12th Annual Coney Island Film Festival Announces Lineup

The 12th annual installment of the Coney Island Film Festival (named one of the "25 Coolest Film Festivals" by MovieMaker Magazine) hits the shores of Coney Island from Friday, September 21st through Sunday, September 23rd. This year's festival features 74 films from around the world; a stunning array of high and low-brow fare, as diverse as the neighborhood it represents. Subjects range from the profound to the profane, showcasing the independent spirit and irreverent nature of the one and only Coney Island.

The festival kicks off on Friday Night, September 21st at 7:30pm in the Coney Island Museum with a screening of Play Dead. Famed silent magician Teller (Penn & Teller) and perennial Coney Island showman Todd Robbins thrill a live audience with gory ghastly spectacles spotlighting real-life killers and psychic pranksters in their hit off-Broadway show PLAY DEAD, co-written and directed by Teller, and recorded live at The Players Theatre on Manhattan's historic MacDougal street by New York filmmaker and horror maven Shade Rupe. Following the screening it's our Opening Night Party, 9:30 p.m. at the Freak Bar and Sideshows by the Seashore (1208 Surf Ave.). It's an evening of live performance from the Coney Island Circus Sideshow and stars of the New York Burlesque scene! Hosted by Adam RealMan. Open Bar (draft beer and wine) from 9:30pm - 11:30pm, light finger food will be served.

The Coney Island Film festival offers a huge variety of Shorts: Dramas, Comedies, Documentaries, Animation, Experimental, Made in Coney Island, Horror Films, Music Videos and Silent Films are all represented, making CIFF, a festival with something for everyone! Short highlights include Nathaniel Krause's Double Or Nothing, Clark and Becca leave a bar after a night out with friends. When a homeless man approaches them on the street, Clark gets an idea... Adam Brody (The O.C.) , Louisa Krause (Taking Woodstock) and Keith David (The Thing, They Live) star in this dark comedy by master playwright Neil LaBute. Joel Johnstone's The Pilgrim and the Private Eye, an out-of-work artist puts his talent to use as he goes to work for a disreputable private detective, but winds up getting more than he b argained for...and exactly what he needed. Stars Tom Noonan (Manhunter). Erik Pagan's Faith, During a stakeout, Mack & Eddie, longtime friends and partners on the NYPD, discover they share a secret that will destroy the bonds of trust and loyalty between them. Stars Matt Servitto (The Sopranos).

Documentary Feature highlights include Danny Garcia's The Rise and Fall of The Clash, featuring previously unseen footage of the band at work and play, interviews with the individual band members and with those who knew them well. This documentary traces the downward trajectory of a band who were at one point 'the biggest band in the world'. Mark Mori's Betty Page Reveals All is an intimate look at the rise and fall and rise again, of one of the world's most recognized sex symbols. Dena Greenbaum's Warm Beer, Lousy Food is the untold story of America's first Comedy Club, the Crazy Country Club in Bay Ridge Brooklyn, and its founder and self-proclaimed nut, Lou Burdo. In Allan Piper's Married and Counting. Pat and Stephen have loved and cared for each other for 25 years, for better and worse, in sickness and in health. Since 44 states and the fe deral government refuse to acknowledge their relationship, they embark on a cross country 'wedding tour,' getting married in every state that will let them.

Feature film highlights include the New York Premiere of David Spaltro's Things I Don't Understand. A detached grad student forms a cathartic bond with a terminally ill girl she's interviewing and a lonely bartender with a mysterious past while trying to prevent she and her artists roommates from being evicted from their rent-controlled loft. And in keeping with annual tradition, the festival will screen the 1979 Coney Island cult classic The Warriors at 10:30pm on Saturday, September 22nd at Sideshows By The Seashore.

The wildly popular Horror Shorts Program returns again this year, Saturday at 8pm. Ten films from the bizarre to the macabre are bound to scare and spook the audience!