Sayville Film Festival To Honor Paula, Melissa Joan Hart

SAYVILLE, NY — The inaugural Sayville International Film Festival will bring four days of screenings, industry programming and awards events to Sayville this August, with hometown film and television veterans Paula Hart and Melissa Joan Hart set to receive the festival’s first Vanguard Legacy Award.

The festival is scheduled for Aug. 13 through Aug. 16 at venues including the Sayville Movie Theater and CM Performing Arts Center, organizers said.

Founded by filmmaker and Producers Guild of America member Maria Capp, SIFF, a nonprofit organization designed to connect emerging and underserved filmmakers with industry professionals, practical career tools and networking opportunities.

Organizers said the festival will focus not only on screening independent films, but also on helping filmmakers navigate what comes after earning festival laurels.

Paula Hart and Melissa Joan Hart, through Hartbreak Films, will be honored for their decades-long producing partnership and their work in family-focused film and television. Hartbreak Films, founded by Paula Hart and Melissa Joan Hart in 1993, has been behind projects including “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “The Watcher in the Woods,” “Santa Bootcamp” and other film and television productions.

“Paula and Melissa have shown audiences worldwide what it looks like to live the dream and master the reality of this vocation,” Capp said. “Their journey, a Long Island mother and daughter breaking into the industry to build a global, multi-generational brand, is the perfect alchemy of art, persistence, and elite business acumen.”

Capp said the Harts’ career path makes them a fitting model for the filmmakers SIFF hopes to support.

“Whether making us laugh, bringing vital social issues to light, or creating beloved holiday classics, they have navigated it all while keeping family at their core,” Capp said. “They are the ultimate blueprint for the emerging filmmakers we are championing at SIFF.”

The four-day festival will include industry panels, screenings, live industry and podcast events, and a professional table read cast and sponsored by Paul Sinacore, CSA, featuring talent from SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity Association, organizers said.

The festival’s roster of jurors and guests is expected to include Liz Lewis and Angela Mickey of Liz Lewis Casting Partners; Greg D’Alessandro, WGA member and CEO/chief editor of Weekly World News Studios; Sinacore, a casting director and producer; and Mark Myers, CEO and president of Citizen Skull, a talent management and production company.

“I am beyond excited to be participating at SIFF in August,” Myers said. “I look forward to meeting diverse, emerging filmmakers as well as old pros in this expertly curated event.”

Sinacore said he is honored to join the festival as a guest speaker, sponsor of the casting and table read, and part of its Industry Day programming.

“Sayville is building something special, a community-driven, industry-connected festival where filmmakers, actors, representatives, and audiences can come together in a meaningful way,” Sinacore said.

The festival will conclude with an awards ceremony at CM Performing Arts Center.

“We are incredibly excited and honored to host the closing ceremony for the inaugural Sayville Film Festival here at CM Performing Arts Center,” said Marc Hollid-Ausset, CEO and president of CM Performing Arts Center. “Supporting local artists, storytellers, and community-driven creative efforts has always been deeply important to us, and this festival represents a wonderful celebration of the talent and passion that exists right here on Long Island.”

Organizers said the festival will also offer more than $25,000 in industry prizes from companies including AVID, Entertainment Partners’ Movie Magic and Celtx, to help independent filmmakers move beyond the festival circuit and into the business side of filmmaking.

SIFF is supported by Cornerstone Partners, including Sayville Ford, Five Towns College, the Sayville Movie Theater and CM Performing Arts Center, organizers said.

Screenings and live events will be held at the Sayville Movie Theater, with closing events at CM Performing Arts Center. Ticket information is available through the festival’s Eventbrite page.