Chris Welles Feder to speak at Staten Island Film Festival

[Dan]

The eldest daughter of Hollywood moviemaking genius Orson Welles will be part of this year's SINY Film Festival, offering an opportunity for fans to explore her father's film noir masterpiece "Touch of Evil."

Chris Welles Feder will be the guest speaker on June 5 at 2 p.m. in the Williamson Theater's Recital Hall at the College of Staten Island in Willowbrook. Ms. Welles Feder will be part of a question and answer program that includes a showing of the film.

The 2008 SINY festival, scheduled for June 5-8, will feature 55 films by independent local as well as international filmmakers.

For those of you in the NYC area the college is located on Victory Blvd & Canterbury Avenue. Victory Blvd exit on the S.I. Expressway (I-278). Bus: either the S62, S92, S93 buses from the S.I. Ferry, or the X10 bus from Manhattan.

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/inde ... xml&coll=1

http://www.sifilmfestival.org/

[RayKelly]

FROM THE STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

SINY Film Festival Opens This Afternoon at the College of Staten Island

by Staten Island Advance
Thursday June 05, 2008, 3:42 PM

The SINY Film Festival opened this afternoon at the College of Staten Island to the delight of local film buffs.

However, because of technical glitches, free movies won't begin until tomorrow at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark in St. George.


This afternoon at CSI roughly 50 fans were about evenly divided between a screenings of the film noir classic, "Touch of Evil," and about 24 films created by current and former CSI students.

Chris Welles Feder, daughter of the "Touch of Evil" filmmaker Orson Welles, shared interesting tidbits at the at the film's 50th anniversary screening. Much of the film was shot in Venice Beach, Calif., although it was supposed to be set in a Mexican border town.

Janet Leigh had a broken arm in a sling through the entire movie but you would never know because it was so skillfully shot. Marlene Deitrich is the most famous cameo in the movie and she wore a wig borrowed from Elizabeth Taylor. Charlton Heston has skin a few shades darker than usual because he was supposed to look Mexican.

Evelyn Otten Mac Donald of Westerleigh, a festival volunteer, was eager to see the film because it was done by Orson Welles. She was taking advantage of the perk that volunteers are allowed to attend all festival events for free.

Another film buff was volunteer Sam Santapaola of Woodrow. If you look very carefully at re-runs of the "Sopranos" and "Sex in the City" TV shows you might notice him working as an extra. Santapaola has been appearing in TV shows and movies for about the last 10 years since retiring from a bank.

CSI graduate Alain Alfaro's film, "Waiting for Her," has been nominated for two festival awards. His film "Tell Me Why" was screened this afternoon. He is currently promoting an urban/sci-fi film, "Trek 183."
Alexis Lambright, a 2007 CSI graduate, had her film, "My Favorite Show," a spoof on a Spanish language soap opera screened at CSI. She credits the college with building her video making skills and is working on a number of documentary projects.

People attending festival events at CSI might want to park at lots close of the Center for the Arts. The designated lot, No. 6, is a long walk unless one takes the shuttle.