I don’t know about you but lately, movies playing at the local theatres have left me cold. It’s not that I have anything against explosions, car chases, teenage rebellion or Sylvester Stallone’s Metamucil Machismo. I’m just tired of the same old same old. I recently watched “Bringing Up Baby” with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn and several old Three Stooges cartoons, along with a documentary about life in rural America. Three completely different visions of what film is capable of, each with character, comedy and pathos, and each equally satisfying as art. Yes, people, Curly was an artist!
Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Cannes, home to arguably the world’s greatest film festival. I stood on the red carpet and imagined myself as a prominent filmmaker accepting the Palm d’ or. Then having “opened that door,” I began to see myself at all the hipster Hollywood haunts – Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca. When I returned to reality, I discovered that I didn’t need be a dreamer to experience the best film has to offer. I don’t need a passport and a plane ticket to see the world’s newest and most daring offerings on the big screen. All I really needed was Easy Pass, because the world of film is coming to New Jersey this month with an array of festivals that will satisfy and amaze even the most hardened and experienced filmgoer. So ladies and gentlemen, curtain up! If you truly love the cinema, here are the places to be to see and be seen this fall.
Golden Door International Film Festival
Jersey City
Oct. 11 to 14
goldendoorfilmfestival.org
Downbeach Film Festival/ Atlantic City Cinefest
Atlantic City
Oct. 12 to 14
downbeachfilmfestival.org
New Jersey Young Film & Videomakers Festival
Jersey City
Oct. 14 to 20
blackmariafilmfestival.org
New Jersey Film Festival
New Brunswick
Oct. 19 to 21
njfilmfest.com
New Jersey State Film Festival at Cape May
Cape May City
Oct. 19 to 21
njstatefilmfestival.com
Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival
New Brunswick
Oct. 31 to Nov. 11
bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/film
That should keep even the most hardcore movie maven occupied for awhile. And if that doesn’t satisfy you for whatever reason, there’s always a board game ready to be transformed into a movie coming out any day. How about “Candyland: Revenge of the Gumdrop Slayer” or “Chutes and Ladders and Love in the Time of Cholera?”
Get the picture?