Anaye Milligan - June 9, 1998 - indiewire
Straight Out O' Brooklyn:
Report From The 1998 Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival

"My goal here was to give the opportunity to others that hasn't been given to me. I truly wanted to create a festival of filmmakers. There's no politics here." So went the thinking of Marco Ursino, the Italian filmmaker who conceived and produced this years Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival aka "The Chameleon" -- named for the multi-colored lizard because of the neighborhood's 5,000-strong eclectic artistic community that is "always in transformation," claims Ursino. "Every year will be a different color." The four day event (this year's color was yellow) which ran June 4th through June 7th, was a labor of love that had it's roots in frustration. Having had little success getting recognition of his own work, Ursino came upon the idea of beginning his own festival, joining the event this year and adding the international focus. "I lost my motivation. At other festivals, there's too much politics. 'Who's in your film? How much publicity can you afford? Can you pay to come out and promote it?'" Ursino heard. His response: "I would like to be an alternative." Ursino began working on the festival just six months ago, and found little support in the beginning. In a market seemingly saturated with festivals, Ursino received little encouragement from friends and colleagues. "So many people tried to discourage me. 'You won't get any submissions. There are so many festivals already...' But I received 100 films. I screened them and put together a very solid program." That program included such strong showings as Cevin D. Soling's short "Boris the Dog" featured on MTV, the colorful documentary by Seth Henrikson & Dave Sarno, "Goreville USA", and the winner of the SXSW Best Narrative Feature Award, Tamara Hernandez's perverse love story, "Men Cry Bullets" which also took home Williamsburg's Best Feature award. Other award winners were "Hole in the Head" by Eli Kabillio, an hour-long documentary about trepanation, the process of boring a hole in the skull, which won the Best Documentary prize; "Flying with the Angels," a short subject about awoman's subconscious, from directors Richard Newton & Nancy Ferguson, which was awarded Best Experimental film; and Christopher Young's "Falling" an 18-minute short about a man trying to survive a climbing accident with the woman he loves, was voted Best Short film.


David Chachere - June 11, 1998 - NY Independent Film Monitor
The Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival

True to the modest beginnings of this inaugural festival, the films were screened not in a theater, but inside what was once an old bank that has since been converted into a community cultural center. But unlike most new festivals, the technical production was nearly flawless. Films and panel discussions began on time and both the picture and sound quality were good. Perhaps the only disappointing aspect of the festival was its low attendance, especially on Thursday and Friday. Without the recognizable stars or big promotional budgets that Ursino didn't want to make a prerequisite for this festival, news of the event was largely limited to word of mouth. And even some of those who may have wanted to attend, may not have been able to locate the festival, as there were only a few ads taken out in local publications. "As far as the audience level, I was wishing for a little more," said Ursino. "I did what I could do, but promotion is a world of it's own. It's money. Next year will be huge. There will be many more people and sponsors involved."


Vincent Musetto - May 31, 1998 - New York Post
A Festival Grows in Brooklyn

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, may not be Cannes, but it is on the water granted, the East River isn't the Mediterranean ) and it does have its own film festival. The second edition of that fest - six features, eight documentaries, nine "experimentals", and twelve shorts - unfolds Thursday through next Sunday at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, 135 Broadway, at Bedford avenue. Marco Ursino, who was born in Turin, Italy, and moved to Williamsburg 11 years ago, is festival director. He's also a filmmaker, and his first feature, the drug drama "Clouds of Magellan", is part of the fest - " out of competition, of course", he's quick to point out. "Getting a lot of talk ", reports Ursino, is the animated short " Boris the Dog," by Cevin D. Soling ; and Flying With the Angels," a 17 minute experimental film about " the diary of a woman's subconscious." She's portrayed by Nancye Fergusson, who directed with Richard Newton.