Queens film festival a scam

Several individuals and institutions involved in the distribution and screening of films have accused Queens International Film Festival founder and Executive Director Marie Castaldo of duping them out of thousands of dollars during the past several years.

The alleged victims hail everywhere from Queens to Brooklyn and Connecticut to Texas.Several elected officials from Queens have called for an investigation into Castaldo’s business ventures.
QIFF screened movies from Nov. 12 to Nov. 15 at several borough sites this year, including Astoria’s Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, as part of its seventh-annual celebration. In the weeks since the festival, a number of past QIFF participants have accused Castaldo of not paying thousands of dollars she owed them for their services.

“It’s a master’s tale of deceit,” said Dan Nuxoll, program director of Brooklyn’s Rooftop Films, a nonprofit film festival that has screened independent films outdoors since 1997 as well as renting out projectors, screens and audio equipment to other festivals. “She looked legitimate and said she would pay us half opening night and half closing night. She stalled and said she’d give us the check the next day after opening night. Then she disappeared closing night and had her Web site disconnected.”