On November 3rd Jack Paccione, Jr. of Staten Island, NY walked away with a check for 50,000 dollars from American Express. (Pictured above are Kerri Alweiss: Production for "Duel at Red Table", Matthew Modine: Director/Actor, Jack Paccione, Jr.: Director of "Duel at Red Table", and Rob McCormack: Production for "Duel at Red Table".)

The award ceremony for The Tribeca Film Festival, Amazon.com, and American Express short film competition was held at the MGM screening Room in New York City. The five finalsts were on hand to screen their films for a packed audience of fans, friends, press, and industry.

There was also a panel discussion after the screenings to discuss the topic of short films. The panel memebers were award-winning actor and filmmaker John Polson (who started the largest short film festival in the world in Sydney Australia), actor/director Matthew Modine, and author Clara Bingham. The event was moderated by NBC journalist Perri Peltz.

Matthew Modine stole the show during the panel discussion. He is quite entertaining and very funny in person. The discussion centered on short films as a specific genre and how the format could be used as a calling card to launch a feature film career.

Kathy Savit from Amazon.com told the audience that in total there were hundreds of thousands of reviews for all of the films in competition. But of note was that 35,000 people reviewed 30 or more films. Kathy reminded us that the core philosophy of Amazon.com is to "connect audiences with artists" and that is why they were the perfect venue to help screen these short films.

Nancy Smith from American Express was on hand to present the award to the winning film. American Express has partnered with the Tribeca Film Festival for over 4 years stong.

In 1996, Jack Paccione, Jr. graduated from School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan with a BA in Illustration. He started his own Advertising company, Legion Advertising, one year after graduating. The very excited Jack Paccione tells independentfilm.com that he is going to use the money to buy new film production equipment.

(Matthew Modine, Nancy Smith from American Express, Jack Paccione, Jr., Kathy Savitt from Amazon.com, and Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Productions and Film Festival.)

(Jane Rosenthal - "Battaglia," directed and produced by Owen Smith, screenplay by Jeff Rose)

(Jack Paccione, Jr. "Duel at Red Table" - "Richter's Agenda," directed by Paul Matusheski)

(David Garner attended for his brother, "Meter Maids," written, directed and produced by Joseph Garner. - Greg Benson. "Coming Home")