By William Sokolic
Know before you go
Date: Atlantic City Cinefest will be held October 13 to 15.
Location: Fannie Lou Hamer Event Center, on the Atlantic City campus of Stockton University, 3711 Atlantic Avenue.
Ventnor Square Theatre, 5211 Ventnor Avenue, Ventnor.
Tickets: Sold at the door of each venue and also through FilmFreeway.com or Atlanticcitycinefest.org
Price: Tickets may be purchased blocks, daily, or all festival
Block $6 per block
Daily Pass: $15 a day
All Fest Pass: $35
Note Filmmakers, Cast and Crew are admitted at no charge.
For a full schedule, please visit Atlanticcitycinefest.org
“For me, it all started right here with this festival ten years ago,” says Sebastian Foxworth, a filmmaker, actor and now a trustee for the nonprofit Atlantic City Cinefest.
The 16th version of the Cinefest opens Oct. 13, the first of three days of films and networking and even a pre-after-party to kick off the festival. The Cinefest, the only film festival in Atlantic City, will screen almost 50 films at two locations: the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Center, on the Atlantic City campus of Stockton University, 3711 Atlantic Avenue. And at the Ventnor Square Theatre, 5211 Ventnor Avenue, Ventnor.
The movies run the gamut from documentaries, feature films, and shorts, with narrative movies from dramas to horror to comedy. More than half were directed by New Jersey filmmakers, and an ample number are local.
The festival opens with a pre-after-party at Nucky’s Kitchen and Speakeasy, part of the Ventnor Square complex, open to ticket holders. The opening block of films Friday night will follow the party.
Honorees this year include Philadelphia character actor Frank Sean Johnson, and Foxworth, who has two premiere’s playing. “Life & Me” is a story of retired Vet Franklin Jackson (Frank Sean Johnson) who’s lost his faith and decides to take his life and the divine intervention from an offbeat psychologist (Jennifer Iky Rothwell) who tries to show him that even if he feels alone, God’s always with him. “Daddy Loves Mommy” stars Tam Boyce and Karl Brown. Baby Girl asks her dad to tell her the funny yet romantic story of how he proposed to her mom.
Over the years, the festival as attracted some well known honorees, including Kevin Smith, William Forsythe, Robert Downey Sr., Chris Mulkey, Blanche Baker, Christopher Mann, Scott Rosenfelt, Bonnie Bedelia, Brian O’Halloran.
“What I love about Atlantic City Cinefest the most is it gives us local filmmakers a platform to showcase what we as South Jersey filmmakers can do,” Foxworth says. “Because of this festival, I’ve been able to start and maintain a career as a filmmaker, creative, writer, director and animator.”
The film festival comes on the heels a recent announcement that a group called ACX1 plans to convert much of the former Pier Shops into film and television studios. And more than two years ago, a South Jersey group added a redo of the former Ventnor theatre into a successful multiplex with a popular restaurant attached. The success of local businesses such as these not only adds another element to the local entertainment scene but to the tourism economy.
“Some well-known names and movies have come to town through the festival,” says Colache, who is director of the Atlantic City Film Commission, which courts producers to shoot in Atlantic City. “And we expect to enhance the synergy between the Film Commission and the Cinefest, increasing our visibility in the film market.”
