Garden State Film Festival Presents LGBT Themed Films

The Garden State Film Festival, now in its 13th year, has been committed to presenting LGBT themed films since its founding. Formerly located in Asbury Park, the festival planners understood the importance of offering films that would attract the large local LGBT population. In rolling out its second season in Atlantic City, March 19-22, 2015, a similar effort is underway.

"We have always created blocks of films - features and shorts, documentaries and narratives - that appeal to the LGBT community," says Festival Executive Director Diane Raver. "In Asbury Park, there was an active and growing gay population supporting the festival that we were delighted to engage. In Atlantic City, a similar interest for programming has been relayed by LGBT community leaders in conversations as we planned our move here," she added.

In 2015, LGBT themed films include the full-length comedy, "Waiting in the Wings: The Musical," in which a savvy male stripper takes a naïve farm boy under his wing as they pursue their dreams on Broadway via on-line contests. Jeffrey A. Johns and Adam Huss play the mismatched pair and are joined in the cast by a trio of Hollywood icons, Shirley Jones, Lee Meriwether and Sally Struthers. It screens on Saturday, March 22 at 5:45 p.m. in the Claridge Hotel Showroom on the 3rd Floor.

The subject of the documentary, "Stella Walsh," was one of the most celebrated female athletes of all time. Her popularity continued for decades after winning a gold medal in the 1932 Olympics 100 meters, until she was killed in a robbery and it was discovered that she had ambiguous gender. The film explores how this revelation generated controversy and bigotry; and features interviews with friends, trainees, members of the media and a geneticist as well as photos and archival footage from years of in-depth research. It screens at 2:45 on Saturday at Dante Hall.

In the dramatic narrative category there is "Tom in America" starring Academy Award nominees Sally Kirkland and Burt Young as a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary who discover their seemingly happy marriage is imbued with secrets. It screens at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 22 at the Claridge Hotel
Showroom on the 3rd Floor with several shorts dealing with LGBT issues include "Charlie" starring, written and directed by Shawn Ryan of FOX's long-running series, Bones.

According to Ms. Raver, among dozens of LGBT themed films shown at GSFF, the Academy award winning documentary, "Freeheld" was screened at GSFF in 2007 to a packed theater. Other award-winning and noted films in the genre include accomplished director Pierre Stefanos's debut with "Bedfellows" in 2010 and in 2013, "The Perfect Wedding" starring the late James Rebhorn. Related events including parties and Q&A's with filmmakers are programmed as part of the festival's activities, as well.

"In Atlantic City we have garnered the support and friendship of prominent members of the gay community such as Mayor Don Guardian, John Schultz and Gary Hill, founders of the Schultz-Hill Foundation and the Metropolitan Business & Citizens Association," Ms. Raver noted and added, "The festival is committing to serving all the sectors in New Jersey's diverse community."

The Garden State Film Festival was envisioned by 25-year film industry veteran Diane Raver and the late Hollywood actor Robert Pastorelli in 2002 and launched the following year. Since 2003, thousands of films have made their public premiers, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have attended; and the total infusion of cash to local businesses since inception exceeds $5 million. Until 2013, it was held in Asbury Park, in and around the Convention Center complex. In 2014, it will move to Atlantic City as a major component of DO AC, the marketing campaign to promote arts and culture the city spearheaded by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. The GSFF is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization.

The 13th Annual Garden State Film Festival could not be possible without the generous support of the following sponsors: Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Panavision, Levin Commercial Realty, Artists Alike Studios,njscreenwriter.org, NJ TV, InkTip, Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs. Richard Stockton College, Dante Hall, The Noyes Arts Garage and others. For more information about our sponsors please visit http://www.gsff.org/sponsors.

To post a comment, you must register and login.