5th Annual Love Actually: Short Films about Love, Sex & Romance

Join us for the FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of this highly successful, non-competitive film event featuring short films from brilliant independent filmmakers from around the world. During the evening you will get to view several award winning independent films and then following the event get to ask the participating** filmmakers questions during our informal Q&A. We will have some tasty morsels available before the event along with a few prize giveaways and of course as is our tradition, Valentines Day candy upon your exit!

We have a few other surprises like Scented Oils, Ediable lubricants, Cupcakes, etc.

Doors Open: 7:00pm
Pre-mixer:7:00-7:30pm
First Film Begins: 7:30pm (sharp)
Q&A: 9:30pm (as time allows)

SPACE IS LIMITED! No tickets will be sold at the door, so be sure to get tickets soon. THIS EVENT SELLS OUT FAST EVERY YEAR SO PLEASE GET YOUR TICKETS EARLY!!

WHEN: Tuesday, February 14th
WHERE: SHOWBIZ STORE & CAFE, 19 West 21st Street, New York, NY

ALL ATTENDEES WILL RECEIVE GIFTBAGS THAT INCLUDE:
HINT WATER | FREE 3 MONTH MEMBERSHIPS on HOWABOUTWE | MINI-CUPCAKES | EDIBLE LOVE LUBRICANTS | VALENTINES DAY CANDY | WEDDING PLANNING DISCOUNTS | and more...

SPONSORS

Showbiz Store & Cafe
The Showbiz Store is the retail division of Media Services that caters to the specific technology needs of the media and entertainment industry, namely, motion picture and television studios, visual effects and post production houses, advertising agencies, corporate media departments, and commercial, music video, and independent production companies.

Twitter: @showbizstore
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/showbizstore

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AMA Media Events
AMA Media Events is a corporate and social event and wedding planning company who can help you design a memorable occasion that respects both your time and your budget. It is our goal to provide a professional and courteous service ensuring your needs are met and both you and your guests thoroughly enjoy the experience. Your event is distinctive, your wedding dreams are unique, as are all the special people involved. Therefore, AMA Media Events will work with you to customize our services to create an experience you and your guests will remember.
We host several adult events including ladies nights out, singles events and pure romance parties.

Twitter: @amamediaevents
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AMA-Media-Events/250963361633283

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Hint Water
The idea behind Hint is simple: pure water, nature’s original refreshment, accented with a hint of natural flavor. No sugar, no artificial sweeteners: Hint is a refreshing alternative to sodas, juice and other sweetened drinks and it tastes great.

Sound good? It tastes even better.

We thank you for trying hint, hope that you and your family enjoy it, and wish you excellent health.

Website: http://www.drinkhint.com/
Twitter: @Hint_Water
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drinkhint
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/hinttv

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How About We

By focusing on the actual date, HowAboutWe totally flips the script on traditional online dating. No need for endless back-and-forth messaging. The date’s already planned. Just figure out a few details and you’re set.

Our activity-based approach to online dating is all about making the online part easier so you can get to the dating part faster. We’re the only dating site that really helps you get offline, on real dates with real people. The HowAboutWe way is more fun. more natural, and more effective.

People’s HowAboutWe posts are by far the most revealing and intriguing part of their profiles. As one user put it, “The date proposal is the ultimate digital first impression.”

Website: http://www.howaboutwe.com/

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Signature Scents by Nickola

SIGNATURE SCENTS is an all natural manufacturing bath & body company. We specialize in creating unique scents to compliment each individual. We have Brazillian Body Butter, Shower Gel, Dead Sea Mineral Body Scrub, Massage Oil, Hair Products and Spa Products.

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Caitlin Russotti Events

Caitlin Russotti Events is a full service wedding and events company. From proposal planning to full wedding planning; Caitlin can help you select vendors, handle timelines and logistics and bring your vision to fruition.

Website: http://www.caitlinrussotti.com/
Blog: http://www.thebridespi.com/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/CaitlinRussotti

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THE FILMS/FILMMAKERS**

PYNGDARAFL [GRAVITY] (Iceland – 19:00)
Logi Hilmarsson, Director

About the Film
A young man stuck in a wheelchair goes on a date. He doesn’t expect it will take him to the edge of his own imagination.

About the Filmmaker
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland to a French mother in August 1985, Moved to Marseille, France in 1992. Moved back to Reykjavik, where he is still based, in 2005, and studied film in both countries. Worked on various local icelandic or foreign TV documentaries, fiction, commercials and feature films as a Camera assistant, in art direction, gripping, P.A., editing and visual effects.

Website: http://www.angrydancer.com/

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NO DEAL (United States – 8:00)
Joe Burke, Director

About the Film
There’s just one thing in Mark’s way of a great night with a dream girl – her creepy male roommate in this awkward comedy with a stellar cast of B-List celebrities.

About the Filmmaker
Director, Joe Burke, a recent AFI grad, is making a splash in the comedy world. His Funny or Die short Marriage Drama with Virginia Madsen is also worth checking out.

Website: http://www.joeburke.net

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MONKEY LOVE (United States - 12:00)
Dongchan Lee, Director

Trained as a mathematician and physicist in the US. Worked as a computer programmer for a few years before immersing himself in writing, directing,  composing, and producing for film and theater. Has written over 10 feature screenplays, 5 full-length plays, 2 novellas, 2 sitcom comedies, over several hundred one act plays or short screenplays, and currently working on 3 non-fiction books due next month.  Wrote and co-produced a feature-film called ‘Film 101’. Goal is to expand beyond writing and move more into film production. The short ‘Monkey Love’ is my first directing attempt and its produced sequels include, “The Bronx Zoo Love Story”, “Cemetery Love”, “Mermaid Love”, “Hula Hoop Love”.

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MAN DATE (United States – 24:00)
Michael Helman, Director

About the Film
Marc Friedman has been on so many dates lately, he’s on a first name basis with every maitre d’, waitress, and bus boy in Manhattan. Unfortunately, all he has to show for it is a bank account that’s depleting quicker than his hopes of ever meeting “Ms. Right.” His dating profile says his ideal match is “a sweet, intelligent, down to earth woman,” but the only place he can find love online requires that you pay by the minute. Frustrated and alone, Marc is considering giving up dating altogether until his unhappily married friend, Ira, gives him an idea. Inspired by Ira’s theories on men and women, Marc heads back into the dating world with a new sense of purpose, only now his “ideal match” isn’t what he or anyone ever expected. Mandate, the first “bromantic comedy,” chronicles an experiment in courtship that may turn the dating world on its head, as one brave, pioneering, and lonely man dares to ask the question: Can two STRAIGHT men actually date each other?

About the Filmmaker
Michael Helman has a 26-year track record as a successful entrepreneur, business owner and consultant across all aspects of entertainment, media and technology. He is a founding partner of Brooklyn Films, an entertainment and new media technology company that has provided multimedia production, editing and technology consulting services to many leading entertainment and software companies. Prior to Brooklyn Films, he founded Post Digital, a pioneering computer-based editing facility in New York City. He has also directed and/or produced feature films, music videos, TV shows and commercials. Include his work as an editor and he has been responsible for thousands of hours of programming.

Website: http://www.willifest.com

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THE OTHER WOMAN (United States – 15:00)
Mikael Sodersten, Director

About the Film
Women who choose independent and unconventional lives often end up in places they could never have anticipated. Yet given the choices they’ve made and the risks they’ve taken, their lives make sense. Shot in New York, Stockholm and India, The Other Woman is about a young woman’s fascination with the worldly older woman her fiance has had an affair with – and the chance meeting that changes her life.

About the Filmmaker
Mikael Södersten has spent over twenty years in the Nordic film industry, working with Scandinavia’s leading producers, directors, film associations and TV stations. As a director, he has worked on narrative features, documentaries and shorts in the U.S., Denmark, and his native Sweden.

His filmmaking career began in the late ‘80s with two novella-length films on Swedish National Television: PASS, starring Michael Nyqvist (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) and FISSURA, which he wrote, directed, shot and edited, and which has been called “the best Swedish short of the decade”.

Recent films include THE OTHER WOMAN (2007), WHITE MAN’S BLUES (2006), and the award-winning, offbeat documentary FIVE FEELINGS ABOUT FOOD (2005). Together, his films have screened in over 25 festivals and won five “Best” awards.

Website: http://www.wildernessfilms.us/theotherwoman/

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VERONA (Canada – 24:00)
Laurie Lynd, Director

About the Film
Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Verona is the story of two young lovers separated by their rival fraternities. Set in a small college town wherein young men are groomed for corporate success in All-American hyper competitive fashion, Verona presents the fate of star-crossed lovers in a society that condemns the very nature of their love.

Directed by Laurie Lynd (BREAKFAST WITH SCOT), Verona features star actors known from DeGrassi, All My Children, The Best Years, Paradise Falls, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Queer As Folk, and more. This post-modern retelling of the greatest love story ever told brings to light the homophobic/homo-erotic dual nature of fraternity life, its perks and perils.

VERONA (The Short) was shot to pave the way for public, private and corporate interest in a full-length feature currently in pre-production. The project is one of passion for all those involved, hoping to present the nature of love in its truest form.

About the Filmmaker
Laurie Lynd is a film and television writer/director based in Toronto. His feature Breakfast With Scot won Audience Favorite Awards at numerous film festivals. Three of his films were selected for both TIFF and SUNDANCE. Recent television work includes directing the BBC mini-series I Was A Rat, Open Heart; Virtual Mom starring Debbie Reynolds and Sheila McCarthy; episodes of Shaftesbury’s Murdoch Mysteries and Baxter.

Website: http://www.veronathemovie.com/

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COVARIANCE (United States - 13:30)
Dawn Westlake, Director

Dawn is president of Ron de Cana Prods., Inc. in Los Angeles. She's made 13 films since 2000 in the US, Portugal, Spain and France which have won 43 awards, including honors from Canon USA, Inc. and JVC-Tokyo. Dawn is also an actress/writer/producer and has judged film fests in Italy and France and curated one in Chicago. Her films are represented by Ouat Media-Toronto, BigStarTV and indieflix.

Website: http://www.dawnwestlake.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dawn.westlake
Twitter: @dawn_westlake & @thedawnwestlake
G+: +Dawn Westlake

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CINDERELA (Brazil - 11min)
Magali Magistry, Director

A heartbroken Rio de Janeiro bartender, Luiza, has to suffer the cruelty of watching her former lover and his fiancée celebrate their engagement. As the caïpirinhas flow and the carioca funk blares, Luiza is pushed closer to the edge. Just how far will she go to spend one more night with the man she loves?

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Magali Magistry studied philosophy at La Sorbonne before getting her Masters in Fine Arts. She assisted french artist Sophie Calle and also worked extensively in film development before writing, directing and producing her first short film La Peau Vive.

Cinderela, her second film shot in Rio de Janeiro, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Magali divides her time between Venice CA, and Paris. She is currently developing with Frédérique Deghelt a feature adaptation of Deghelt's novel The Nun and the Bandit (Actes Sud, 2011).

Website: http://www.magalimagistry.com