The eighth annual Syracuse International Film Festival will take place Oct. 13-16, and festival organizers have planned an “Italian Appertivo” to preview the festival for the community and press.
The “Italian Appertivo” will be held on Thursday, Sept. 22, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Mayflower Lobby at the Genesee Grande Hotel, 1060 East Genesee St., Syracuse. The appertivo will include a glass of wine, hors d’oerves, and a festival preview—all for $25 single,$40/couple. Ticket sales will benefit the Syracuse International Film Festival. The event is sponsored by the Genesee Grande Hotel, a major festival sponsor this year.
Throughout the evening, raffles will be held for festival gift certificates, good for festival tickets and merchandise, including a new art piece donated to the festival by Syracuse University professor and illustrator, Roger DeMuth. Owen Shapiro, SYRFLMFEST artistic director, will give a preview of the 2011 Festival, showing festival film clips.
In addition, Shapiro will introduce Dani Menkin, an award-winning independent filmmaker from Israel (“39 Pounds of Love”) who is currently working in Syracuse as a Schusterman Foundation Visiting Artist in the College of Visual & Performing Arts’ Department of Transmedia. Menkin’s visit is a result of collaborative sponsorship with The Schusterman Foundation and the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University Humanities Center, the School of Education and the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.
Menkin was recently nominated for the Ophir Awards (the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards) for his film “Dolphin Boy” (written with his creative partner Yonatan Nir), which will be featured in a special showing at the Palace Theater (2384 James St., Eastwood) on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. as part of SYRFILMFEST’11.
