Written and directed by Albert, The Commitment won the Audience Award for Best Men’s Short at qFLIX Worcester, which was held September 14-17, 2017, at the historic 2,300-seat Hanover Theater, where Albert and producer Richard Possemato were in attendance.
Audience awards were determined by festival attendees who rated the films on a newly-introduced phone app that proved popular and resulted in greater participation from the audience. Click here for a full list of award winners.
Previously, The Commitment won Audience Awards at Desperado LGBT Film Festival (Phoenix, AZ), Cinema Diverse: Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival, and Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival.
The Commitment stars Albert and Jason Lane Fenton as gay adoptive parents, Mary Niederkorn as the social worker facilitating the adoption, and Kerri Patterson as the Asian-American birthmother. Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote, “Emotional resonance, joy and heartbreak…indeed, this is a film that would be difficult to pull off if not for its tremendously talented cast.” The film has screened at 30 film festivals on four continents and won multiple awards, most notably edging out Oscar®-nominated Moonrise Kingdom to win a 2013 NASW Media Award. The film is available at Amazon.com on the compilation Green Briefs. The film is produced by Albert, Richard Possemato, Aaron Howland, and Seth Howland.