ANNOUNCING THE 2019 SCREENPLAY COMPETITION RESULTS!
With just two days to go until the 19th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival, we are pleased to announce the results of this year’s Screenplay Competition! 2019 was another great edition for the annual competition, which continues to grow in both quantity and quality each year. Our semi-finalists and finalists featured some especially competitive material this year making the process difficult for our committee as well as this year’s Grand Prize Industry Judge, Nathan Silver.
Nathan has written and directed eight feature films as well as multiple shorts. His work has played festivals and venues around the world, including New York Film Festival, Venice, Tribeca, Mar del Plata, AFI, Locarno, Rotterdam, Viennale, MoMA, Film Society of Lincoln Center, La Cinémathèque Française, and Cineteca Nacional, Mexico. The New Yorker recently called Silver “a modernistic master of melodrama,” and said that “[he] proves himself to be one of the most original American independent filmmakers working today.” Both The New York Times and The Village Voice have done profiles on him.
Without further ado…
Congratulations to the Eight Semi-Finalists:
Betrayed written by Alfred Thomas Catalfo
Fits written by Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid
Frightened Heart written by John Bickerstaff
Pickled Beets written by Shannon Strong
Plants and Wildlife written by Anne Zarella
The Steagles written by Jeanie M. Clark
#VoteLove written by Aviva Dove-Viebahn and Brittany K. Fonte
Worcester, MA written by Annie Howard
From the Semi-Finalists, three Finalists were chosen in a second round. Finalists are awarded Two Weekend Passes to attend the 2019 New Hampshire Film Festival, taking place October 17-20.
Congratulations to the Three Finalists:
Betrayed written by Alfred Thomas Catalfo
Pickled Beets written by Shannon Strong
Worcester, MA written by Annie Howard
From the Finalists, a Grand Prize Winner was chosen exclusively by the 2019 Grand Prize Industry Judge. The Grand Prize Winner is awarded travel, hotel and passes to attend the 19th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival. In addition, Star Island will host our Grand Prize Winner for a two-week residency at the Star Island Family Retreat and Conference Center. The prize package includes room, board, lobster dinner, and more—for two guests.
Congratulations to the Grand Prize Winner:
Pickled Beets written by Shannon Strong
Pickled Beets is the story of fifteen-year-old Charlotte, who moves to a suffocating, religious town in North Carolina. She immediately bonds with Summer, a pregnant beauty queen, whose unborn child can transport her to alternate timelines. Charlotte feels caught between two worlds and begins to question her religion, her relationship with her mother and her friendship with Summer. Pickled Beets is a dreamy, sci-fi coming-of-age that can be as feverish and unsettling as growing up itself.
Shannon Strong is a New York based writer and director. As an army brat, she’s lived in many places, but considers North Carolina her true home. She attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts and currently edits film trailers and commercials while writing. Her scripts explore religion, female friendships and rebellion, while focusing on complex and deeply flawed female leads. She has directed two short films and edited an award-winning documentary. Currently, she’s working on a new script.
Don’t miss out on seeing over 100 independent films this week that came to be thanks to amazing screenwriting. Get your New Hampshire Film Festival pass today!