Yonkers film festival YoFiFest begins this week

Yonkers’ annual film festival, YoFiFest, is set to kick off this weekend.

The festival will run from Nov. 3-11 and feature screenings of films from countries including Ireland, Japan, Iran, India, Finland, Italy and Russia.
“This year we had more submissions than ever before, so we were able to curate our strongest lineup of films yet,” said Patty Schumann, festival director and co-founder.

Along with international submissions, the festival will also feature filmmakers from Yonkers in a “Done In Yonkers” showcase on Nov. 6.
“With the support of the city of Yonkers, the festival has grown from its humble beginnings as a local weekend event at a public library to an international festival that this year will screen over a hundred films over nine days,” said Dave Steck, the festival”™s co-founder and executive director.

Now in its fifth year, YoFi Fest is curated by film and television professionals and designed to encourage audiences and filmmakers to watch and talk about movies together.  
The festival at 66 Main St. in Yonkers will also include “mini-film school” workshops that will cover topics including screenwriting, production and marketing. There will also be networking events, receptions and nightly parties for audiences and filmmakers.

For the first time this year, a panel of judges will present The Golden YO, a “Best of the Fest” award for one film in each of the following five categories: best narrative feature film, best documentary feature film, best narrative short film, best documentary short film and best student work.

“We think our filmmakers are all winners just for getting their films made and into the festival ”“ it’s harder than you think- but they told us they wanted a prize, and we listened,” Steck said.

For more information, visit YoFiFest.com.