Where Extraordinary Filmmakers are Recognized

ABOUT THE TOP 4 SCREENPLAYS
Winter Film Awards 2013 Independent Film Festival runs from February 28 - March 2 2013 and consists of three days of film screenings and after-party events, followed by an Awards Ceremony.  We have an exciting and diverse selection of 58 films of all types - animation, feature, short, horror, music videos, documentaries and foreign language films. 

Winter Film Awards includes a Screenplay Competition seeking the best from emerging writers. 
This year, we received nearly 100 submissions -- these are the FOUR FINALISTS
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Click here for schedules and ticket information




BIOTERROR CONSPIRACY

Written By:  Louis C. Lio, M.D.

Bioterror Conspiracy is a sexy action thriller intended for a wide audience.   A beautiful Navy SEAL is sent to stop a Navy Officer from making a deadly biological weapon.  Sex, murder, and espionage mix with science, history and politics, in an odyssey with symbolism and trivia, a touch of humor, and a noble dream.  Years after 9/11 and 50 years after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, there is specter of another Cuban Missile Crisis, only this time it's biological instead of nuclear. The story is fiction, but everything else, including the science, medicine, Navy operations, history and politics, is real.  

Native New Yorker and lifelong NY Yankees Fan, Dr Louis C Lio attended Brooklyn Tech High School and UCSF Medical School and now calls Long Island home. He first became fascinated with the Navy when he was seven, when a teenage friend showed him his collection of model aircraft carriers and battle ships. He has toured many Navy bases and ships, talked to many sailors, and played countless Navy war games in his head using the latest weapons. 





LAST WALTZ OF VIENNA

Written By:  Brian Lee Weakland

Based on a true story, a young chemist is drafted by Nazis to control the assets of Sigmund Freud after Hitler’s army overruns Austria in 1938.  But after becoming the unwitting subject of Freud’s psychoanalysis, the chemist disobeys orders, hides assets and pulls off Freud’s daring escape on the Orient Express.  “Last Waltz of Vienna” captures not only the cultural beauty of Vienna and the brutality that forever marred it but, more importantly, tells the compelling story of two men, political opposites, who leaned on each other to survive.

Brian Lee Weakland of Richmond VA, is an honors graduate of Penn State’s School of Journalism.  He won the Associated Press Community News Reporter Award and Keystone Press Award for investigative reporting as a staff writer and news editor for The Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania.  He has taught writing courses at Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh.  He is the author of three mystery novels based upon the legends of Pittsburgh's three rivers.  He received the 2012 Screenwriting Award from the Virginia Film Office, and is a proud member of the Virginia Screenwriting Forum.





NURSE ROBERTS AND THE FIVE CENT SONG

Written By:  Eileen-Rita Folwell

Set in New Zealand during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, a recently widowed father moves with his young daughter to live with his parents. When he is injured during the quake and loses his memory they need love, music and a touch of magic to bring them back together again.

Eileen-Rita Folwell lives in Auckland, New Zealand. A graduate of the National Youth Drama School and Auckland Institute of Film, Eileen has been passionate about movies and film making for as long as she can remember.  Her ultimate goal is to become a full-time script writer.  Her first feature length screenplay won ‘Best Drama’ at the 2011 Love Unlimited Film Festival and an ‘Honorable Mention’ at the 2012 LA Movie Awards.  Eileen works as an Operations Manager in the Film Distribution industry in New Zealand, volunteers at the Auckland Zoo on weekends and enjoys spending time with friends, reading, pub quizzes, watching movies, and of course, writing.

 

THE FIVE DAY CRUCIFIXION

Written By:  Salvatore A. Bono

 
"The Five-Day Crucifixion" is a supernatural drama about John Santo's "life and death" struggle with Satan that casts doubt on his faith in God. John's resolve continues to waver when he is tempted by the love of a beautiful woman only to find out that his surroundings are not what they appear to be. In a battlefield of lies, deceit, and violence, Satan's persuasive power to seduce John's soul is galvanized when John's daughter is thrust in the middle of their spiritual war. "Follow me John, and renounce God or your daughter will die" is Satan's ultimatum. With his child's life and his soul on the line, John must either use the power at his disposal to defeat Satan or surrender his soul to evil in exchange for saving his daughter's life.     

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Salvatore Bono began his writing career in 2008. After completing the manuscript for the novel, "The Five-Day Crucifixion," his interest in screenwriting was piqued when several colleagues encouraged him to adapt the manuscript into a full-feature screenplay. In late 2011, he saw an opportunity to circulate his work by starting The Sky's The Limit Productions, LLC. In June 2012, he continued to develop his project by producing a five minute "teaser," and released it on the Internet. Currently living in Chandler, Arizona, he also works as a Project Manager in the field of Satellite Communications.