Film Starring Lower Manhattan Named ‘Best Drama’ at NYC Festival
Cinematic siblings Andrew and Remy Neymarc, who were tapped by the Downtown Alliance last year to serve as Lower Manhattan’s first Filmmakers-in-Chief, have won Best Drama for their movie “Dreamscape” at the New York Shorts International Film Festival.
The Neymarc brothers were designated by the Alliance as Downtown auteurs after a competition that drew 432 entrants from 17 countries. Their mandate was to leverage Lower Manhattan’s long history as a setting for classic films (such as “On the Town,” “The French Connection,” “The Godfather,” “Working Girl,” “Trading Places,” “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”) by showcasing the square mile between the Hudson and East Rivers, south of Chambers Street, as an contemporary iconic filming destination.
The result is a 30-minute impressionistic fairy tale about 25-year-old Gabriela – a talented but undiscovered dancer struggling with grief over the loss of her brother and facing eviction unless she aces an audition. Locations included the World Trade Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and rooftops in the Financial District.
Remy Neymarc describes the brothers’ creative process as “a dance where Andrew sometimes will come up with an idea and I will spit it back with some improvements and then he will spit it back with even more improvements. We usually find the core of our stories through that process. On set, Andrew and I prefer if we aren’t both talking to actors. Andrew will usually take the lead when it comes to directing the performances. And I’ll take the lead when it comes to blocking and all the visual language around that.”
Raised in Paris, and currently based in Hoboken, the Neymarc brothers gained indie renown for their viral short “Happy Valentine’s Day,” which garnered two Webby Awards. See trailers for “Happy Valentine’s Day” and other Neymarc films (although a “Dreamscape” trailer is not yet posted) at their website here. “Dreamscape” was funded by a $50,000 grant, plus a stipend, from the Alliance, along with two months of free lodging at 70 Pine Street’s Mint House.
“What a feeling to see our film resonate so deeply, through characters that find strength in the aftermath of trauma,” said Andrew Neymarc. “Shooting our film Downtown helped give our story so much life: the light, the colors, the rhythm and the energy of Lower Manhattan ended up making the film’s location a character of its own right.”
The Neymarc brothers next plan to submit “Dreamscape” to other leading film competitions, including Sundance, South by Southwest, and the Venice Film Festival. The duo is working on their debut feature film, which will begin shooting in 2026.