Elegance, Community and Empowerment filled the Museum of Moving Image as a neighborhood of filmmakers came together to recognize their work Thursday, December 7, 2017. The Project, in it's 9th year and 14th cycle, was executive produced by Evangelos Roumeliotis, Mike Freeland, and Sal Milazzo.
Attendees to the Gala and Awards were greeted with cocktails upon entry and the room filled with sparkle from sequin dresses, shades of warm velvets, bowties and bolos.
The crowd of movie goers were ushered into the Sumner Redstone Theater for the 90 minute screening of the nominees selected from the 50 films submitted to the project this year.
In addition to the nominees, the Wild Card film "The Re Renaissance" directed by David Stishan was chosen by audiences at both the Saturday screenings and the Bar Crawl screenings held earlier in the week, to be included in the gala screening.
After the screenings concluded, attendees moved to the lobby of the theater for an hour of open bar and food, while the stage in the theater was set for live music and the awards ceremony. Once inside the theater for the awards, guests were brought to their feet dancing as the band Subtonic played before the ceremony began.
Once the awards concluded, the guests were invited to join the after party at the historic Astor Room at Kaufman Astoria Studios adjacent to the Museum of the Moving Image.
Awards were presented by Adam Bagy and Michelle Amara Micca. The winners of the Sparrow Film Project 14 are:
Best Costume - Ava Forte Vitali - The Professor's Lesson
Best Screenplay - Matt Weiss - Styx & Stones
Best Supporting Actor - John Warren - Mister Warren's Neighborhood
Best Sound Design - Ryan Collins - Zimbabwe 2
Best Original Score - Taylor Bridges - Uncertainty Principle
Best Supporting Actress - Stephanie St. Hilaire - Super Nova
Best Editing - Josh Petrino - Maragarita Kill
Best Production Design - Tara Belmont and Ava Forte Vitali - The Professor's Lesson
Best Actor - Andy Sydor - The Sig Daniels Show
One of the founding producers of the Sparrow Film Project, Rudy Mungaray, made an appearance to acknowledge and present a Lifetime Acheivement Award to David Lowe.
Best Cinematography - Kyle Groff - Styx and Stones
Best Director - Luke Norby - Wa Wa Watch Dog
Best Actress - Brooke Carey - There will be Nog
The Nicci Carnaggio 5000 Audience Award for Fan Favorite - Absolution
Best Film - Styx and Stones ($1000 prize and year membership to Museum of Moving Image.)