HITTING THE G-SPOT FOR CINE-BUFFS
Shark Week: WILD OCEAN is among the in-your-face docs and fiction features screening this weekend at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park.
Tributes to a couple of music-biz legends, personal appearances, panel discussions and features from four continents are among the attractions this weekend, as the Garden State Film Festival unspools its way through venues across Asbury Park, from the historic Paramount Theatre to the all-new Showroom space on Cookman Avenue.
This is the 7th annual appearance of the GSFF, and if you’re at a loss to identify the area’s major film fests and organizations, you should know that this is not the Two River Film Festival, the event founded and chaired by Rosellen Otrakji — an event whose website displays a logo for the 2009 edition, although no dates, venues or offerings have been announced.
It’s also not the Red Bank International Film Festival, that flagship of the Freedom Film Society which, as we reported here in oRBit a couple of months back, missed two announced dates for its 2008/2009 event. The RBIFF and the FFS have reportedly hit the RESET button and are preparing for a big announcement, so keep tuning in to Red Bank oRBit for an update on them there doings.
And it’s not the work of the Asbury Park Film Initiative, the organization founded by Focus Features exec VJ Carbone (co-owner of The Bodega Shoppe, a transplant to the Boardwalk from downtown Red Bank) and movie-mad restaurateur Marilyn Schlossbach, whose neighboring Langosta Lounge is the latest of her signature enterprises. It was the APFI that brought Patti Smith and director Steven Sebring to the Paramount this past weekend for a screening of their doc-project Dream of Life, and there’s more on the menu for the upcoming springsummer season.
No, the Garden State Film Festival is the brainchild of founder Diane Raver, herself a mover and shaker in the business of commercial production, and an industry veteran whose many contacts include TV star daughter Kim (Lipstick Jungle, 24). As legend has it, it was a supermarket encounter between Raver and the late actor Robert Pastorelli (best known as Eldin on Murphy Brown) that led to the establishment of the GSFF in 2003. The legacy of Pastorelli, who met a fairly unglamorous end in 2004, lives on in the festival’s annual Robert Pastorelli Rising Star Award, presented to NJ residents who “have made inroads to the industry through hard work and determination.”
Touch of Grey: Ed Harris is an alcoholic homeless dad in TOUCHING HOME; John Travolta’s older brother Joey’s program for autistic kids is the subject for a GSFF benefit, and famed producer Sid Bernstein brings his musical memories to the Paramount in a festival program.
That annual Sunday evening awards ceremony, presented in a black-tie banquet at the English Manor in Ocean Township, is just one of the special events lined up for the 2009 schedule, which commences on Thursday morning at 10:30am with a school screening of selected short subjects at the Paramount. In between there’s lots to love, including an opening reception with screening of the eye-popping doc Wild Ocean; live-actor script readings; a rough-cut preview of Sid Bernstein Presents, and a first-Jersey look at a project that’s already generating Oscar-level buzz for Ed Harris.
There’s also a tribute in film and music to Johnny Cash — a man-in-black who had more of a connection to Asbury Park than you may have realized. More on that event here on oRBit this Thursday; Continue Reading in the meantime, for a selection of highlights from the four days of the fest.
THE MAGISTICAL — A pre-opening screening event spotlights this slick CGI fable about the gift of immortality being safeguarded by some unlikely heroes; the $20 ticket benefits Joey Travolta’s Short Film Camp “Inclusion” in NJ, a creative resource for developmentally disabled kids — and the price of admission buys you into a post-film coffee and dessert reception sponsored by Wegmans and Asbury Park Roastery. Thursday 4/2 at 7:30pm, Paramount Theatre.
GALA OPENING RECEPTION featuring WILD OCEAN — A catered mix ‘n mingle in the second floor reception area of the Paramount is followed by the Oscar-nominated short New Boy at 8:30pm, and then the 2-D version of the giant screen nature doc Wild Ocean, which captures the annual mass migration and feeding frenzy in the coastal waters off South Africa. Bigger than life and in-your-face are sharks, dolphins, whales and diving gannets, which is appropriate since this whole event is being brought to you by Gannett and its affiliated media outlets (Asbury Park Press, Metromix Jersey Shore, 40/74 Magazine). It’s all followed up with a panel discussion featuring the filmmakers and Dr. Noel Brown of the National Oceans Academy. Tickets are $20 for reception, screenings and panel discussion. Friday 4/3 at 7pm, Paramount Theatre.
SHORT FILM PROGRAMS AT THE BERKELEY — The venerable hotel once co-owned by Johnny Cash presents the first of three eclectic programs of shorts. Saturday 4/4 at 12pm, Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel.
FAMILIAR VOICES — A program of documentary and interpretive works on the topics of domestic abuse and genocide becomes the first public event at the Showroom, the all-new storefront screening venue on downtown Asbury’s Cookman Avenue “Arts Block.” Saturday 4/4 at 2:45pm, The Showroom.
SID BERNSTEIN PRESENTS — The promoter and impresario who brought the Beatles to America is the subject of this doc by Jason Ressler and Evan Strome, seen here in a 90-minute rough-cut version. Saturday 4/4 at 2:45pm, Paramount Theater.
LIVE SCREENPLAY READING: HI-WAY HAVEN — Some of our favorite actors from New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch — who know a thing or two about presenting a script reading — perform this screenplay by Vera Cacciopolli, winner of this year’s Garden State Screenplay Competition. In the cast are Tony nominee Lou Liberatore, Bill Timoney, Liz Zazzi, Bob Senkewicz, Lindy Regan and Diana Devlin. Saturday 4/4 at 3pm, Third Avenue Pavilion.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT — Elizabeth Marvel and Jane Alexander star in this surprisingly modern biopic on the author of Little Women, shot in HD and utilizing animation and digital effects. Saturday 4/4 1t 3:30pm, Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel.
MEDIA WORKSHOP WITH STEVE ADUBATO and BILL TIMONEY — TV talk show host and columnist Steve Adubato and actor/producer/programmer Bill Timoney host a seminar on how to market your indie film project to the media. Saturday 4/4 at 5:30pm, Third Avenue Pavilion.
JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON — The documentary about the making of the landmark concert and best-selling live album unspools at the site of another memorable Cash appearance. Saturday 4/4 at 6pm, Paramount Theater; followed by:
MAX’S CASH BASH — Michael Patrick’s Ring of Fire Band pays tribute to the music of the Man in Black, sponsored by Max’s Beer Wine & Liquor and presented in the novel setting of the historic Carousel House. Saturday 4/4 at 8pm; $50 ticket includes film and reception. Check Red Bank oRBit this Thursday for more details on the event!
A DEAL IS A DEAL — An accident-magnet train conductor scouts out a willing victim for a scheme in which he gets to take early retirement with pay in this dark comedy from the UK. Colm Meaney (Star Trek: TNG) stars. Saturday 4/4 at 7:30pm, The Showroom; also Sunday 4/5 at 3:30pm, Paramount Theater.
THE ROADHOUSE — Nick Pavano wrote and directed this chiller about a NYC couple who find themselves stranded at a creepy upstate motel, surrounded by strange characters and a growing sense of distrust and foreboding. Screened with Bill Timoney’s short Fright Site, starring Emmy winner Bryan Cranston. Saturday 4/4 at 8:30pm, Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel.
TOUCHING HOME — Brothers Noah and Logan Miller wrote, directed and starred in this feature, in which two sons attempt to recapture careers as baseball players, while trying to bond with their alcoholic outcast father (Ed Harris in what’s talked up as a dynamite performance). Robert Forster, Brad Dourif and Lee Meriwether costar. Saturday 4/4 at 8:30pm, Paramount Theater.
COURTING CONDI — We’ve all seen the most recent crop of advocacy documentaries; here the newfangled genre of the “musical docu-tragi-comedy” is used to investigate the transgressions of the Dubya Bush administration, with star Devin Ratray’s obsession with Secy of State Condi Rice played for laughs and songs and thinks; as the film proceeds to sketch a serious study of “a woman whose hubris pushed her into a pursuit of power that led to the destruction of her core values.” Saturday 4/4 at 9pm, Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel.
GSFF AWARDS DINNER — The directors of the Garden State Film Festival present the awards in all competition categories, in an eleganza affair with a ticket of $120 per person. Sid Bernstein and Joey Travolta will be presented with honors as well. Sunday 4/5 at 6pm, English Manor, Ocean Township.
Complete schedule details and ticket reservations can be obtained right here; call 1-877-908-7050 or contact info@gsff.org for other data.
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March 31, 2009
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