This year’s ten day festival kicks off on November 7th and offers over 160 independent films, plus live filmmaker Q&A’s, educational workshops led by entertainment industry-professionals, networking events, receptions and parties.
YoFi Fest launched its annual festival thirteen years ago as a small non-profit with a mission to raise the level of arts and culture in its community by showcasing the work of independent filmmakers and providing educational and cultural opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist in the area.
This year, the organization is more committed than ever to not only continuing that mission, but expanding on it, so from November 7th through November 16th, YoFi Fest will present 162 films submitted from 27 countries, as well as from right here in our own backyard.
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 programer, “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 and includes a “Taste of Yonkers” Red Carpet Reception featuring local food and drink as well as a curated selection of short films and an after party. There are workshops both weekends, afterparties, and, of course, lots and lots of movies!
New this year is the “YoFi 50 Hour Film Challenge.” On October 25th, 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.
This is a fun opportunity for individuals or groups to spend a weekend making a film. 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,” says 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.”
The festival provides an amazing opportunity for audiences to watch films that they might not see anywhere else. FilmFreeway named YoFiFest one of the “Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals” nine times. It’s also been named “Best of Westchester” twice by Westchester Magazine, and it was named as one of the top ten reasons Yonkers was voted the “Hippest Town in the Lower Hudson Valley” by The Journal News and LoHud.
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), which offers year-round programs, screenings and events. The festival is convenient to public transportation, as well as several nearby parking lots.
Information and tickets are available at YoFiFest.com.
