Annual Film Festival Showcases The Best of Queens — and the World

Filmmakers from around the corner and around the globe visited the Museum of the Moving Image to preview their films ahead of the 2019 Queens World Film Festival (QWFF), which began on Thursday night. Photo by Ken Brown for the 2019 Queens World Film Festival.

By David Brand

The 2019 Queens World Film Festival kicked off last night with a gala ahead of the 11-day long, boroughwide festival.

The festival features films from directors and producers based in Queens and throughout the world. The event series ends on Sunday, March 31 with a showing of Queens Corner — a block of movies by Queens filmmakers.

QWFF will screen 200 films from 31 countries, including 18 movies by filmmakers from Queens, 21 from Brooklyn and 23 from Manhattan.

The QWFF awarded the Spirit of Queens award to MoMI film curator David Schwartz during the celebration on Thursday night. The festival also honored filmmakers Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto for their 1990 film titled Thousand Pieces of Gold.

Visit queensworldfilmfestival.com for tickets to one or more of the diverse films.