THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18

YOUNG FILMMAKERS’ WORKSHOPS
9:30am to 4pm at Congress Hall
Free – no ticket required for morning or afternoon sessions

Morning session – 9:30am to 11:45 am at Congress Hall
New Make-up Techniques for High Definition Television
An eye-opening experience of high-definition television as it relates to make-up and lighting for anyone interested in production. Professional make-up artist and Emmy honoree Marianne Skiba, a.k.a. the “High-Definition Diva” will demonstrate the difference between standard and high-definition television.

Afternoon session – 1:30 pm to 4pm at Congress Hall
Working with Actors
A hands-on workshop for young filmmakers, helping them to discover how to call forth great performances. This is a practical hands-on workshop in which students learn from an experienced director to elicit convincing portrayals from an actor.

4pm Press Conference
David Carr , Provost & Executive Vice President of the Richard Stockton College of NJ, and Ron Rollet, President of the Cape May School of Media Arts, will execute a letter of agreement to offer a joint BFA degree program in media arts, the first in NJ. Another exciting venture in bringing film back to NJ! At last year’s festival, the School of Media Arts signed a similar agreement with Atlantic Cape Community College to jointly offer an Associate in Fine Arts in Media Arts degree. That program is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005 at the new ACCC college campus in Cape May Court House.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19

FILM WRITER’S WORKSHOP
10:00 am to 5pm at Congress Hall
Tickets $60
Screenwriter Joe Stinson presents his six-hour workshop on screenwriting. This workshop is rich in filmmaking stories and lore drawn from Stinson’s long career, working with Clint Eastwood and others. Stinson himself admits that interaction with the participants often redirects the content of the workshop in unplanned directions. *Includes admission to all Saturday daytime festival events. Limited space.

NJ SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
Award Ceremony
12 noon at Congress Hall

OPENING NIGHT GALA RECEPTION
7pm cocktail reception at Congress Hall, followed by Award Ceremony
The highlight of the festival, a lavish cocktail reception followed by the annual Awards Ceremony. This year’s recipient of the CMNJSFF’s Founders Award for Outstanding Contribution to New Jersey Film Arts is none other than Joey Pantoliano—known to many loyal fans as Ralph (Ralphie) Cifaretto , the sarcastic, belligerent, and misogynistic Mr. Obnoxious who literally lost his head on the Sopranos. Although cast often (he has been in over 60 movies) as the classic bad guy, in real life he is a genuine stand up guy who grew up streetwise in Sinatra’s hometown of Hoboken, NJ, where he still has an apartment. The Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival is also proud to announce that Gregg and Evan Spiridellis are the inaugural recipients of the CMNJSFF’S first Annual Award For Artistic Achievement and Innovation In New Media. They are the creators of the JibJab.com internet animation studio that produced this year’s hottest and hippest political satires, the animated song parodies, “This Land Is My Land,” This Land Is YourLand” and “Good To Be In D.C.”. Born in Marlboro, NJ and raised in central Jersey, with production offices in Los Angeles, CA, they took the internet by storm with over 65 million hits on their JibJab.com website. Twelve-year-old singing sensation Tiffany Evans will make a special guest appearance performing songs from her new CD Let Me Be Your Angel. After Tiffany premiered her first music video at the second annual festival, she went on to win Star Search and is now a hit Columbia recording artist. Afterward, enjoy a screening of Ocean City, a warm-hearted comedy filmed in Ocean City, Wildwood and Ventnor, NJ. Director Avi Glijansky will be present for Q&A following the screening. .

WRAP PARTY
10pm in the Boiler Room at Congress Hall
Admission: Free to Gala and Festival Pass holders. Others: $10.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20

10am to 6pm at Franks Beach 4 Theater
Two theaters showing films ALL DAY.

Beach Theater 1
FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENT SHORT FILMS
Tickets $10 (available at the door)
Curated by Stefan Prosky
Seven hours of AMAZING NJ short films – best deal of the festival!

10am – General Audience
THE CMNJSFF YOUNG FILMMAKERS’ WORKSHOP

« Let It Roll
Dir: Zack Feron, 3 min.
An upbeat saga of teenage biking in Cape May.

« Pink & Blue
Dir: Karolyn Carr & Wesley Laudeman, 3 min. 28 sec.
A Public Service Announcement about teen pregnancy, with an enlightening twist.

« Conversation
Dir: Mike Lavancher, 5 min.
A man shrouded in mystery has an unusual problem. In a state of panic, he looks for help.

« The Delivery
Dir: Chad Shagren, 7 min.
An unexpected outcome to a seemingly tense Cape May delivery.

10:45 am
FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENTS SELECTIONS

« Il Viaggio
Dir: Salvatore Tolve, 10 min.
The following of a ball that is shunned by the rest of the world around it. At the end of it’s journey, it finds serenity when a it is found by a less fortunate boy who sees it for the treasure it truly is.

« Cartilage
Dir: Andrew Henry, 10 min.
A young couple discovers that shopping carts can only be pushed around so far…

« Billville
Dir: Jena Serbu, 6 min.15 sec.
When the future becomes such that good men murder their children rather than see them suffer, the consequences must be upheld. This infomercial explains the new humane technology that will “house” these prisoners.

« Sweet Love
Dir: Drew Johnston, 8 min. 30 sec.
A janitor of an apartment building stalks a female tenant until the desire becomes too much to control.

« Figure Heads
Dir: Ashish Kapoor & Gorav Kalyan, 10 min.
Figureheads is the story of two brothers torn in different directions by tragedy. Set in an imaginary country on the brink of civil war, the narrative follows the brothers, Gobi and Remy, as they find themselves struggling for identity after the death of their father.

12:15 pm
Lunch Break

1pm – Mature Audience
FILMS FROM THE CHICKS WITH FLICKS FILM FESTIVAL
Curated by Yhane Smith, Robert Flanagan and Suzan Al-Doghachi

« Saturday
Dir: Lorna Thomas, 5 min.
A young woman reminisces about the Saturdays spent with her father when she was a young girl.

« Every Woman is a Diva
Dir: Charlotte Ghiorse, 11 min.
A small statement about the modern world and how women, although liberated, might still struggle in their identities, and how they find their release through fashion. No matter who the woman is, fashion can be transforming. It is about how women check each other out and maybe even judge each other, but it is exclusive to women. Men are not invited... so every woman is a Diva.

« Flight Safety
Dir: Christine Simpson, 8 min.
Frank is easy to find on Tuesday. He’s at JFK at 7am, sharp, not in their terminal, they don’t let him in; he’s out in the parking lot, rain or shine, with a stopwatch and a clip-board rating the big jets. He’s timing take-offs and landings, counting planes,studying, deleting what he knows happened with the facts: 737 is the workhorse of the fleet, the safest bird flying.

« Sea Monster & Milk Thistle
Dir: Imelda O’Reilly, 14 min.
A milk thistle is used to ward off bad spirits. Through an imaginary odyssey juggling worlds of reality and dream, this punk myth explores a dysfunctional relationship between father and son.

« Mirage
Dir: Natalia Hernandez, 9min. 30 sec.
A young woman wants desperately to be a model, but the pressure of perfection weighs on her mind taking a toll on her self-confidence and relationships.

« Wet Dreams & False Images
Dir: Jesse Epstein, 11 min.
Dee-Dee the barber is a self-proclaimed “booty-expert” who covers his wall with magazine cut-outs of women. But when Dee-Dee is introduced to the art of media manipulation, he may never look at beauty the same way again.

2:30 pm
FILMS FROM THE BLACK MARIA FILM FESTIVAL
Curated by John Colombus
Twenty-four years of independent film and video, twenty-four years in the imaginative tradition of Thomas Edison. An Academy Award-qualifying national tour.

« Nibbles
5 min. video by Chris Hinton, Hollywood, CA – 2004 Academy Award
Nominee
This riotous work of animation art depicts a gluttonous holiday careening across the American landscape guzzling fast food of every description enroute. Burgers, fries, donuts, pizza, tacos, and even a drive-thru sushi bar won’t tame the family’s wildly insatiable appetite. Wildly funny.

« Overpass
7 min. video by Alan Price, Baltimore, MD
Twisting Escher-like highways sprout from a desert landscape and multiply like mushrooms. A long lost utopian vision of the future collides with post-industrial realities. Interstates beget interstates and tract housing developments converge as Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car rides through a forlorn specter of an idealized future past.

« The Stairway to St. Paul’s
8 min. video by Jeroen Offerman, Berlin, Germany
Jeroen Offerman takes on Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, and he does it backward. It is both a clever postmodern manipulation and a hilarious temporal exercise. Wild indeed.

« Tender Bodies
8 min. 35 mm film also on video by James Duesing, Pittsburgh, PA
This is a computer animation by a noted digital animation artist who uses the logic of computer games to implode and reconstruct narrative space in a wildly imaginative world. Strange genetically altered characters hunt and are hunted in an ever-shifting Twilight Zone.

« Bacon
1 min. video by Hugo Marmugi, Downingtown, PA
A witty, wacky totally absurdist vignette revealing a hilarious perspective on a staple of the American breakfast table.

« Dental Farmer
15 min. video by Ellen Brodsky and Dunya Alwan, Cambridge, MA
This is a refreshing and utterly delightful portrait of a hero of rural America. This lovely character study tells the story of a rare individual, a socially progressive and quite funny dentist who runs a free dental clinic on his farm in Appalachia and grows Jerusalem artichokes in his garden all punctuated by the doctors witty quips. An unexpected audience pleaser.

« Famous Irish Americans
8 min. video by Roger Beebe, Gainesville, FL
Who’s your favorite Irish American? Georgia O’Keefe? William McKinley? Sandra Day O’Connor? Shaquille O’Neal? This video is a secret history of some of our most overlooked Irish-American citizens; an exploration of race, America, and the limits of binary thought. Another huge audience pleaser.

« Henley Royal Regatta
3 min. video by Harvey Wang, New York, NY
The upper crust of British society do their very patrician version of the tailgate picnic at the five-day rowing event known as the Royal Regatta in Henley along the Thames. Pyms Cup is the libation of choice among the elite who hobnob and picnic in their selective enclosures along the one-mile, 550-yard course. Another huge audience pleaser.

« Selma to Montgomery
10 min. 16mm film by Stefan Sharff, New York, NY
A TRIBUTE SELECTION
A powerful and recently rediscovered film made during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. Sharff’s intimate documentary reflects his youthful work in the montage style under the great Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. The film features moving spirituals sung by the marchers, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King.

« The Spirit of Gravity
6 min. 35mm film also on video by Victor Bellomo & David Pace,
Palo Alto, CA
An outlandishly whimsical collage animation featuring handmade and 3-D digital graphics. A wacky Nietzsche clad in longjohns floats across the sky singing his philosophy to a fantasy landscape of bubbles, and stars hovering over an impossible village in the middle of the Astral Plane. As wacky as they get and a little reminiscent of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.

« Summertime
6 min. 16mm film also video by Nico Clark, Bristol, England
Summertime is a lush animation synchronized to Gershwin’s haunting “Porgy and Bess” lullaby. The viewer is taken on a soaring journey from the sea to a pristine island habitat where the depiction of the flora and fauna take on the attributes of a Henri Rousseau painting. Haunting and lovely.

« Tango Octogenario
7 min. 35mm film also on video by David Licata, New York, NY
A disarming narrative film about a couple in their senior years who still elegantly dance the Tango. Another audience pleaser.

« Terra
7 min. 35mm film also video by Dane A. Smith, Los Angeles, CA
On a gaseous planet somewhere in the universe, a race of sentient lifeforms exist in the clouds. There, a young astronomer discovers an alien visitor in this nicely rendered computer animation. Neat but not critical.

« Watch
6 min. 16mm film also on video by Robert Todd, Boston, MA
Watches and clocks everywhere, in marvelous close-up detail, syncopated, escapement movements, springs, chimes, ticking, 55 years in the little shop. A poignant and lovely little film.

« Zamboni Man
14 min. 35mm film also on video by Seth Henrikson, Chicago, IL
A Zamboni is a machine that smoothes the ice on a skating rink. In this unexpectedly affecting narrative, a working-class hero pines for the unobtainable; the graceful ice dancer of his dreams. Also poignant and very well liked by audiences.

4:00pm – General Audience
MORE FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENTS SELECTIONS

« Masterpiece
Dir: Luis A. Medrano, 4 min. 19 sec.
This artist’s work is cursed. Everything that inspires him disappears from reality, including the Columbia spaceshuttle, New York’s twin towers and even the love of his life. He is in a trance during the process so he can’t control it or remember the process. Finally he becomes aware... and finds the ultimate artistic solution.

« Quiche Lorraine
Dir: William Cicchino, 6 min. 33 sec.
When Lorraine, an innocent young Meals for Seniors volunteer tries to deliver dinner to the elderly Mrs. Cullity, terror ensues as the sweet girl discovers old Mrs. Cullity has a taste for nasty surprises.

« Fluid Dir: Yusuke TL Iwasaki, 26 min.
Examines the failing process of a young bisexual couple’s marriage, through emotional and sexual interactions involving a diabolic young female, Zoe.

« Entries Dir: Jason A Messina, 9 min. 23 sec.
A moment in an aging man’s life where, through journal entries, he reflects on regretful, tragic events from his past. By realizing that his own selfish actions were the cause of these events, he may finally find some closure.

« Lester Barry Is Up To No Good
Dir: Kyle Warren, 14min. 45 sec.
Lester Barry uses a fake wedding to seduce women, and ends up with a lot of trouble.
Q&A Sessions will be held throughout this program.

BEACH THEATER 2
FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENTS MATINEE
Documentaries, Selected Short Films and an Afternoon Feature.
Curated by Stefan Prosky
10am – Tickets $10 (available at the door).

« Daughters from China
Dir: Larry Ling-hsuan Tung, 29 min. 30 sec.
A documentary about Chinese girls adopted by Caucasian families in the US. As Chinese adoption becomes a more popular way to form a family for Americans, the societies attitude towards these bi-racial families is slowly changing. This documentary is about redefining the notion of family and unconditional love. It provides an upbeat and heart-warming glimpse into those families where love transcends racial differences.

« Violets Fa Life!
Dir: Yusuke TL Iwasaki, 35 min.
From the director: “When I was an NYU student, one night at a dining hall I became friends with two players from the women’s basketball team. I started attending their games in that season, in which they ended up one of the best eight teams in the nation in their division. Being impressed, I happened to have an idea to make a documentary video following an entire season, and this is the result.

« Revolution 67
Dir: Marylou & Jerome Bongiorno, 15 min.
A clip of a new documentary about the Newark Riots of 1967. A wonderful preview of a new work from the makers of last year’s Little Kings.

« Lieder
Dir: Bill Ball, 23 min. 31sec.
Parenting takes courage to deal with all the terrible things that might happen. Is it possible to seek redemption after losing one’s nerve? Lieder is inspired by the music of Gustev Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. A principal location was the historic train station in Hopewell Borough, NJ.

« Mommy
Dir: Michael C. Mahon, 16 min. 54 sec.
Facing the almost certain death of his tough-loving mother, Michael struggles with an inevitable truth: to let his mother go, he must first let her in.

1 pm – $10 (Tickets available at the door)
« Prisoners Among Us
Dir: Michael Angelo DiLauro, 88 min.
Chronicles the assimilation of Italians into American culture, from 19th century immigration to World War II. Through interviews, historical detail, photographs, archival footage, literature, music, poetry and analysis, a story behind the story unfolds. In particular, the film sheds light on our country’s “enemy alien” policies at the start of WWII, and the impact of the resultant Executive Orders upon unwitting Italian families.

3:30 pm – $10 (Tickets available at the door). Mature Audiences
« Black Eyed Susan
Dir; Jim Riffel, 105 min.
Rick and Steve decide to rob a dead man’s apartment. But what they didn’t realize is the old man has distant relatives who left something behind the last time they visited – omething Rick and Steve now have and the gang of relatives want back. As this story unfolds, Steve’s girlfriend, a mute who is obsessed with lip-synching songs from the 1940s, let’s us know what’s happening with six songs spread throughout the film.
Q&A Sessions will be held throughout this program.

FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS

#1 2pm to 4pm at Congress Hall
« Gay Pioneers(2004)
Free to the public (sponsored by GABLES of Cape May County)
The story of the first organized annual “homosexual” civil rights demonstrations from 1965-1969 when few would publicly identify themselves as gay. These brave pioneers challenged pervasive homophobia. The film will be followed by a workshop led by Executive Producer Malcolm Lazin with special guest, Barbara Gittings, one of the “pioneers” profiled in the film.

#2 2pm to 4pm at Convention Hall
« Broken Silence
No ticket required, free to the public
A documentary about Sonia Kaplan, a South Jersey Holocaust Survivor. This film was produced by Kaplan’s daughter, Ellen Wetzel, and directed by Christine Farina, who along with Larry Hirsch, will be available for a Q&A following the screening.

FESTIVAL FEATURE SELECTIONS

Best of Festival Features Q&A with filmmakers after screening. Tickets $25 (available at the door and includes admission to the Jitter NJ/VJ Party at Convention Hall).

Franks Beach 4 Theater – Theater One
« Merci Docteur Rey
(2002), 91 minutes, Festival NJ Premiere
Special Guest: Andrew Litvack , Writer-Director
Mature audience recommended
This whimsical homage to film and celebrity has Paris as its backdrop, a wonderful soundtrack, and a plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best. Dianne Wiest is an opera-diva mother, with the splendid Bulle Ogierher as her impeccably coutured director and friend. Also features an enigmatically odd actress (Jane Birkin), Jerry Hall and Vanessa Redgrave.

Theater Two
« Late Watch
(2004), 73 minutes, Festival NJ Premiere
Special Guest: Henry Miller , Director
Mature audience recommended
A writer in need of a paying gig takes a night-time job as a security guard at a mysterious storage complex. The other guards he meets range from the neurotic to the psychotic, all with a story they need to tell him. The mystery of what these rent-a-cops are protecting becomes a subplot afloat on a tide of humor as bizarre as the characters.

Theater Three
« Four Dead Batteries
(2004), 96 minutes, Festival NJ Premiere
Special Guest: Hiram Martinez , Director Mature audience recommended
Four New York improvisers struggle with love, commitment, and understanding the women in their lives, in this ensemble indie comedy.

Cape May Convention Hall
« Wildwood Days
(2004), 54 minutes, Festival Premiere
Special Guest: TK, Writer-Director-Producer
The pop culture history of a quirky retro rock ’n’ roll resort of neon-lit doo wop motels being threatened by a wrecking ball. As told by Bruce Willis, Dick Clark, Tom Verica, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Jerry “the Geator” Blavat and others who made the beach and boardwalk scene.

« Ocean City
(2004), 21 minutes, Festival NJ Premiere
Special Guest: Avi Glijansky, Director
A very special film with local roots that tells the story of how love and one’s dream may lead in surprising directions. The use of a Jersey shore town movie theater as the metaphor for the love-gained, love-lost narrative makes this a very special film with local roots. The acting is superb, the cinematography is remarkable, and the filmmaker’s sense of color, lighting, and design lift this short well above the high bar already set by films at this festival.

10pm
JITTER-NJ/V.J. PARTY
At Cape May Convention Hall
Admission: $10 (pay at the door)
A new addition to the film festival this year! We proudly present Luke DuBois, the “JitterMaster”, an audio/visual composer and other respected NJ visual musicians. Real-time audio/visual performance by Luke DuBois. Followed at 11pm by a DJ/VJ Jam with various artists. Dancing is encouraged.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2004

CINEMA CAFÉ BUFFET BRUNCH
10am to 12 noon at Congress Hall Tickets: $30
An opportunity to enjoy a wonderful Congress Hall brunch and discuss the movies shown at this year’s festival with other film lovers and with the filmmakers whose films has been shown. The Festival Director selects a few of the outstanding films submitted this year for screening and the opportunity to speak informally with the films’ directors in a Q&A. Each year the film festival has chosen a New Jersey animator/experimental filmmaker for a retrospective of their films. The honoree for 2004 is the ground-breaking audio/visual composer/programmer, Luke DuBois.

« Tiramisu
(2003), 16 minutes
Like the Italian dessert, this film is a semi-sweet cinematic contrivance with a twist ending. The film tells an uplifting story of love, responsibility and commitment through the lives of an Italian-American family and their friends. South Philly pastry and New Jersey suburban barbeque. Director Leonard Guercio will join us for Q & A.

« The Stronger
(2004), 10 minutes
Two women meet in a Cape May café on Christmas Eve. One never speaks as secrets are revealed: Who is the stronger? Director Jan Reesman, whose wonderful short, Escaping Jersey , premiered at this Cinema Café Brunch two years ago, will be back to talk about her new film and its Cape May connections and inspiration.

« Billville
(2004), 7 minutes
A surreal and Felliniesq vision of a future time when prisoners for capital crimes are incarcerated not by concrete walls but by those invisible boundaries created in their minds by a sci-fi inspired penal system. The visuals of this film are remarkable as is the editing of these images in layers upon one another to weave a story of a terrible crime by a man for whom the audience develops a surprising compassion.

The CMNJSFF is committed to providing access to people with special needs. Call our office for information and services at specific venues.