The intermission is now over at the Syracuse International Film Festival.
After the Covid-19 pandemic forced last year’s event to go virtual, the 18th annual film festival will take place Oct. 22-24 at several venues in Syracuse with 48 films shown in competition, along with four invited movies, after receiving 139 works from 31 countries. The 2021 SIFF will include showings of dramas, comedies, and horror films; a discussion of lacrosse; an audition workshop for actors; and more.
Syracuse resident Nick Bernardone, an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits include AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” and “The Walking Dead,” will headline this year’s Syracuse film festival with a writer’s workshop on Saturday, October 23, at 3 p.m. at The Redhouse Arts Center. The event is described as one-on-one opportunity for aspiring writers, filmmakers, and fans to learn what it takes to be successful in the writer’s room.
Bernardone is a 2003 graduate of Jamesville-DeWitt High School that studied TV and digital film at SUNY Fredonia before pursuing a career in television in New York City. One of his first jobs was writing and editing web content for NBC’s “30 Rock,” earning him a Producer’s Guild of America award for outstanding digital series and an Emmy nomination for outstanding special class short-format video. He also wrote for the show’s Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) character on social media, which was named one of Time magazine’s top 100 Twitter feeds.
Bernardone next wrote for Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” created by Tina Fey and starring Ellie Kemper, but soon found himself watching fewer comedies at home and more “escapism” shows like “The Walking Dead” and Marvel movies. He wanted to do something different, connected with producers at “The Walking Dead,” and now writes scenes where zombies chase heroes as an oil rig explodes.
“It’s been a pretty amazing journey,” he said of his career in a phone interview with syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
He added that writing for a drama/horror requires a different approach that’s “really fun, and it’s really freeing and it allows you to use a totally different part of your brain – that takes this audience on this crazy journey.”
This provided photo shows Syracuse native Nick Bernardone, a TV writer whose credits include "Fear the Walking Dead," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," and "30 Rock."
Bernardone is also enjoying watching comedies again, though he gravitates to more bizarre programs like Tim Robinson’s irreverent “I Think You Should Leave.” He also notes that the best television shows have evolved in a way where “it’s no longer OK to be just one thing,” like Jason Sudeikis’ acclaimed Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso.”
“You can no longer be just a great sitcom,” he said. “And ‘Kimmy Schmidt’ was already a little ahead of its time at that moment.”
The way TV shows are being created has also evolved since the coronavirus pandemic shut productions down last year. “Fear the Walking Dead” opted to go fully remote with much of its staff; writers now meet over Zoom, so Bernardone decided to leave Los Angeles and move back home with his family to Jamesville, N.Y., where he’s currently working on season 7 of “Fear the Walking Dead,” which premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+.
Bernardone predicts that even after Covid-19 concerns go down, many shows will continue to embrace the “reinvented way of working in the industry,” possibly adopting a hybrid of in-person and remote staff meetings.
Registration for the writer’s workshop will also include a limited edition “Fear the Walking Dead” poster designed by local artist James P. McCampbell and signed by Bernardone.
Bernardone will also show an episode of “Fear the Walking Dead” and the Emmy-nominated short “The Walking Dead: Red Machete” at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 23. The event will include a live Q&A with Bernardone.
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Other highlights from the 2021 SIFF lineup include:
“The Pirates of Somalia” airing on WCNY 24.1 on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m.; screening and Q&A with director Bryan Buckley at The Redhouse Theater on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
Directed by Oscar nominee Bryan Buckley, recipient of the SIFF’s 2021 Sophia Award, “The Pirates of the Somalia” follows rookie journalist Jay Bahadur in 2008 as he embeds himself within Somali pirates for a story abut the civil war-torn country. The film stars Al Pacino, Evan Peters, Melanie Griffith and Barkhad Abdi. Buckley is also known as “the King of the Super Bowl,” creating some of the most memorable Super Bowl commercials of the past 20 years.
This provided photo shows Oscar-nominated director Bryan Buckley, who'll be participating in a screening and Q&A at the 2021 Syracuse International Film Festival.
“Willy’s Wonderland” screening and Director Q&A at The Redhouse Theater on Friday, Oct. 22 at 9 p.m.
“Willy’s Wonderland” director Kevin Lewis will show the movie and participate in a live Q&A. The 2021 film stars Nicolas Cage as a quiet drifter tricked into a janitorial job at the now condemned Willy’s Wonderland, where he must fight to survive wave after wave of demonic animatronics.
Audition Workshop with casting director Annie Delano at The Redhouse Theater on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 11 a.m.
Annie Delano, who cast hundreds of roles for Syracuse-shot films like “The Ultimate Playlist of Noise,” “The Binge,” “Paper Spiders” and “The Night House”, will conduct a class on the best way to prepare, create and submit an audition on “tape”. AND Casting specializes in sourcing and casting local background extras for feature films and television series shooting outside major cities.
“Becoming WackyChad” premiere on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. at The Redhouse Theater
Syracuse native Isaac Deitz will present his documentary about his stunt comedian brother Chadd Deitz, a.k.a. WackyChad, who has performed in 25 different countries over 18 years with pogo stick stunts, tricks and jokes. “This is a monument for me because since I was around 10 years old, my goal in life was to make feature films and I’m so thankful to be able to say I’ve made two so far,” Isaac said. “This one is special because it’s a documentary about my brother Chadd Deitz... I think this will always be one of the hardest projects I’ll ever work on.”
Silent Film Showcase and “Pandora’s Box” live performance on Thursday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Coyne Center at Le Moyne College
Erin O’Hara will perform a new, live, original score to the classic 1929 film “Pandora’s Box” with an orchestra conducted by Le Moyne’s Arts Administration Program director Travis Newton. Performance and screening will be followed by a talkback with Erin O’Hara.
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Covid-19 note: All Syracuse film festival staff and attendees 12 and older will be required to show proof of full vaccination, or a negative Covid test result. Acceptable vaccination proof includes a physical vaccination card, New York State Excelsior Pass or digital vaccination card. Acceptable testing results proof includes a negative Covid-19 antigen (rapid) or printed or digital copy of email from a test provider verifying negative test result. Masks will be required at all times, regardless of vaccination status, except while eating or drinking in designated areas.
For more information and a full schedule, visit syracusefilmfest.com.
The 18th annual Syracuse International Film Festival runs Oct. 22-24, 2021, in Syracuse, N.Y.
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