LI Film Festival Coming to Hauppauge

The Long Island Film Festival will be held Aug. 31, Sept. 1, 6,7 and 8 at its new home, the Hyatt Regency Long Island at Wind Watch 1717 Motor Pkwy. in Hauppauge.

The festival’s organizers said its new home was chosen because of its proximity to Long Island MacArthur Airport. In the last few years, LIFF has seen a growing number of national and international filmmakers and the festival had to make a decision on how to accommodate them at the lowest cost possible

Films of note this year include up and coming filmmaker and Queens native, Steve Rahman’s “Dirty Money.” In one night Rahaman hatched the idea over dinner with two actors, Charles Parshley, and Seth Hendricks. They end up at a house in Southampton and with the dialog improvised the film was made in a matter of hours.

Other noted films include “Meth Head” with Lukas Haas and Tom Sizemore, “Bridge of Names” with Rip Torn, police dram “Pandora’s Box” with Joe Mantegna, “Dislecksia: The Movie,” “Maniac” starring Bill Sorvino and Joe D’Onofrio).  Both Bill Sorvino and Joe D’Onofrio will be making special appearances. “Karmagedden” is another, which is a personal examination of the spiritual journey featuring 1960s counter-culture icon Bhagavan Das and Jeff Brown, former defense lawyer turned psychologist and spiritual author.  Bhagavan attained rock star status as a Kirtan chanter and Brown struggles with Bhagavan’s womanizing.  The story has frequent moments of comic situations.

From Long Island is “Filtering Futures: A Story of Lon gIsland Livilihood and Shellfish,” “The Dollar-A-Day Boys: A Portrait of the Vivilian Conservation Corps.”

The closing film Sept. 8 is “Milagro Man: The Irrepressible Multicultural Life, Ecological Exploits and Literary Times of John Nichols.”

Milagro Man is a feature documentary exploring the literary works and social activism of John Treadwell Nichols, renowned author of the ‘New Mexico trilogy.’ The documentary, around the hub of an extensive interview, provides an intimate account of the creative literary process as exemplified in a gifted, determined, and unrepentantly radical American writer.

John Nichols is related to William Floyd one the signers of the Declaration of Independence for New York.  The family’s estate was donated to the federal government in 1977 that maintains the 610 acres including the museum.  That estate was one of the many places Nichols lived on Long Island growing up.

There will be an interview with John Nichols via skype after the screening with veteran broadcaster and bestselling author, Joel Martin.

For ticket information and directions log onto www.longislandfilmfestival.org