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A scene from "This Time Next Year," a documentary that chronicles Long Beach Island's recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
(Farihah Zaman)
On lawns, in theaters, parks and museums, film festivals and movie series are approaching New Jersey en masse this spring and summer.
In the coming months, there will be no shortage of documentaries and movies tied to the state, both films made by writers and directors with Jersey roots and Garden State-cultivated celebrations of film.
At least one film harkens back to the tumultuous fall of 2012, when Hurricane Sandy pounded Long Beach Island and the rest of the Shore.
The documentary "This Time Next Year" chronicles a year of recovery after the destruction wrought by the storm.
"It's entirely filmed on Long Beach Island," says Eric Johnson, executive director of the Lighthouse International Film Festival, which returns to Long Beach Island next month. The festival was founded in 2009 by New Yorker Charlie Prince, who spent his childhood summers on "the island."
The documentary, screening at the festival on June 5, is husband-and-wife directing team Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman's third go-around at the festival. "The Time Next Year" was also a selection at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.
"We couldn't have had a better fit for our opening film," Johnson says.
A scene from "The Rink," a film about Newark's Branch Brook Park Roller Rink that was screened at the New Jersey International Film Festival last year and won best short documentary at the Newark Black Film Festival's 2014 Paul Robeson Awards.
The Newark Black Film Festival, celebrating 40 years, will open on June 25 at Newark Museum with the 2010 civil rights film "Freedom Riders." Junius Williams, director of Rutgers Newark's Abbott Leadership Institute, will speak as part of the screening. On July 9, the festival will screen the Academy Award-winning "12 Years A Slave."
The festival started as a traveling series produced by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, says Gloria Hopkins Buck, chair of the selection committee. She's worked with the festival since its inception, over the decades hosting notables including Spike Lee, Danny Glover, Marcus Garvey Jr. and Gordon Parks. In 1976, Newark Museum took ownership of the festival, which this year is being dedicated to the late Amiri Baraka and Paul Robeson Jr.
"We're very excited about 40 years without a break," says Hopkins Buck.
Another part of the NBFF, the Paul Robeson Awards, are named for Robeson's father, Paul Robeson senior, the Princeton-born actor, singer and activist. Since 1985 the awards have recognized excellence in independent film. Winner of best short documentary for 2014 went to "The Rink," a film about a local subject — Newark's Branch Brook Park Roller Rink. Robeson winners will be screened as part of the festival on July 30.
A scene from "Rye Coalition: The Story of the Hard Luck Five," which follows the Jersey City band from 1993 through the present.
For the spring season of the New Jersey International Film Festival, based at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, organizers received 357 submissions from around the world, whittling entries down to 24 finalists.
"I'm sure we'll see some of these in theaters, maybe not in the mainstream theaters but in the art house theaters," says Al Nigrin, director of the festival, which starts this Thursday.
One entry, "Rye Coalition: The Story of the Hard Luck Five," is about the Jersey City rock band of the same name. Director Jenni Matz counted the band among her friends, and didn't give much thought to filming their shenanigans.
"I was one of those kids with a camera at the show," she says. "I always thought they were pure comedy." The movie tracks Rye Coalition from its beginnings in 1993 through the present day. Matz, now based in Los Angeles, hails from New York but has lived in Jersey City and Weehakwen, also having worked at Jersey City radio station WFMU. In 2003, when the band started getting more attention due to a major label signing, friends suggested Matz make something of the footage.
"It started off just being a movie about the music and it became more of a human story to me when I realized how complex this was for them in all of their personal lives," Matz says. She'll be at the festival screening Friday to answer questions with Ralph Cuseglio, the band's lead singer, and drummer David Leto.
A full-length film which will be screening at both the New Jersey International Film Festival and Lighthouse International Film Festival is "Lies I Told My Little Sister," which in March was named "Best of the Fest" at the Gasparilla International Film Festival in Tampa, Fla.
Lucy Walters in the film "Lies I Told My Little Sister," written by Judy White, who grew up in Union.
The script writer, Judy White, grew up in Union. A writer, White had already worked on non-fiction books and humor stories, but this is her first film, inspired by her own family. It's a story that starts out in New Jersey and follows a family as they travel to Cape Cod.
While some scenes were filmed in Massachusetts, others use Sea Bright. At the center of the film is a nature photographer grieving the death of her older sister. The cast includes Ellen Foley, who appeared in "Cocktail," "Fatal Attraction" and "Tootsie," as well as Donovan Patton from Nickelodeon's "Blues Clues."
White's script is broadly about "the stuff we do to each other as kids, as siblings," she says. "That's universal whether you were a little girl or a little boy."
Film festival information
The Newark Black Film Festival runs from June 25 through July 30. Films start 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Youth screenings are 1 p.m. from July 9 through August 13. Winners of the Paul Robeson Awards will be screened July 30. Admission free. Festival films are shown at the Newark Museum (49 Washington St.), New Jersey Institute of Technology (141 Summit St.), Newark Public Library (5 Washington St.) and CityPlex 12 (360 Springfield Ave.) in Newark. Call (973) 596-6550 or visit newarkmuseum.org/nbff.html for the schedule.
The Lighthouse International Film Festival runs from June 5 through 8 at various locations on Long Beach Island — The Surflight Theatre (Beach and Engleside avenues, Beach Haven), Long Beach Island Historical Museum (129 Engleside Ave., Beach Haven), Island Baptist Church (215 3rd St., Beach Haven) and Surf City Volunteer Fire Station (713 Long Beach Blvd., Surf City).
Prices vary; festival passes $125; visit lighthousefilmfestival.org for the schedule.
New Jersey International Film Festival screenings, running this Thursday through July 10, start at 7 p.m. on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University; at No. 105 Voorhees Hall (71 Hamilton St., at George and Hamilton streets, College Avenue campus, Rutgers University) and No. 135 Scott Hall (43 College Ave. at the corner of College Avenue and Hamilton Street). Admission $10, $9 for students and seniors. Screenings on May 29, June 10 and 25 and July 10 are free. Call (848) 932-8482 or visit njfilmfest.com for a schedule.
Fort Lee Movies & Music Under the Stars starts July 5 and runs every Saturday through Sept. 6, with live music from 7 to 8:30 p.m., followed by a film at sunset. The series is set at the outdoor stage and green of the Fort Lee Community Center, 1355 Inwood Terrace, Fort Lee (in case of rain, on second floor of the center). Admission is free. Call (201) 693-2763 or visit fortleefilm.org
A highlight on July 19 is "The Waiter's Ball," a movie filmed in Fort Lee in 1915, which will be accompanied by a live score from the Red Hook Ramblers.
"The Wizard of Oz" kicks the series off on July 5, followed by the sing along version of "Frozen" on July 12 (and music from The Nerds), "The Waiter's Ball" and Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" on July 19, "The Great Gatsby" (2013) on July 26, "Gravity" on August 2, "Captain Phillips" on August 9, "Saving Mr. Banks" on August 16, "The Jungle Book" (1967) on August 23, "Ed Wood" on August 30 and "Field of Dreams" on Sept. 6.
Hoboken's Movies Under the Stars screens films at 9 p.m. Wednesdays in June and July and 8:15 p.m. Wednesdays in August at Pier A Park (First Street and Frank Sinatra Drive), overlooking the Manhattan skyline. A standout is "On the Waterfront," which screens July 16. The Academy Award-winning 1954 film, starring Marlon Brando, was filmed in Hoboken, at the very same waterfront. The film series starts with "Gravity" on June 11 and continues with "Anchorman 2" June 18, "Saving Mr. Banks" June 25, "American Hustle July 9, "On the Waterfront" July 16, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" July 23, "E.T." July 30, "Despicable Me" August 6, "The Lego Movie" August 13 and "Frozen" August 20; visit hobokennj.org.
Some festivals in New York:
HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival is set on the lawn of the park (between 40th and 42nd streets 5th and 6th avenues) and runs Monday nights from June 16 through August 18. Entry to the lawn opens at 5 p.m. Films begin at sunset, between 8 and 9 p.m. June 23: "Mark of Zorro," June 30: "A Soldier's Story," July 7: "Blazing Saddles," July 14: "Suddenly Last Summer," July 21: "National Lampoon's Vacation," July 28: "Key Largo," August 4: "The Karate Kid," August 11: "Lover Come Back," August 18: "The Shining."
Admission free. Call (212) 512-5700 or visit bryantpark.org/plan-your-visit/filmfestival.html
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is June 12 through June 22.
It starts with "E-TEAM," about HRW's Emergencies Team, whose mission it is to document and report war crimes. The closing film on June 22 is "Scheherazade's Diary," a documentary that follows female inmates at Baabda Prison in Lebanon as they participate in a drama therapy project. Venues are the IFC Center (323 6th Ave. at West 3rd Street), The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th St.) and The Times Center (242 West 41st St.) in New York; visit ff.hrw.org for a schedule.
BAMcinemaFest runs June 18 through 29, starting with the Richard Linklater film "Boyhood" (with an intro from Linklater) and closing with a 25th anniversary screening of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing." Lee will appear for a Q&A along with cast members yet to be announced. Screenings are at the BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St. in Brooklyn. Times and prices vary; see the festival schedule at bam.org/film/2014/bamcinemafest2014
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