27th Anniversary Edition of THE LONG ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM EXPO Begins This Month

The Long Island International Film Expo has announced the full schedule of screenings and events for the 27th Anniversary presentation of the festival, happening from July 9th - July 14th at the historic Bellmore Movies, 222 Pettit Ave in Bellmore.

LIIFE will feature over 120 films this year, including 19 World Premieres, 5 US Premieres, 28 New York Premieres and 50 Long Island Premieres! Plus, there are also 32 Female Directors.  Full Schedule and Tickets for films and events on sale at www.LIIFE2024.EVENTIVE.ORG 

The Pre-Fest feature on Tuesday night at 7pm is the NY Premiere of “The Strangers Case”, a film currently creating international conversation, where tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, starting a chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries. 

There will be a press conference on Wed. July 10th at 3pm at the Bellmore Movies with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Actor Lukas Hassell (The Blacklist) and others in attendance.

The Wednesday Opening night film is the Long Island Premiere of “Colibri'”, by Juanpedro David Salazar and Francisco Salazar originally from East Meadow, which tells the story of a young Colombian couple who are faced with a major change in their lives, where each one will go on a personal journey to right the wrongs of the past in order to build a stronger future.

Special screenings of note throughout the week include: the NY Premiere of “Child Machine” a fun Sci Fi/Comedy feature that is showing on Thursday night, and the World Premiere of thriller “Lady Of The Lake” about notorious local lake from native Ronkonkoma's own Maria Capp, starring Seth Gilliam (The Walking Dead), Nia Sioux and Emery Kelly, which screens on Friday night - right before the “Scared For Your LIIFE” block that includes “Screamwalkers”, alumni Sean Quincy King's unique shot-on-video 90s-styled horror feature.

You also shouldn't miss the World Premiere of romantic comedy “Royal Runaways” from Long Island local Candace (Candy) Cain and the NY Premiere of “Hidden Flora”, a coming of age queer trans-produced romantic dramedy from Writer/Director Ryan Rox, both showing on Saturday. Saturday at 8pm is also Super Mega Trivia Slam trivia in the Filmmakers Lounge hosted by Steve Strangio with tons of prizes, including a prize pack from Smodcastle Cinemas with a T-shirt, a signed photo from Kevin Smith, and more. 

The lineup also includes a documentary short about Long Island based NYS Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg entitled “Harvey: The Voice for The Voiceless”. 

Additionally on Saturday night, the 4th Annual Midnight Madness block is back, presented by Vinegar Syndrome. This annual block features a bevy of unclassifiable fringe and genre films that make you say "What did I just see..?!" Everyone in attendance will receive a custom Midnight Madness 2024 button, and at the end of the block, a one-of-a-kind handmade Midnight Madness award will be presented to one of the films. Reign Energy drinks are sponsoring the festival providing soft drinks for festival week, as well.

Finally, on Sunday July 14th at 1:30pm, the Closing day feature will be the Long Island Premiere of “Scrap” starring Anthony Rapp and Vivian Kerr, who is making her directorial debut and will be appearing on local media outlets to promote the film and festival earlier in the week. Then, everything culminates at 5:00pm that night, when you are invited to please join us for LIIFE Closing Awards Ceremony hosted by Kevin Brown (dotcom from NBC's 30 Rock).

Panels include: Directors Audition panel (July 10 - 12 noon - 3 PM), a Filmmakers Breakfast panel (Saturday, July 13 at 11 AM) sponsored by the Bellmore Moves & Showplace, the DP Expo (Friday 4-8pm) an open-room networking event where local cinematographers bring some of their camera equipment to display and discuss their methods and techniques, answer any technical questions, discuss their rates, and expand each other's network and many more!

Festivals of the past have included such luminaries as the late Danny Aiello and Ed Asner, Blue Bloods' Robert Clohessy and Abigail Hawk, Ralph Macchio, John Amos, Daniel Baldwin, Ally Sheedy, Catherine Curtin, Chad Coleman, Steve Buscemi, Ed Burns, Ilene Kristen, and so many more.

LIIFE has become a summer playground for filmmakers; with local and international film screenings, celebrity appearances, entertaining and informative panels, a star-studded awards ceremony, and networking galore. LIIFE is presented by the Long Island Film/TV Foundation (LIFTF) and sponsored by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, Gold Coast Studios, and the County of Nassau. 

For more information on LIIFE please visit: www.LongIslandFilm.com 

Submissions for Scared for Your LIIFE, LIIFE's sister horror film festival are open at https://filmfreeway.com/ScaredforyourLiife.

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