Hauppauge Dentist John Potente Wins "Best Music Video" AT L I International Film Expo

By John Sawyer

Best Music Video winner John Potente with unidentified winner in Feature Film category.This week, at the closing ceremony of the Long Island International Film Expo (LIIFE), John Potente, a long time Hauppauge resident, received the Award for the “Best Music Video”. His film, “Chopin’s Fantasia Impromptu”, was chosen from the 6 semifinalists as the winner for the music category in this 2017 film festival held in the historic century-old Bellmore movie theatre. In the video, John performs on a baby grand piano, the classical piece of music that was composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1834. It was performed and filmed in a small room in Hauppauge last year in August, while commuters were in traffic, while landscapers were cutting lawns, and while workers were on computers in office buildings.   

This was the 20 year anniversary for the LIIFE international music festival. There were a great deal of entertainment celebrities attending and hosting the awards ceremony. Among them were  actor William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption) and actress Ilene Kristen (Ryan’s Hope, One Life to Live). John received his award on stage from Broadway star Ciarán Sheehan (the phantom from Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables). 

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The ceremony concluded the week-long screening of over 160 films from around the world. Each day, there were sessions of movies showing throughout the day. Some of the shorter films ranging from 5 to 20 minutes long were bunched together, while some of the feature length films stood alone.  

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John Potente standing with New York fashion model AwaJohn has been a resident of Hauppauge for over 25 years and has been playing piano since the age of 8. When younger, he played piano for high school shows and after school in ephemeral rock bands. Later, in his college years he played on stage in Stony Brook University and in the noisy corners of piano bars in Bayville. Then, while in dental school at Washington University, he would sit at a piano, late at night after his studies, to play classical piano. 

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Currently, John has a dental practice in Hauppauge (in the Township of Smithtown), and it was his patients, Jessie and Kaitlyn of Wildlife Productions, that directed the filmed and created and submitted the film to the festival. So, while John is fixing the teeth of Smithtown and Hauppauge residents by day, he is “tickling the ivory teeth” of the piano by night. (As ivory is no longer used on pianos, his piano keys are of plastic). Now, after all the fanfare, John has taken under his arm the “Best Music Video” trophy for his performance of a classical piano piece that competed with videos of reggae, rap and rock and show tunes from all parts of the planet.