Date: September 15th 2008

For Immediate Release:

Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, September 15, 2008 -- The 8th annual installment of the Coney Island Film Festival hits the shores of Coney Island from Friday, September 26th through Sunday, September 28th. This year's festival features one hundred twenty five 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.

This year’s centerpiece film is Peter LiPera’s, Save Coney Island. Working with a small crew for over a year, director/cinematographer Peter LiPera paints an intimate portrait of Coney Island’s first annual last season. SAVE CONEY ISLAND shows a group of boardwalk friends’ journey over the course of a year as they try to preserve what they can within the ever-changing, ever-fading, atmosphere of Coney Island.

Three outstanding documentary features will have their New York premieres at CIFF this year; Airplay, a story of love and war--a struggle between a handful of pioneers versus powerful business and government interests for the soul of music radio, told by the deejays and the artists they made rock stars; Buskers, a one of a kind documentary that goes deep inside the world of street performing; Sideshow Still Alive, tells the story of the world's best sideshow performers of our time, and takes a look at a group of truly independent artists who push the limits of creativity and their bodies for the sake of entertainment.

Feature film highlights include the New York Premiere of siblings Tony Torn and Angelica Torn with their feature debut Lucky Days, the story of Virginia and her quest for freedom during the last summer of Coney Island’s historic amusement park. Starring Angelica Torn, Frederico Castelluccio, Luke Zarzecki, Will Patton, Anne Jackson, Tina Benko, Marilyn Sokol, Gary Wolf and Rip Torn. CIFF presents the World Premiere of critically acclaimed director Steve Balderson’s Watch Out. Starring Matt Riddlehoover (the actor/director and MySpace sensation best known for his award-winning comedy TO A TEE) and co-starring Peter Stickles (Shortbus), B-movie superstar Jeff Dylan Graham, Amy Kelly and burlesque sensation Lady Monster. Based on the controversial novel by Joseph Suglia, WATCH OUT is the story of Jonathan Barrows, a man who falls in love with himself, literally. The festival will screen the 1979 Coney Island classic The Warriors at 10:30pm on Saturday.

The Coney Island Film festival offers a huge variety of shorts: Dramas, Comedies, Documentaries, Animation, Family Films, 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 Alex R. Johnson’s Pickup & Return, a film about missed opportunities and delayed responses; Gabriel Judet-Weinshel’s The Heart is a Hidden Camera, a visually stunning realist short in which a young boy discovers at an early age that his heart is a camera, capable of capturing the beauty and horror of the world around him. In Ray Foley’s Salvation Blues we take a look into the life of country rock pioneer, Mark Olson, founding member of the Jayhawks. Mark returns to New York City on a journey through the heart of loss and redemption.... Rebecca Pelletier’s Swing Vote: what side are you on? A timely, innovative, daring and thought-provoking comedy which challenges the American polit
ical system, exposes moral hypocrisy and questions our sense of American values.

CIFF features new shorts from master animators Signe Baumane and academy award nominated Bill Plympton. A program of nine shorts which use Coney Island as a backdrop screens at 4pm on Sunday. The festival’s closing night screening is a mixed bag of shorts concluding with Johnny Salvatore’s Sodom By The Sea, shot entirely on Coney Island.

The festival will begin with an Opening Night Gala on Friday, September 26th. Down The Hatch and Sideshow Still Alive screen at 7:30pm at The Coney Island Museum, followed by an opening night party, 9:30 p.m. at the newly constructed Freak Bar at Sideshows by the Seashore. It's an evening of live sideshow performance, music, and burlesque that will kick off the festival with a riotous bang. An awards ceremony takes place Sunday, September 28th after the final screening at the Eldorado Auto Skooters next door.

Event Details are as follows:
Coney Island Film Festival
September 26, 27 and 28, 2008

Films screen at Sideshows by the Seashore (3006 W. 12th St.) and the Coney Island Museum (1208 Surf Ave.) in Coney Island, Brooklyn. 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.

Tickets:
Opening Night Gala screening & party: $25
Full Festival Pass (excludes "The Warriors"): $45
Saturday Pass (excludes "The Warriors"): $15
Sunday Pass: $10
Special Saturday Night Showing of The Warriors: $10
Any Individual Program Screening: $6

Advanced tickets for all programs and events are on sale now at the festival website. We strongly advise advanced ticket purchase (there is no extra service fee for advanced sales).

To see more about individual films, events and to buy tickets online, please go to:
http://www.coneyislandfilmfestival.com