Big Apple Film Festival

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder & Director Jonathan Lipp chats with actress Amy Stiller about her new film SMALL POTATOES, which premiered at the Big Apple Film Festival, as well as her acting career, the influence of her family, as well as advice for aspiring actors.  Amy Stiller is an actress based in New York City. She is a graduate of Circle In the Squa...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder & Director Jonathan Lipp speaks with actress Kathleen Turner about her new film "Joan's Teeth", premiering at the Big Apple Film Festival, as well as the highlights of her legendary acting career. Since her breakout role as femme fatale extraordinaire Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981), Kathleen Turner has deliver...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder and Director Jonathan Lipp speaks with Janice Molinari, who is an accomplished filmmaker and producer, and is currently serving as Director of Production at HULU/DISNEY/ABC. Janice discusses her recent film "Stronger Than You Think", which had its NYC premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival: Women's Spotlight Editio...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF founder and director Jonathan Lipp speaks with veteran filmmaker John Gray on his career spanning decades of writing, producing and directing for TV, streaming series and feature films, as well as advice for aspiring filmmakers. John Gray is a New York based writer-director-producer. He created the long-running hit CBS series GHOST WHISP...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder/Director Jonathan Lipp discusses the indie film scene with Mark Elijah Rosenberg, who is a director, writer, producer, editor, as well as the founder and former artistic director of Rooftop Films in NYC. Mark’s feature film directorial debut, Approaching the Unknown, tells the story of a man alone on a one-way journey in space. I...

Big Apple Film Festival Founder and Director Jonathan Lipp speaks with the cast and producers of the Big Apple Film Festival official selection, Deadly Vows. This in-depth conversation focuses on the process of making the movie including the challenges, successes, and pride in sharing this incredible story. Deadly Vows stars Shiva Negar (American Assassin), SAG Award nominee Billy Zane (Titanic),...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF founder and director Jonathan Lipp chats with indie filmmaker and auteur Onur Tukel on his career, inspirations, making movies in NYC, what it means to be a true indie filmmaker, as well as his new film "Wooden Hearts", which will have its NYC premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival. ​ In 1997, Tukel wrote and directed his firs...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, host and festival founder/director Jonathan Lipp sits down with actor and producer Sawyer Spielberg to discuss his film "Martyr of Gowanus", written and directed by Brian Meere. Spielberg shares his passion for NYC, how the city inspires his craft, as well as advice for aspiring actors, artists and filmmakers. Sawyer Spielberg studied drama i...

In this episode, host Jonathan Lipp, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director, speaks with filmmaker Cinqué Lee about his film "A Rare Grand Alignment", which will have its NYC premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival. Cinqué, who is also an actor and writer(as well as the brother of critically acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee), discusses his career, his family's influence on his passion writing and s...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder and Director Jonathan Lipp chats with Oscar® nominated producer Krushan Naik on how short films can be used as a calling card for a filmmaker to launch their career, how a short can be used to attract industry attention and build an audience to expand their concept into a feature film, if a short film can be a marketable product...

In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, Host Jonathan Lipp ( Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director) chats with veteran filmmaker Bobby Roth on his career, insights on how the industry has changed over the years, as well as advice for aspiring filmmakers and writers. BOBBY ROTH grew up in Los Angeles, a block from where he lives today. He studied Philosophy and Creative Writing a...

Host and Big Apple Film Founder/Director Jonathan Lipp speaks with acclaimed writer/director/producer Susanna Styron on adapting personal stories into a film. Susanna also discusses successes and challenges in her film career, as well as advice to aspiring writers and filmmakers. SUSANNA STYRON is a screenwriter, director and documentary filmmaker. Her debut feature, Sony Pictures’ SHADRACH starri...

In this episode of the BAFF Podcast, Host and Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director Jonathan Lipp chats with Academy Award nominated indie filmmaker, animator and illustrator Bill Plympton about his career, the importance of remaining independent, his admiration of the great Walt Disney and inspirational words for aspiring filmmakers.

The independent film landscape has changed drastically throughout the years, creating new opportunities, as well as new challenges for indie filmmakers. In this episode, Big Apple Film Festival Podcast host JONATHAN LIPP (BAFF Founder/Director) chats with filmmaker/actor/producer Michael McGlone on how the industry has changed in the last thirty years, opportunities available today for aspiring fi...

BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL INDUSTRY NETWORKING AND MENTORSHIP Family and character driven films have long been a significant part of the movie industry in the United States and around the world. Creating these fun films for all age groups is a unique craft unto itself, and in many ways an industry of its own within the film and TV business. In the session, veteran writer Alec Sokolow behind the mega...

A pitch deck is possibly one of the most important tools in presenting your script or proof of concept to a studio, producer, agent, manager or potential investor. The goal of an effective pitch deck is to clearly communicate the creative elements, such as your story, key plot points, and character development, as well as the aspects of the project that will be most important to investors, such as...

Aspiring creators often have unique and innovative concepts for new TV/streaming series, including scripted series, reality shows, or docuseries. However, the challenge is how to find the right financiers, TV/streaming networks, showrunners, producers, or studios who would be willing to take a chance on a new show. In this session, producer and director Whitney Ransick provides strategies, advice...

Professional screenwriters share their career journey, and provide valuable advice to aspiring writers, at the Big Apple Film Festival Screenwriters Conference. Hosted by Big Apple Film Festival moderator, Craig Price.   JOSE RIVERA  José Rivera's screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar— making him the first Puerto Rican writer ever nominated for...

Lovinder Gill moderates this conversation as part of the Big Apple Film Festival Producers Conference, featuring Reinaldo Marcus Green and Kent Sanderson. REINALDO MARCUS GREEN has been honored with the Breakout Director Award from the African-American Film Critics Association for his work on King Richard, starring Will Smith , which earned 6 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; he ha...

Agent Danny Alexander (APA Agency) provides career advice to aspiring filmmakers, screenwriter and series creators, at the Big Apple Film Festival Agents and Managers Conference. Danny Alexander works in the TV literary department at APA, working directly with writers such as John Carpenter (Halloween), Derek Kolstad (John Wick) and Mike Le (upcoming Patient Zero with Natalie Dormer and Stanley Tu...

In this discussion, veteran producer and production manager Kwame Parker joins the Big Apple Film Festival Producers Conference to discuss the process of selling your film, series or script to Netflix and other major streaming platforms.  Kwame Parker is an accomplished producer and production manager, currently developing various projects for Netflix. He received an Academy Award as executiv...

Big Apple Film Festival Distribution Summit SPEAKERS: SAL SCAMARDO, FILMRISE, VICE PRESIDENT OF DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING,  JOSH NADLER, SONY PICTURES/AFFIRM FILMS, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITIONS and GARY RUBIN (SALES AGENT) Jonathan Lipp (Moderator, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director) ​  SAL SCAMARDO is Vice President of Distribution and Marketing at FILMRISE, an indust...

(Moderator, Jonathan Lipp, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director)   In this session, visual effects coordinator and supervisor Matthew Gratzner provides strategies on how to give your film the highest quality cinematic look, and some predictions on how the future of visual effects in film will look in the coming years.  MATTHEW GRATZNER is seasoned film industry professional, who has...

BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL AGENTS AND MANAGERS CONFERENCE  Agent, Co-Founder, CULTURE CREATIVE ENTERTAINMENT Paul Weitzman Topics Include: Pitching Your Film, Script or Series to Agents, Producers, Showrunners and Streamers, Legal Rights and Clearances   Paul Weitzman has been a literary agent for more than 20 years representing writers, directors and producers across all literary platforms...

BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL AGENTS AND MANAGERS CONFERENCE   Martin To (Agent, A3 Artists Agency)   Big Apple Film Festival Moderator, Dianne Wieler ​  Topics Include: Maximizing Exposure For Your Film, Script or Series, Legal Rights and Clearances   Martin To is currently an agent at A3 Artists Agency. He got his start at United Talent Agency, where he worked for six years. He the...