Stony Brook Awards Short “West Bank Story” its Grand Prize and Announces a Festival Buy

2005 Stony Brook recipients (left to right): Jeff Kramer, director of "Smile"; Stevo, director of "Fields of Mudan"; Camille Cellucci, director of "Wear Something Nice"; Alan Inkles, Stony Brook festival director; Ghyslaine Coté, director of "The Five of Us"; Mika Boorem, actress in "Smile"; and Kim Ray, writer of "West Bank Story." Photo credit: Samuel DeJesus.

The Stony Brook Film Festival concluded its 10th edition last weekend, awarding a prize to its closing night film, “The Five of Us,” and presenting its biggest award to a short film. The ten-day festival had over 15,000 attendees.

For the second time in its decade-long span, Stony Brook awarded a short film, “West Bank Story” by Ari Sandel, its Grand Prize. The prize is given when both the jury and audience give their highest marks to one particular film. The jury award for best feature, meanwhile, was shared by two films, “Alice in Glamourland” by Pieter Kramer and writer/director Brad McGann‘s “In My Father’s Den,” based on a novel by Maurice Gee.

In other prizes, the feature audience award went to Jeffrey Kramer‘s “Smile,” (its star, Mika Boorem also took the festival’s “Rising Star” prize), while Ghyslaine Coté took the Excellence in Directing award for her film, “The Five of Us,” which closed the festival July 30th. The audience and jury nods for best short went to Camille Cellucci‘s “Wear Something Nice,” and Stevo’s “Fields of Mudan” respectively.

In other Stony Brook news, the festival announced that Panorama Entertainment Corp. acquired James Quattrochi‘s feature, “Jesus, Mary and Joey” which had its world premiere at the event. The romantic-comedy stars Marley Shelton, Vincent Pagano, Jennifer Esposito, and Olympia Dukakis.

“We’re thrilled to be in business with Vincent Pagano and share his vision,” said Panorama Entertainment‘s Stuart Strutin in a statement released by the festival. “‘Jesus, Mary and Joey’ is a crowd-pleasing film about a colorful Italian-American family that appeals to a wide demographic, which I saw by the enthusiastic reaction it received from over 850 people at the Stony Brook Film Festival.”

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