The Mepham Kickline at the Homecoming Parade.

New Big Fish, Latino film festivals designed

by Laura Schofer

Looking for something different from the usual teenage movie fare? Look no further than the Bellmore Movies. This month, there will be two film festivals at the Bellmore Movies located on Pettit Avenue in Bellmore. The first is a Latino Film Festival, running the evenings of October 12-15, followed by the Big Fish Film Festival on October 16,-19.

Latino Film Festival
The moviehouse will host the Second Annual Latino Film Festival in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. A total of 12 films will be shown, including local Latino filmmakers from Long Island and filmmakers from as far away as Columbia.

T. J. Collins, festival director, said that the “festival provides a window into the culture and way of life [in Central and South America]. Each culture is different and film is a great medium to show the beautiful images of Latin America.”

For example, Saturday night is Dominican night and one of the featured films is “a documentary on bachata, which is about Santo Domingo blues,” Mr. Collins explained. “On Friday evening we will show a Columbian film called ‘Tumba y Tumbo’; it means steal and stolen.”

Other festival highlights include one evening dedicated to short films, including the three winners of the Mexcla Latino College Short Film Competition. Mexcla means mixed.

Habla Espanol? No importante
Mr. Collins said that although some of the films are in Spanish, “they have English subtitles. But others are in English. Some of these films are from local Latino filmmakers, including right here on Long Island,” he explained.

After each evening’s film there will be a question-and-answer period. “That will be in English,” said Mr. Collins.

The festival opens on Thursday, October 12, with a wine-and-cheese reception and live music from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by the first film.

Call the Bellmore Movies at 783-3199 for the times for each viewing.

Big Fish mixes local color
Beginning on Monday, October 16, the Big Fish Festival opens and it is as local as local gets. The Big Fish film festival is a chance for Long Island films and Long Island filmmakers to get their works screened for the public. It also gives filmmakers who were part of the Long Island International Film Expo a chance to capture an award.

Anne Stempfel, one of the owners of the Bellmore Movies, as well as one of the sponsors of the Big Fish Festival. told Bellmore Life that “this summer we had close to 400 entries for our Long Island International Film Expo. There were so many good films and 155 were shown but we wanted to provide opportunities to showcase more films by local filmmakers.”

And so Big Fish was born.

Big Fish refers to the shape of Long Island and includes anyone from Queens and Brooklyn as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties. Also, films about Long Island or shot on Long Island are also included in the line-up.

Debra Markowitz, president of the Long Island Film/TV foundation and another sponsor of this event, said there are “35 films that run the entire gamut from horror flicks to documentaries. And our filmmakers are all ages, from college-aged students to filmmakers who are in their 60s.”

As a grassroots film festival it will highlight independent Long Island films. Each day the festival will include a mix of short- and feature-length films. “And, because all of the films will be local, we’re looking forward to near perfect attendance for the Q & A sessions, which are a large part of the draw to the Long Island International Film Expo,” explained Ms. Markowitz.

Some of the films include the documentary “Wings of their Own,” about women pilots; a short film entitled “Heads or Tails,” about dating with your pets and a feature-length film called “Ghosts Never Sleep,” starring Faye Dunaway, Sean Young and Tony Goldwyn.

For opening night there will be a party between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. “Your ticket stub gets you into the party and for that evening’s film at 7 p.m.,” said Ms. Markowitz. A 9:30 p.m. show will follow.

Tuesday, October 17 and Wednesday, October 18, there are three showings at 4:15 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. On Thursday, October 19, closing night, there will be no 9:30 p.m. showing because there will be a reception honoring the winners.

“This is new territory for us,” said Ms. Markowitz, “but Long Island does have the talent. It will be interesting to see how this develops.”



One person was injured in a serious motor vehicle accident at the corner of Sunrise Highway and Bedford Avenue during the late evening hours of Sunday, October 1. The accident occurred when a car slammed into the rear of a parked car-carrier vehicle on the eastbound shoulder of the highway. The victim had to be extricated from the vehicle by the Nassau County Police Department Emergency Service Unit. The injured driver was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries. - Al Hickey

Protect your child from cyberbullying

by Wendy Tepfer, Community Parent Center

Children of all ages are flocking to the Internet. Media coverage of stories concerning “On-Line Sexual Exploitation” and “Cyber-Bullying” are sadly becoming daily occurrences.

With an increasing number of parents expressing a desire to learn about Internet safety for their children, the Community Parent Center and the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District as part of its “No Child Left Behind” Parent Involvement effort, are hosting “Get Net Safe Tour” for parents at the Brookside School, 1260 Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 12. All seventh and eighthgrade students will be seeing similar presentations at assemblies in the middle schools during the day.

The program, addressing the issues of cyber-bullying, online sexual exploitation and other Internet-safety topics, will be presented by i-SAFE AMERICA INC., as part of its 12 city tour of large metros across the USA.

The New York City Tour is scheduled for October 10-12. Thanks to the efforts of state Senator Charles J. Fuschillo Jr., parents and middle school students of the Bellmore- Merrick Central High School District will learn about Internet Safety from i-SAFE Inc.

The purpose of this tour is to create a positive environment to learn about computing security and Internet Safety issues by providing simple, easy to use guidance via an innovative “grassroots” campaign targeting consumers across the U.S.A. Events will be presented by a broad coalition including: AARP, Best Buy/Geek Squad, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Department of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission, i-SAFE Inc., Microsoft, NCMEC/NetSmartz, RSVP, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Cyber Security Alliance and other groups.

i-SAFE is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to educate and empower youth to safely and responsibly take control of their Internet experience. i-SAFE provides awareness and knowledge that enables students to recognize and avoid dangerous, destructive and inappropriate or unlawful online behavior and to respond appropriately.

Parents play a critical role in teaching children how to identify, avoid and respond to the dangers lurking online. Effective communication, between parents and their children, is a key element of child safety. The parents, schools and community must work together to keep every child safe from harm.

Children going online can run into real trouble, and it’s critical that parents understand how they can help their children navigate the Web safely. For information, call Parent Center office 771-9346.