The NYU Sports Film Festival Announces the 2nd Annual NYUSFF x SNY Television Special
Press Release
Monday, August 8, 2022. May and June won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 NYU Sports Film Festival. The film, directed by Shao Min Chew Chia ‘20, will be featured in a broadcast on SNY. This marks the second year in a row that NYUSFF is partnering with SNY to broadcast a television special featuring award-winning films and event highlights from the student-run, sports-themed festival.
The show will exhibit the Religion of Sports Final Four films, which were honored by the NYUSFF jury as the most compelling of nine finalists selected from a large, competitive pool of submissions. In addition to May and June, short films Chu Prayad by Habib Yazi ‘22, Homecoming by Amy (Rong) Yuan ‘23, and How to be Happy by Claire Yezbak ‘23 will air with introductions from their Tisch student directors. The special is entirely a product of NYU student work, from the directing and editing to the scoring, and even a commercial spot created by Margot Piorkowski ‘22.
The hour-long special will premiere on SNY on Wednesday, August 10th at 6:30pm EST, then re-air on 8/13 at 3:00pm, 8/14 at 6:30pm, 8/25 at 1:00pm, and 9/04 at 8:00pm.
About the Festival: The NYU Sports Film Festival was created to celebrate and showcase the intersection between sports and film. The first NYUSFF was held virtually in 2021 due to COVID, while the second annual festival was held at the NYU Production Lab in 2022 with an in-person audience of students/alumni/faculty and select professionals. The events kicked off with a speaker panel on career development in sports storytelling, featuring creatives from ESPN, HBOSports, NFLFilms, and Religion of Sports. Honorees NYU alumni Reinaldo Marcus Green (Director: 6x Academy Award nominated film King Richard, Monsters and Men) and Billy Crudup (Actor: The Morning Show, Almost Famous, Without Limits), were welcomed virtually for live Q&As. Inspiration for the hit show All American Spencer Paysinger joined the audience for a virtual chat on the evolution of his career from an NFL player to a producer. The Verbatim Performance Lab facilitated an interactive media bias workshop (“The Serena Williams Project”), and attendees enjoyed film viewing lounges, a networking mixer, a screening of the selected final films, and an awards ceremony.
Our 2022 NYUSFF jury was made up of representatives from our partners at SNY, Religion of Sports (ROS), the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NYU Athletics, the NYU Production Lab, NYUSPS RealWorld, and Overtime. The ROS Final Four films were not only selected for the SNY broadcast, but will also be hosted on the Emmys® streaming app, and the directors were further awarded with $500 prizes and invitations to the Catalyst Story Institute.
About the NYU Production Lab:
The NYU Production Lab is a storytelling incubator whose mission is to help the next generation design and launch thriving careers in creative industries. Since its inception, the Production Lab has signed twenty projects onto the Lab’s Slate which have premiered at film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, and Cannes, and reached audiences on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes; pledged over $400,000 in film financing to the NYU creative community; hosted over 42,000 visits and over 2,100 auditions. With innovative creative program opportunities — including the Creative Career Design Fellowship and the VICE Episodic Storytelling Workshop — the Production Lab is at the forefront of cultural entrepreneurship, preparing today’s emerging artists for the jobs of tomorrow.
Contact Information:
Allegra Saltzman
NYU Production Lab | Sports Media Lead
NYU Sports Film Festival | Director