Albany FilmFest 2022 has ended, but the Best of the Fest is here! Please join us for this special, free, and in-person screening of four of the winners from Albany FilmFest 2022.

PROGRAM

Dominic Del Bene, Craig Billmeier, THAT SUCKS (Animated Short, 13:45) What does an East Bay Punk band do when they want to promote a new album? Why, go on tour, of course. And when the world shuts down mid-tour due to a global pandemic and renders all of their promotional efforts moot? Then what do they do? It’s a no-brainer that they commission an Australian Rock luminary to animate a lyric video for a song from that new record that they can no longer promote. Special animated guests: “Weird Al” Yankovic, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, The Offspring’s Dexter Holland, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, and more!  BEST SHORT ANIMATED FILM Trailer

Sanchali Pothuru, A TALE OF TWO COUNTIES (Documentary Short, Youth 13-17, 24:57) How two Indian counties, one urban and one rural, approach the expansion of mental health and recovery services to combat crime issues outside of “arresting our way out” of these problems. BEST FILM YOUTH 13-17

Andrew Chan-Possemato, THE BUTLER AND THE BALL (Narrative Short, Youth 6-12, 11:17) A lonely boy with neglectful parents embarks on a global adventure when he enters a contest to become the new butler of a grieving, reclusive singer. BEST SHORT FILM YOUTH 6-12 Trailer

Cheri Gaulke, MISS ALMA THOMAS: A LIFE IN COLOR (Documentary Short, 20:00) Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). Yet she did not receive national attention until she was 80. This film explores Thomas’ incredible life through the lens of curators, art specialists, scholars, her family, and award-winning actress Alfre Woodard as the voice of Miss Thomas. BEST OF SHOW and JOSEPH ANDRE MCCORD AWARD Trailer