KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL TO AWARD PRESTIGIOUS GOLDEN KEY AWARDS TO CELEBRATED FILMMAKER KIMBERLY PEIRCE AND LEGENDARY ACTOR TOM SKERRITT AT EIGHTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL.

New York- October 24, 2019- KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL announced today that Kimberly Peirce and Tom Skerritt will receive the prestigious Golden Key Awards at this year's festival, running November 20-24, 2019.
Peirce, a Florida native, will be honored on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the release of the groundbreaking film Boys Don't Cry. The festival will screen the film on Friday, November 22, and Peirce will join Eugene Hernandez from Film at Lincoln Center for a discussion at the screening.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the seminal sci-fi film Alien, fellow honoree Tom Skerritt will have a Q&A with Rolling Stone's David Fear at the Thursday, November 21 screening.
The film will be preceded by a screening of the award winning short film The Phantom 52, which premiered at Sundance 2019 and stars Mr. Skerritt. Director Geoff Marslett will also be in attendance.
Michael Tuckman, Director of Programming of the Key West Film Festival, commented: "We are beyond thrilled and humbled to be able to honor both Kimberly and Tom on major anniversaries of two films that broke boundaries and rules for their genre and paved the way for so many future voices to express their creativity. And both mean so much to Key West, as evidenced by its thriving and active LGBTQ community and the constantly creative forces on display through events like Fantasy Fest, which is going on right now."
Past Golden Key Award winners include: Burt Reynolds, Marisa Tomei, Paul Verhoeven, Alan Cumming, Harmony Korine and Lois Smith.
KIMBERLY PEIRCE
Kimberly Peirce staked her claim as a writer and director of singular vision and craft with her unflinching debut feature, Boys Don't Cry, which earned numerous honors including Oscar nominations for Hilary Swank and co-star Chloë Sevigny, and an Oscar win for Swank.
Peirce subsequently co-wrote and directed Stop-Loss, an emotionally penetrating drama inspired by her brother’s military service in Iraq. In 2013 she directed a masterful remake of Carrie that won the People’s Choice Award. In television, Kimberly has directed acclaimed episodes of American Crime, Turn, Halt And Catch Fire, Manhattan, Six, I Love Dick, Dear White People, P-Valley, and Kidding. She is Executive Producer and Director of Impact at A&E. Her upcoming projects include: This Is Jane, the true story of an underground abortion ring in 1960s Chicago, and Untitled, a butch femme romantic, sex comedy.
A tireless activist for human and civil rights, Kimberly is a proud Governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures and head of the Diversity Committee, an Executive Board member of the DGA, and a founding member of REFRAME, an industry-wide effort to end discrimination against women and people of color. She is a member of Time’s Up and the WGA.

TOM SKERRITT
Two-time Golden Globe nominee and Best Actor winner for Emmy Award series, Picket Fences, Tom Skerritt was born in Detroit. After high school, he enlisted in the US Air Force.
Discharged four years later, he entered Wayne State University as an English major. Transferring to UCLA he embraced acting as a necessity for effective writing and directing. Performance in theater led to his first acting role, War Hunt (1962), where he met young hopefuls, Robert Redford and the late Sydney Pollock. His mentors are directors Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Ridley and Tony Scott.
Skerritt’s early good fortune of acting in Altman’s classic M*A*S*H led to several others, including: The Turning Point, Alien, A River Runs Through It, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun and Contact. In 2019 he played the main character in David Guterson’s movie version of East of the Mountains, to be released in 2020. Skerritt performed in John Grisham’s A Time To Kill on Broadway. He also performed with the Pacific NW Ballet as Don Quixote in 2012 and 2015.
Along with Stuart Stern and other film and story educators, he founded The Film School in Seattle.With the success of The Film School, Skerritt redesigned a program to teach storytelling to transitioning PTS vets at JBLM, Fort Lewis. Six years into the program the RED BADGE PROJECT is achieving success with additional programs helping women and Vietnam vets reconnect with themselves.
He is currently developing a Seattle centered, mobile media content provider, HEYOU MEDIA HOLDINGS, focused on mobile media visual entertainment content.
Visit kwfilmfest.com for full program information –to be announced on October 30, along with special events and parties .

RELEASE PHOTOS: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gjbykv5tcerc5zl/AABE25GA1XOYNuZLM7IOkKADa?dl=0

ABOUT THE KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL 2019
The Key West Film Festival — where passion meets paradise — is an annual celebration of contemporary cinema in a historically rich, artistically vibrant, and culturally diverse island community.
KWFF strives to showcase the best of Florida filmmaking talent, while highlighting visiting filmmakers and industry leaders through discussions and workshops, with access to some of the biggest names in the film business. The festival also looks to support the next generation of local student filmmakers with scholarships and other key awards.
The Festival’s Critics Focus program, enhanced with the juried Critics’ Prize, together with the Costume Design Focus, marks the Key West Film Festival as a vital stop on the awards season’s fall festival circuit, with programs designed to support film criticism and craft while giving audiences greater context and perspective through public conversations guided by expert voices. Key publications represented in KWFF Critic’s Focus program and Critic’s Prize at the festival include: Los Angeles Times, Vulture.com, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, TimeOut NY, RogerEbert.com and more.
Past guests have included: Burt Reynolds, John Waters, Mariel Hemingway, Harmony Korine, Marisa Tomei, Paul Haggis, Alan Cumming, Sebastian Junger, Tom Berenger, Paul Verhoeven, Billy Corben, Terry George, Corey Glover, Steven Bauer, Anson Mount, Celia Weston, Angus MacLachlan, Judy Blume, Ondi Timoner, Bob Wisdom, Val Lauren, Anne O’Shea, Lois Smith, Mark Bridges and many more.
For more information, visit our website: https://kwfilmfest.com
Twitter - @keywestfilmfest
Instagram - @keywestfilmfestival
Facebook - Key West Film Festival
#kwff #kwff2019 #tropiccinema

Critically acclaimed documentary IF THE DANCER DANCES, will be released on VOD on November 12

after its recent multi-city theatrical release.Timed to coincide with the 2019 centennial of his birth, IF THE DANCER DANCES is the first documentary on the subject of Merce Cunningham’s work since his passing in 2009.

IF THE DANCER DANCES

** New York Times Critic’s Pick**

Produced by: Lise Friedman and Maia Wechsler

Directed by: Maia Wechsler

Official Selection: Dance On Camera 2018, Raindance 2018

Feature Documentary, 83 Minutes, USA

IF THE DANCER DANCES will be released on VOD and all major digital platforms including Itunes, Amazon, Vimeo, Google, Sony, and NMS on November 12, 2019.

DOC NYC 2019- IN BRIGHT AXIOM

DOC NYC 2019

IN BRIGHT AXIOM (Section: INVESTIGATIONS)

NYC PREMIERE

Director: Spencer McCall (The Institute)

Welcome to the House of Latitude, where absolute discretion is demanded in exchange for entry into a mysterious social experiment in the form of an elaborate immersive experience. Drawing a community of curiosity seekers, this secret society becomes a way of life for some, putting increasing pressure on the organizers to maintain this sophisticated and fantastical parallel world.

From the minds who inspired AMC's upcoming series Dispatches From Elsewhere, IN BRIGHT AXIOM weaves an intriguing cautionary tale about the unforeseen consequences of embracing the unknown. Followers of Meow Wolf, Sleep No More, Ingress and other immersive & augmented reality entertainment should take note.

The film also features never-before-seen discourse from the mesmerizing hip-hop polymath, RAMMELLZEE and original music by Juston Robbins, with additional songs from Isan, Tickles, and ü-Ziq.

Spencer McCall has spent the last ten years orchestrating socio-reengineering and public hoax-prank performance art pieces. An avid fan of the Yes Men, McCall began by participating in Improv Everywhere inspired events, “plant” based roles in The Go Game, and location-based performances with Atmos-theater.

In 2009, he became a co-creator of the Jejune Institute; a citywide alternate reality game in San Francisco that lasted three years and “inducted” over 10,000 unknowing participants. McCall took his experience working with Jejune and turned it into an award-winning documentary “The Institute.” His film is currently being remade into a series on a major television network.

McCall also helped to create Jejune’s follow-up experience The Latitude Society; a faux secret society with an underground experiential labyrinth beneath San Francisco.

Running Time: 90 Minutes Language: English Country: USA (Feature Documentary)

DOC NYC 2019 FESTIVAL SCREENINGS:

PUBLIC SCREENING:

Thursday, November 7 at 9:20PM
Location: Cinepolis Cinema (260 West 23^rd Street)

VIEWING LINKS AVAILABLE BY REQUEST FOR PRESS COVERING FESTIVAL.

TALENT AVAILABLE: Filmmaker Spencer McCall, subject Jeff Hull and other key subjects are available for interview by request and in NYC in person week of premiere.

Link to photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/idchnro4kxbk6ez/AACmIXDRk0RbnzD7Fdu_h8R5a?dl=0

SOCIAL MEDIA
#inbrightaxiom

Website: www.inbrightaxiom.com

https://www.docnyc.net/film/in-bright-axiom/
@DOCNYCfest #docnyc

PR CONTACT:
Emma Griffiths (EG-PR)
emma@eg-pr.com
www.eg-pr.com

KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FOURTH ANNUAL “GOLDEN KEY FOR COSTUME DESIGN” HONORING OSCAR®-NOMINATED COSTUME DESIGNER ARIANNE PHILLIPS

2019 FESTIVAL RUNS NOVEMBER 20TH -24TH

New York, NY — October 3, 2019 — The Key West Film Festival announced today its fourth annual Costume Design Focus program, honoring Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips.

Phillips’ most recent work is on display in Sony Pictures’ and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She has received Oscar® nominations for her artistry in Walk the Line and W.E. and multiple nominations for BAFTA, Tony and Costume Design Guild Awards via her work in the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Tom Ford’s A Single Man. The Festival will present Phillips with its Golden Key for Excellence in Costume Design award, to honor her versatile talents, which have been showcased in everything from period costume dramas to superhero blockbusters.

Phillips will also participate in a discussion of her work, to be moderated by Eric Kohn, Executive Editor and Chief Critic of Indiewire and co-host of the weekly ScreenTalk podcast with Anne Thompson.

The discussion will be followed by a screening of A Single Man on the 10th anniversary of its release as a showcase for Phillips’ work.

The Award will be presented via satellite by Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis. Dr. Landis, a Costume Design Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and an Academy Award®-nominee, presented the first annual career achievement award for costume design in 2016 to Mary Zophres, who went on to receive an Oscar® nomination for her work in La La Land, and to the last two year’s honorees, Mark Bridges, who won the 2018 Oscar® for Best Costume Design for The Phantom Thread, and Alexandra Byrne, who’s work in Mary Queen of Scots was recognized by an Academy Award nomination.

Michael Tuckman, Director of Programming of the Key West Film Festival, commented “The time and place that Tarantino captured in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood could not have been accomplished without the true artistry and beauty of the costumes that transported us all back in time and gave the film an authenticity like no other. Arianne Phillips is a master of design and we are thrilled to be able to honor and showcase her work.”

Visit kwfilmfest.com for full program information – which will be announced on October 30, along with a schedule of events and travel and lodging details.