverly; Precious Stones for Chicago Silk Road Theater; The Pearl Theater, HB Playwrights Foundation, MCC, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum. Also, in film: Mona Lisa Smile by Mike Newell and Shopping by Henry Jaglom.
As a director, she is a Member of the Playwright Directors Workshop at The Actors Studio developing two plays by Richard Vetere Aleppo and Zag?ada. Member of Third Wing Media Ensemble currently in rehearsals for the Genius Project in the role of Ayn Rand. Maja Wampuszyc is represented by Bret Adams Artists Ltd.
Miranda Jean Larson (Actor, Producer)
Miranda Jean Larson is an Actor, Writer, and Producer living in NYC. As an actress she has performed in several theatrical productions around the city, her favorites having been by Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde or anything wonderfully weird. She has also acted in several short films which includes her first professional writing, directing, and producing credit: “Innocence” which won several awards at film festivals including Best Short Film (IFFNY 2018) and Best Indie Film (Top Shorts: March 2018). Miranda is currently producing a new short film with writer Veneta Callpani called “Inward” which is in script development. She is also hard at work writing her first feature film which she hopes to bring to life in 2020. She is so excited to be back with IFFNY this year as a juror!
Carlos Freire (Director, Producer)
Carlos Freire is an Ecuadorian-born documentary filmmaker. He decided to travel to the United States in search of a career in film and media. Carlos graduated with an AA degree in Media Studies, a BA degree in Film Productionand a MFA in Media Communication Arts focused in Documentary Production.
As a communicator, Carlos has produced media for more than fifteen years. During this period of time Carlos has produced Terraza 7, a documentary about how gentrification affects the small businesses of Jackson Heights. He also produced My Dream At The Other Side and Qween Amor, documentaries about immigration and gay rights respectively. His work has been shown in film festivals in which he has won awards to the quality of his work. Also, Carlos was given recognition from the President of the Borough of the Bronx for his commitment to the art community of New York City.
As an international content creator Carlos covered the visits of the president of Ecuador to China and Saudi Arabia. In these trips he had the opportunity to work closely with presidents of other countries as well. This work was aired in Ecuadorian news channels and presented as documentaries. He also produced two television shows, Business in Queens hosted by the Queens Chamber of Commerce at Queens Public Television (QPTV), and Guerrilla Mosh TV, a rock music television show aired in Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN).
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