Gold Cost International Film Festival Announces Events: 50 Years of West Side Story, Talent Agent Budd Burton Moss, 10/22-10/23

This year’s Second AnnuAl Gold Coast International Film Festival will present two pre-festival programs that capture all the excitement and energy of Hollywood and all that it evokes: "West Side Story: Celebrating 50 Years" and "Conversation with Budd Burton Moss & His Hollywood Friends."

Most everyone living today has seen or at least heard of West Side Story. Fifty years ago, the classic film adaptation of the Broadway musical went on to win 10 Academy Awards, still the most of any musical film. In celebration of its 50 years, Gold Coast will present a pre-festival screening of the film at the New York Institute of Technology’s Auditorium on Broadway in New York City. And, as a special treat, two of the stars of the film, Academy Award winner George Chakiris (Bernardo) and Russ Tamblyn (Riff) will be on hand for a pre-screening Q&A.

West Side Story: Celebrating 50 Years – Directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins (USA)
With: Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn
Special Guests: George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn

This pre-festival screening of the dazzling landmark musical that won ten Oscars, including Best Picture will take place on Tuesday, October 23 at the Auditorium on Broadway of the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan. There will be a Q&A preceding the film with original stars Academy Award winner George Chakiris (Bernardo) and Russ Tamblyn (Riff).

Budd Burton Moss was born at the Hollywood Children’s Hospital in The Shadows of Hollywood Blvd., and grew up on the studio lots of Fox (as a high-school waiter at the studio’s famed Café de Paris Restaurante) and MGM (where he worked in the 76 gas station, servicing the cars of such greats as June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable). Budd never left show-biz and rose to be, and still is, one of the leading agents and managers in the industry.

Conversation with Budd Burton Moss & His Hollywood Friends (A free pre-festival event)
Monday, October 22 at 6:30PM
Based on his book, …And All I Got Was 10%!, Budd Burton Moss takes us from the back stages of Broadway through the end of the old movie studio casting system; all the way up to present-day cutthroat agency deal making and the creation of reality shows. This panel is a true insider’s view of the entertainment industry and what it really takes to be a talent agent. Also on the panel: actor and model Kiera Chaplin (granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin), actors Andrew Prine and Heather Lowe, and filmmakers Loren Herbert and David Voche.

The Second AnnuAl Gold Coast International Film Festival presented by the Great Neck Arts Center, with the Town of North Hempstead as Founding Sponsor, runs Monday, October 22 through Sunday, October 28, 2012 in Long Island’s North Shore communities of Manhasset, Roslyn, Great Neck and Port Washington.