I was able to sit down with Dennis Cieri, who is a film industry expert and the founder of The New York City Independent Film Festival and he was willing to talk about his time in the industry and how independent filmmakers need to get their films showcased.
When explaining how he began in the film industry, he has said that he shot his first movie when he was 16 years old. He has been shooting indie movies for years and did work in television. He has worked as an actor, director, assistant director and camera operator on indie films.
The film expert claimed that he got into the indie film trend while playing basketball with his friends and while playing, one of his friends wanted to make a movie and they ended up making it when he was 17.
When finding the New York City Independent Film Festival, initially, he thought that it would be fun but he was very much mistaken. He made a community of filmmakers, creators and judges and he enjoys seeing them every year for the festival and that is what keeps him going for his tenure as the founder.
One of the things that Cieri’s festival provides is that they provide a community of filmmakers that network with each other.
When it comes to getting your films noticed, festivals are looking for people that understand how to tell a story. Cieri states to never take anything personal as there is no one thing that will get you into a festival.
When giving advice to other aspiring filmmakers, Cieri explained that young filmmakers have to love what they do because it will cost the filmmaker a lot of grief, money and the chances of making it in the industry are very low and if you don’t have a total passion for it, you are wasting your time and money.
Here is a list of films that are in the festival this year:
https://nycindieff.com/films/
