First Annual YELLOW APE FILM FESTIVAL

By Susan Phillips

On Wednesday, July 31^st Yellow Ape Productions will host the inaugural Yellow Ape Film Festival at the legendary Cinema Arts Centre.  Hosted by Yellow Ape president and filmmaker Jim Haggerty of Long Island and the alluring Lady MacDeath, the festival will showcase short films in Yellow Ape’s ‘Movies for the Midnight Hour’ vein, as well as live acts including comedy, music and burlesque.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says Haggerty. “It’s sort of vaudevillian, all of this entertainment, not just films.  Long Island is the perfect place because there’s so much culture here.”

The films in the festival are competing for DVD distribution by Yellow Ape Productions, and are being judged by a celebrity panel of genre film favorites – cult movie actress Beverly Bonner of BASKET CASE, scream queen Suzi Lorraine, and Long Island filmmakers Keith Crocker and Glenn Andreiev.

“We’re very pleased to have this great panel of celebrity judges,” Haggerty states proudly. “All are local favorites and people who really know their stuff and are respected not just in Long Island but everywhere.”

The films in the festival run the gamut of genres from comedy to horror but they all have that special cult movie style that Haggerty has become known for.

“I keep saying that this is not a horror festival,” Haggerty explains. “I’ve done my share of horror movies, so folks expect that, but really Yellow Ape is about ‘Movies for the Midnight Hour’ – the type of movies that are fun, a little out there, and something not entirely for the masses. That’s the type of films I make, and that’s the quality I see in all of the films we’re showcasing.”

Besides the films in the competition, the festival will also be hosting a premiere film from Haggerty called COLD DEAD HAND which is as much a midnight movie as you’ll ever see.

“It’s a lot of fun, spooky and fun,” Haggerty says. “It will really set the tone for the night.” And besides films, the lovely Lady MacDeath – whose shapely form has been seen all over the event flyers and posters the last few months – will be introducing some great live entertainment including vampire lounge singer Baron Miscuraca, comedian Diana Micelli, rock band Stimulus, barbershop quartet Bodyguard Quartet and burlesque acts by Sincerely Y. Ours, Rosy Roulette, and Codi Phoenix.

“It’s unlike any other film festival,.” says Haggerty. “And the acts are as varied and off-beat as the movies. I’m very proud of the roster of talent involved in all of this. It really is remarkable at how much great culture there is in and around Long Island.” Jim Haggerty has shot all or part of six features on Long Island, lives in New Hyde Park, and attended Great Neck North High and SUNY Old Westbury.

The festival takes place July 31^st from 7-11PM at the Cinema Arts Centre. Admission is $20 and $15 for Cinema Arts Centre members. Tickets can be purchased at the box office and in advance at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/398909 This is an adults-only event.

Further information can be found at www.yellowape.net

Films in competition:

DEAD END DINER dir: Chester Indiviglio

DUSK: A TWILIGHT MOCKUMENTARY dir: Mark Abramowitz

FAMILY PRACTICE dir: Robert Youngren

A FAREWELL TO ARM dir: Philip Snyder of IslandPark and Robert M. Snyder of Gibson, L.I. A Hemingwayesque spoof of manhood via a father-son arm wrestling challenge. CONTACT Philip Snyder philsfilm@yahoo.com

MADAME X dir: Brian DeCicco

PENELOPE dir: Ben Fiore.

PIGGYZILLA/CAESER AND OTTO MEET DRACULA’S LAWYER dir: Dave Campfield

TREKKIN dir: Jeff Freeman