In September "Aphrodisiac" screened at the Independent Feature Film Market at New York's Angelika Film Center. Nicole Keeter of Time Out New York wrote a feature article on "Aphrodisiac" and Schwartzman's experience at the market in the Oct 9 "Sex" issue.
"...a wild tale! The attention grabbing "Aphrodisiac" festures James Urbaniak, the young actor who made a splash with Hal Hartley's "Henry Fool", distributed by Sony Pictures Classics." -Time Out New York
In addition, the film received two mentions in Daily Variety -"one of the more unusual films at the IFFM this year" - and a mention in the New York Post.

"Aphrodisiac" was also invited in September to sneak preview at the National Arts Club in NYC, one of the locations in the film.
"We loved it!... a filmmaker we will certainly be hearing from in years to come." -Aldon James, President

APHRODISIAC was selected to screen at the Charlotte Film & Video Festival ran from June 4 - 14, 1998. Here's what happened:
"Madeline Schwartzman's farce "Aphrodisiac" almost shut down our festival. The religious right petitioned local churches and politicians against the festival - claiming Madeline's film about the search for Jesus' foreskin was religion bashing. If these guys had seen "Aphrodisiac: they would have known the whole truth: it bashes religion and religious icons, New York City, sex, the media, the new age and the women's movement. Just about everyone and everybody are the "butt" of this film."
Robert West, Director, Charlotte Film and Video Festival

An article appearing in the Charlotte Observer on June 12 called "Aphrodisiac" "true to a truly unique vision."

In March, Director Madeline Schwartzman gave a workshop entitled, 'How to Make a Low-Budget Feature' at the conference:Women in Film - Images and Image Makers at Barnard College, NYC. Pannelists at the conference included critics Jami Bernard (the Daily News) and Daphne Merkin (The New Yorker) as well as filmmakers Leslie Harris, Yvonne Rainer, Su Friedrich and Joan Micklin Silver.