World Renowned Film Festival Returns to Bellmore This Week

With Sonaiya Kelly

The Long Island International Film Expo will make a grand return to Bellmore this week.

The festival, which was named one of the coolest film festivals in the world by MovieMaker magazine, kicks off Wednesday and runs through July 17.

“We’re showing 158 short and feature-length independent films from 32 countries, including 37 films from right here on Long Island,” Festival Director Debra Markowitz said. “We’re waiting on responses from celebrity guests, but what we have in place is a great selection of stimulating panels to go along with our strong film line-up.”

The festival will show nine films on opening day and is set to screen dozens over the course of the festival. Get the full schedule here.

Festival tickets are $10 per film block, and $8 for senior citizens, students and Filmmakers Connection members. Seniors and students can bring a friend for free to all Monday – Friday film blocks beginning at 5 p.m. or earlier. Day passes are $25 and Gold passes are $65.

Exclusively for local filmmakers, LIIFE will also present the “NY Loves Film Roadshow,” a roundtable discussion on producing films in New York State that will touch on issues like tax credits, location scouting, and locating stages and crew, moderated by theNew York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development team. This Q&A session is limited to 25 local filmmakers. To sign up, contact Debra Markowitz at dmarkowitz@nassaucountyny.gov.

Read more about the festival here on Patch.

Are you going to the film festival? Which films will you see? Tell us in the comments.