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 30^th – 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.