Filmily Fest 2nd-Year Run a Major Success

The 2nd Annual Filmily Fest Screening proved to be a huge success with twice the filmmaking teams and almost three times the crowd as last year. The Hampton Roads film industry and film lovers alike came to celebrate a night of 12 remarkable films at the Naro Expanded Cinema. In addition to attracting a larger crowd, Filmily drew more sponsors,  prizes, perks, and glamour and dazzle.

Take a peek inside for a look at our night celebrating a night of storytelling and talent in Hampton Roads!

The Road to Filmily

But first let’s start off with some videos of the road leading up to the big screening 🙂

Filmily – Screening Teaser Promo

On December 11, guests arrived at the Naro in Norfolk, VA ready to get their red carpet on. We truly have some superstars on our hands by the looks of this video! 🙂

As you can see, the theatre lobby was packed with folks trying to get their beer (provided by O’Connor Brewing Co.) and pizza from YNot Italian.

The night was full of glitz and glamour with a red carpet and Filmily Fest backdrop for guests to get paparazzi’ed outside the theatre. Best Actress nominations were laced with glamorous jewelry from sponsor Tidewater Keepsake Jewelry to don throughout the night! Fancy right? Check out some of the nominees showing off their bling 🙂

Kat Fritz “Framed” by JTVizion x Visually Inklined

Rachael Lang “The Investigation of the Irregularly Illuminating Illustrations” by BrainCo

Eugenia Gonzales “Amoriph” by Digiminds

Rachael Sonvico “Clue(less)” by Eclectric Prod.

And Madelaine Shouse for her role in C&A’s “Off the Tracks”

Filmily Fest co-creator and co-owner of Jpixx, Jon Abrahams was the host for the night and officially started the festival with opening remarks.

This is probably the most serious you will ever see Jon and this for sure lasted only as long as it took to take this picture lol

The theatre was packed and gasps, laughs and cheers were heard all throughout the night.

And then…

After an intermission, the awards were announced…the three top teams got to take home this pretty awesome growler kit compliments of O’Connor Brewing Co.

Each of the top three teams also received a custom engraved award for participating crafted by K&W Projects.

Awards for inspiration categories are as follows:

Best Use of Obstacle went to Digital Fruitsnax “Tempest” (not pictured)

Best Peer Reviewer – Eclectric Productions

Best Use of Relationship and Best Use of Character – “Fitz”

Best Use of Tone – “Off The Tracks”

Best Use of Visual Element and Best Cinematography – “Framed”

Best Actor – Nick Ventura “TIOTIII”

Best Actress – Rachael Lang “TIOTIII”

Best Supporting Actor – Angelo Reyes “Amoriph”

Best Supporting Actress – Arkeisha Roberts “Amoriph”

3rd place went to Jesse Torres (JTVizion x VizInklined) for “Framed”

2nd Place went to Jessa Gaul (MJ2 Productions) for “Fitz”

And taking home awards for Best Director, Best Use of Unexpected, Best Writing, Best Editing and Audience Choice was…..drum roll please!

James Shearer and Chandler Perry (BrainCo Productions) for “The Investigation of the Irregularly Illuminating Illustrations”

Here Chandler is taking the podium to make a few hilarious jokes similar to his film before he jetted off stage lol

Look at these cool kids!

Thank You’s 

First and foremost, thank you so much to all the teams who participated in this year’s Filmily Fest. We are so excited to inspire artists to get out of their comfort zone to put their vision on the big screen. Your hard work has paid off and we hope you had a wonderful experience meeting new people while doing something you love. We wouldn’t have a festival if it weren’t for you!

Major thank you to Teviya and Jon who conceptualized and organized Filmily Fest. It is your vision that brought this festival to life. What you have done for the film community in the Hampton Roads area is phenomenal!

Coolest, cutest couple award goes to… 🙂

Huge thanks to all the volunteers who helped move the festival along this year 🙂

A gracious thank you goes to all of our sponsors:

O’Connor Brewing Co.

Tidewater Keepsake Jewelers

Our partners:

id Web – thank you thank you thank you for the new filmily website

ESI Electronic Systems

Virginia Production Alliance

Our supporters:

Tidewater Arts Outreach

YNot Italian

48 Hour Film Project Hampton Roads

We are having our final Filmily Fest gathering this week to talk about ways to improve the festival for next year. We want to make sure we serve our filmily properly. As we we wrap up the year, we hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and hope you join the filmily again next year 🙂