Inaugural FashFilmFete Was A Night To Remember
The inaugural FashFilmFete™ was a resounding success.
The festival featured 28 films that were screened in Phoenix Art Museum’s Whitemen Hall, Singer and a few were on loop for the public in the Great Hall. Passersby were regaled with a top notch experience including opportunities to take selfies at the lush The Good Vibe Media Studios photo station.
Guests could also have conversations with the guest advisory panelists including New York-based Pratt Institute professor Sewra G Kidane and California-based celebrity fashion stylist Chandra Moore, who both had booths at the event.
There was also artwork for auction—Angela Johnson fashion illustrations of iconic characters from films commissioned by FashFilmFete™ Founder & Executive Director Mignon Gould from Mignon Media.
– Photography: West Eal Photography
But the true pièce de résistance was the after five VIP festivities that kicked off with the panel discussion “Diversity in Fashion and Film.” Before the discussion began, we watched Kidane’s film “Proclamation Punctuation”, which was awarded Forbes 12 Best Fashion Films of 2017. Joining me on the discussion panel were Sewra, Chandra and Jessica Wenger McPhaul, local costume designer and founder of Naked Rebellion. The discussion was awe-inspiring and ran the gamut from personal experiences with racism and how we affected change in our industries, to how society can help progress diversity in fashion and film.
There was also a meet and greet with four filmmakers in attendance including Ryan Rivard the director for “Blush,” about a fit model struggling with an eating disorder; co-producer Karim Staine for “Bartholomew’s Gold” about a New York architect-turned up-and-coming fashion designer; Parsons School of Design graduate Abigail Segerstrom for “Let Them Eat Brunch!”, a one-woman show portraying guests gathering for brunch; and Pratt Institute student Ilina Kapoor for “Metamorphosis”.
Later in the evening was the VIP reception, where two foreign films “Hong Kong Ballet: Never Standing Still” and “Fenice – Momoni SS21” were screened.
The after-dark event was set up like an outdoor European cafe with bistro lights and stacked marquee letters that read #FFF2022. There was mediterranean-inspired fare and petits fours pastries. To cap off the reception was a giveaway and yours truly was one of the winners. The glitzy box included gourmet popcorn infused with tequila and custom Jones Sodas.
The evening closed with a ceremony where 15 awards were given to films in categories of Best Documentary, Short, Fashion Ad/Music Video, Cinematography, Student, Fashion Impact and Social Impact. Three of the filmmakers in attendance—Rivard, Staine and Segerstrom—were award winners.
I was excited to be a part of this debut fashion film festival and look forward to what’s in store for FashFilmFete™ 2023. Hope to see you there next year!
The event was reported by AZCentral:
To view the full list of winners, visit fashfilmfete.com/2022-winners.
Always in Style,
Oscar~
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