YONKERS — The annual film festival YoFi is coming back for a 13th year Nov. 7-16 with the same mission to raise the level of arts and culture in its community by showcasing the work of independent filmmakers.
This year YoFi Fest will present 162 films submitted from 27 countries, including Yonkers. The films include features, documentaries, shorts, animation, music videos, web series, and student work.
Most of the film programs will be followed by a live Q&A where the audience has the opportunity to ask the filmmakers questions about their movies.
“The filmmaker talkbacks are one of the best parts of the film festival,” said Patty Schumann, the festival’s co-founder and programmer “And this year looks like we’ll be having many of the filmmakers at the festival.”
Highlights of this year’s festival include the Opening Night Party, which is a celebration of creativity, including a “Taste of Yonkers” red carpet reception. There will be workshops both weekends.
New this year is the “YoFi 50-Hour Film Challenge.” On Oct. 25, YoFi is throwing a party where people will form teams, and then those teams have exactly 50 hours to write, shoot, edit, and upload a short film, using a randomly assigned genre, character, prop, and line of dialogue announced that evening. The films will be screened during the festival and the winner will be announced at the closing night party.
No film experience is necessary, but participants must be at least 18 years old. Space is limited and free reservations are required.
This year’s festival is a celebration of creativity in all forms and aims to bring together all types of creatives to meet and network.
“We’ll be starting off each weekend morning by hosting networking events where you bring your ideas and business cards and we’ll provide the coffee,” said Dave Steck, the festival’s co-founder and executive director, “We want people to know we are a gathering place for the creative community, so we can’t wait to see what these introductions lead to.”
FilmFreeway has named YoFiFest one of the “Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals” nine times.
All the screenings and workshops are being held in downtown Yonkers within a few blocks of each other at either the Yonkers Riverfront Library theater, directly across the street from the Yonkers Metro North Train Station, or YoFi’s own DMAC (Digital Media Art Center),
Information and tickets are available at YoFiFest.com.
