5th Annual Coney Island Film Festival
September 16,
2005 - "The beach, the boardwalk, great stars, great movies. The Coney
Island Film Festival has everything that Cannes has, plus Nathan's hot
dogs." - Barry Strugatz, filmmaker.
Now in its
fifth year, the Coney Island Film Festival continues to dedicate itself to
establishing a screening venue for up and coming filmmakers. From September 30th
– October 2nd the Festival will feature 96 films selected to reflect
Coney Island's independent spirit and irreverent nature.
In keeping
with the spirit of Coney Island, the Festival organizers eschew high-art
snootiness in favor of a more egalitarian approach to film (the consumption of
beer and hot dogs is encouraged). The Festival promises to serve up a wide
array of low- and high-brow fare. "We consistently get a great crop of
films to select from," said Festival Director Rob Leddy. "My goal is
to create an event that bonds filmmakers and their audience in a friendly
atmosphere that I haven't found at many festivals I've attended. Coney Island
is the perfect setting-it brings people together."
Highlights of this
year’s festival include Saturday afternoon’s kick-off program which features
ten short films shot in Coney Island including Lila Place’s “Under the Rollercoaster”
and Deborah Matzner’s “Bitter Wonder: Marie Roberts'
Coney Island Winter”. Built in 1925, the Thunderbolt Roller Coaster was
a Coney Island icon and for forty years Mae Timpano called it home; “Under the
Rollercoaster” is a film about one woman’s unique perspective on Coney Island.
Through her sideshow banner paintings Marie Roberts invokes memories of Coney
Island’s past and hope for the venerable neighborhood's future; “Bitter Wonder”
chronicles Roberts wintertime preparations for the 2005 summer season. Paul
Borghese’s “Searching For Bobby D” hits close to home as a
frustrated Brooklyn actor who sets out to produce his own movie and have his
idol, Robert DeNiro, star in it with him. Brooklyn filmmaker Barry Strugatz
returns to the Coney Island Film Festival this year with his first feature
film: “From Other Worlds.” The routine of a bored Brooklyn housewife is
disrupted when she is visited by an alien. With the help of a fellow contactee
she is determined to solve the mystery of her otherworldly experiences. Along
the way she discovers romance, saves the planet and finds new meaning in her
life. And it wouldn’t be Coney Island without mermaids! Leah Wolchok’s “City of Mermaids” chronicles the rise
and fall of Weeki Wachee Springs, an aging Florida water park eclipsed by
Disney and struggling to survive, as told by three generations of Weeki Wachee
mermaids.
The Festival
will begin with an Opening Night Gala on September 30th 9:00 p.m. at The Coney
Island Museum featuring sideshow and burlesque performers. For more information
on the Festival please visit our website at: www.coneyislandfilmfestival.com
The Festival was founded as a fund-raising event for the non-profit arts
organization Coney Island USA which produces it along with indiefilmpage.com.
The mission of Coney Island USA is to operate a multi-arts center offering
affordable museum and theater programming to an audience of all New Yorkers. Through
an imaginative approach combining the performing and visual arts rooted in the
traditions of P.T. Barnum, vaudeville and Coney Island itself the non-profit
seeks to revitalize the community from which it takes its name.
WHAT: Coney Island Film Festival. Tickets for each screening are $6. Tickets
for the September 30 opening night benefit gala for Coney Island USA are $20.
Tickets for the Oct. 1 Special Event screening at 10:30pm are $10. A $50
Festival Pass includes the benefit gala and all screenings except the Oct. 1
Special Event screening at 10:30 p.m. A $20 Saturday Pass includes all Oct. 1
screenings except the 10:30 p.m. screening. A $15 Sunday pass includes all
screenings on Oct. 2. Members of the media seeking credentials should email press@coneyislandfilmfestival.com
Print
resolution images available upon request.
WHEN: September 30 – October 2. See www.coneyislandfilmfestival.com for a complete
schedule of films and screening times.
WHERE: There are two screening venues: Sideshows by the Seashore, 3006 W. 12th Street;
Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Ave.
Take the D, F, N or Q lines to the Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue stop. All
screening venues are within easy walking distance of the subway.
# # #
For further information contact:
Rob Leddy, Festival Director, rob@coneyislandfilmfestival.com (212) 696-6689
Dick Zigun, Coney Island USA, dzigun@coneyisland.com (718) 372-5159