In less than a month, the third NYC Web Fest will take place. They will be showing a total of 96 series over three days. They recently announced the nominees for the awards show which will conclude the festival.
Leading the nominations is India’s first same-sex web series with an impressive six nominations. “The Other Love Story” is an Indian drama set in the late 1990s and follows two female friends who fall in love. The web series’ will be making its festival premiere at the NYC Web Fest.
Musical comedy, “Merce”, has also received six nominations. This web series is about a middle-aged HIV-positive man living in New York City.
For the first time, there is an “Audience Choice Award” where fans can vote for their favourite online shows. Stareable, a streaming site, will host the competition from today until 1st November.
There is a special exclusive prize for the “I Love NY Award”. The winner will be entered into Big Vision Empty Wallet’s Creator’s Program, where 10-15 creators will receive mentorship and development support from the Big Vision Team. For an entire year, they will be granted exclusive pitch opportunities with networks and platforms.
Favourites that are nominated include Australian web series “Aunty Donna: 1999”, the horror/comedy series “20 Seconds To Live”, sci-fi Irish drama “Rapt”, comedy series “Almost Asian”, and the most watched gay web series in the world “The Horizon”.
The nominees for the NYC Web Fest are as follows:
Outstanding Achievement – Editing
- Slice Stallone, Empty Space
- Mark Currie & Rachel Wang, 1000 Londoners
- Gretchen Peterson, Jiwi’s Machines
- Ben Rock, 20 Seconds to Live
- Alessandro Colla, Lemmings
Oustanding Achievement – Sound
- Garret Barnett, Behind the Blinds: Filmmaking 101
- Ben Rock, Jeremy Gilleece 20 Seconds to Live
- Garret Farrell, Rapt
- Pablo Isola, Boy Scauts
- Nicholas Rowan, Callum Wheeler, Lachlan Kuhn, Scout
Outstanding Achievement – MUSIC
- Dorothy Wallace, Meet the Ladybugs
- Jonathan M. Roe, The Pantless Detective, Season 3 Framed By the Past
- Jonathan Barbir Number of Silence
- Ken Kruper, Merce
- Mitchell Collins and Derek Zhao, Paper Boys
- Phoebe Hunt, Adam Henry Garcia, Conversations from the Afterlife
Outstanding Achievement – Cinematography
- Sebastien Nadaud, Beard Club
- Andres Victorero, Idiotas
- Caleb Davis, Tough Love
- Vijayan Muthu, The Other Love Story
- Russell Gleeson, Rapt
Outstanding Achievement – Writing
- Ashley Kechian, #Currently
- Bob DeRosa, 20 Seconds to Live
- Katie Malia, Almost Asian
- Andrew Nielson, David Lavine, Plant
- Roopa Rao, The Other Love Story
- Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Sam Lingham, Zachary Ruane, Aunty Donna: 1999
- Charles Sanchez, Merce
- Katie Maguire, Catherine Callahan, LI Divas
Best Original Concept
- Elisabeth Durkin, Mathilde Dratwa, Almost Anonymous
- Ben Rock, Bob DeRosa, 20 Seconds To Live
- Kelley Quinn, Straight Marriage
- Allison Tate, Danny the Manny
- Josh Apter and Gary Mahmoud, I’m Gay
- Güido Simonetti, Fabian Benitez, ANA
Best Supporting Actress
- Katie Pelenski, Empty Space
- Verina Banks, Tough Love
- Susannah Jones, Plant
- Claire Lovering, The Agent
- Tessa Drake, Sensitive: A Web Series
Best Supporting Actor
- Tyne Firmin, Merce
- Sean-Michael Bowles, Lemmings
- Patrick James, The Horizon
- Chris Eckert, Empty Space
- Leon Salem, OMG for Pete’s Sake
Best Ensemble Cast
- Starting From Now
- Haunted or Hoax
- A Shared House
- Third Wheel
- OMG For Pete’s Sake
Outstanding Achievement – Animation
- Concrete Jungle
- Artemio
- Psychosomatic
- Life Sucks! But at least I’ve got elbows
- Meet the Ladybugs
Best Documentary
- 1000 Londoners
- Seasonal Life
- What You Can Do
- No Strings Attached
- Avi Does the Holy Land
Best Mystery/Thriller
- Lemmings
- Onyros
- Haunted or Hoax
- Scout
- Rapt
Best Drama
- Trap Plane
- Tough Love
- Starting From Now Season 4
- Situationships
- Bennington Gothique
Best Dramedy
- Danny the Manny
- A Shared House
- 47 secrets to a younger you
- Paper Boys
- All my friends are married
Best Comedy
- Concrete Jungle
- I’m Gay
- Fully Engaged
- OMG For Pete’s Sake
- Aunty Donna: 1999
- A Horrible World
- Almost Asian
- LI Divas
Special Guest Star
- Sherrod Small, LI Divas
- Horatio Sanz, Almost Asian
- Judy Gold, Brad Advice
- Andy Buckley, Living Through The Lens
- Colleen Hawks, Merce
- Hilary Greer, Fully Engaged
Best Foreign Language Web Series
- Seasonal Life
- Onyros
- Psychosomatic
- Emma’s Welt
- Idiotas
Best International Web Series
- The Agent
- A Shared House
- Rapt
- Scout
- Haunted or Hoax
I Love NY
- Working On It
- Merce
- Straight Marriage
- Sensitive: A Web Series
- Affordable NYC
- Almost Anonymous
- LI Divas
- Precious Cargo
- All My Friends Are Married
- Sublets
Best Actress
- Carla Bonner, The Agent
- Erika Robel, Fully Engaged
- Katie Malia, Almost Asian
- Spoorthi Gumaste, The Other Love Story
- Shweta Gupta, The Other Love Story
- Liz Days, Plant
Best Actor
- Tony Nixon, Scout
- Charles Sanchez, Merce
- Alessandro Colla, Lemmings
- Brad Einstein, Fuck These Guys
- Andreas Damm, The Yearbook
Audience Choice Award
- It’s Complicated
- Situationships
- Haunted or Hoax
- Aunty Donna: 1999
- Behind The Blinds Aka Filmmaking 101
- Paper Boys
Best Director
- Jeff Szusterman, Jiwi’s Machines
- Fran Estevez, Idiotas
- Ben Rock, 20 Seconds To Live
- Roopa Rao, The Other Love Story
- Kieron J. Walsh, Rapt
- Curtis Casella and Kyle Cabral, Paper Boys
Best Web Series
- Jiwi’s Machines
- The Other Love Story
- Lemmings
- Rapt
- Straight Marriage
- Aunty Donna: 1999
- Almost Asian
- Fully Engaged
- Haunted or Hoax
- #Currently
The NYC Web Fest will take place for three days from 10 November 2016 until 12 November 2016 at the PIT Loft on West 29th Street in Manhatten. It has been named one of the six great new media festivals by Backstage. The award ceremony will take place when the festival concludes, followed by an after-party. The location has yet to be confirmed.
Lauren Atkins founded the festival in 2014 after recognising there were no festivals showcasing digital series in New York. She stated: “Our goal is to make this festival the premier home for digital producers on an international level. An organic space where creators can showcase their talent, network with other artists, and learn from industry insiders.”
The official 2016 list of web series to be shown at the NYC Web Fest can be found here. Head to the website for more information, photos and social links.
Who will you be rooting for? Are you planning on going to the NYC Web Fest? Tell us all on Twiter @CelebMix.