People of New Jersey and surrounding environs: the wonderful Lighthouse FIlm Festival is coming your way, and it's got a stellar lineup to keep you well occupied next weekend.
Running Thursday June 8th - Sunday June 11th, in and around Long Beach, the festival is featuring a plethora of amazing fiction, documentary, and short films. Some highlights include: the opening night film King of Peking, about a father and son film projection team, who begin to pirate DVDs to make ends meet; Fits and Starts, the feature debut of director Laura Terruso starring Wyatt Cenac; Man Underground, the quiet and disturbing alien abduction thriller by Michael Borowiec and Sam Marine; Dina, the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Award winner, and the closing film is another thriller, Missing in Europe, Tamar Halpern's new film about a Sara, a cyber expert searching for her missing daughter in Serbia.
Indeed, the festival puts the spotlight on women filmmakers not only in their strong representation in screenings, but also with the 'Write by the Beach' retreat for female filmmakers and screenwriters. Other highlights of films screening by women are Gold Star by Victoria Negri, documentaries One October by Rachel Shulman and The Oyster Farmers by Angela Anderson and Corinne Gray Ruff, and close to half of the short films.
More details, including the full lineup, are in the press release below. So take a trip to the Jersey Shore for some terrific films.
The Lighthouse International Film Festival (LIFF) has announced the complete lineup for its ninth annual event, which will take place June 8-11, 2017 on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. The festival will open with Sam Voutas’ acclaimed King of Peking, a rousing Beijing-set love letter to cinema that brought cheering audiences to their feet at Tribeca 2017.
“From the opening frames of King of Peking, I knew that it was special and a film that the LIFF audience will love,” says Lighthouse International Film Festival’s Eric Johnson. “Sam Voutas has made a film that speaks to cinephiles in a unique way, filled with moments that show film’s ability to act as a universal bond, while also telling a terrific story with a ton of heart and laughs. It is punctuated by pitch-perfect turns from his actors and it all comes together to form a sublime way to kick off the 2017 festival,” with director Sam Voutas participating in a Q&A following the screening.
LIFF will again present both Documentary and Narrative Centerpiece Films, including Jonathan Olshefski’s Quest as Documentary Centerpiece. A vérité portrait of a North Philadelphia family that was shot over the course of a decade, it tells the tale of Christopher “Quest” Rainey, along with his wife Christine (aka “Ma Quest”). They open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Over the years, the family evolves as everyday life brings a mix of joy and unexpected crisis. Set against the backdrop of a country now in turmoil, the film is a tender depiction of an American family whose journey is a profound testament to love, healing and hope.
The Festival’s Narrative Centerpiece film is Fits and Starts, the feature directorial debut of Laura Terruso. The acclaimed comedy stars The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac as a struggling writer who has been toiling away at the same novel for years. His wife (Jennifer Greta Lee) is a hot young literary figure, who has just released a new masterpiece. When her publisher invites the couple to an artists’ salon at his home in Connecticut, the pair embark on a twisted journey, and David must face his demons and try to “not be weird” among the waspy salon guests and competitive art set in attendance. He encounters a dentist with publishing aspirations, a book critic full of condescending advice, a fellow writer who may know his wife a little too well, an old “friend” and a high powered bipolar literary agent who just might be able to help him... for a price.
Closing the 2017 Festival will be Missing in Europe, director Tamar Halpern’s tense new thriller about a cyber security expert visiting Serbia under the guise of attending a conference for work, but is really there to check in on her daughter, Karissa, who has been studying abroad. Their happy reunion is cut short when Karissa and her classmate Lara go clubbing and seemingly disappear into thin air. Sara is certain that her daughter has been abducted. Utilizing a host of hacking skills and following the clues Karissa is leaving behind, she starts to uncover a major sex trafficking ring. Even worse, it seems the local police force is in on it. With nobody to trust but herself, Sara uses every tool at her disposal to locate her daughter before she’s sold to the highest bidder and disappears forever.
The Lighthouse International Film Festival is also proud to announce the inclusion of Sundance Jury Winner Dina, the World Premiere of New Jersey-lensed The Oyster Farmers, the Ugandan Wakaliwood actioner Bad Black, and its first-ever VR content. Alongside Lighthouse’s thrilling first foray into episodic content - Onur Tukel’s highly-anticipated Black Magic for White Boys - the festival will also be bringing back its immensely successful “Write By the Beach”, last year’s debut writers’ retreat program for female filmmakers and screenwriters. Designed with a simple mission to foster female voices in independent film, the program will see the Festival bring four female filmmakers and screenwriters to Long Beach Island for a week leading up to and including the Festival, with no obligation except to put work into whatever project they are currently developing.
Inspired by the historic Barnegat Lighthouse, which has beckoned travelers to LBI since 1859, LIFF has emerged as New Jersey’s leading international film festival. The festival will feature award-winning films from countries around the world, as well as nightly parties and panel discussions.
For full schedule and ticket information on the 2017 festival, visit www.lighthousefilmfestival.org
OPENING NIGHT FILM
King of Peking, Sam Voutas, China
NARRATIVE CENTERPIECE FILM
Fits and Starts, Laura Terruso, USA
DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE FILM
Quest, Jonathan Olshefski, USA
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Missing in Europe, Tamar Halopern, USA
SPOTLIGHT FILMS
Bad Black, Nabwana I.G.G., Uganda
Dina, Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini, USA
Gaza Surf Club, Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine, Germany
Infinity Baby, Bob Byington, USA
The Journey, Nick Hamm, UK
Person to Person, Dustin Guy Defa, USA
The Road Movie, Dimitrii Kalashnikov, Belarus/Russia/Serbia/Bosnia & Herzegovina/Croatia
NARRATIVE COMPETITION FILMS
A Bad Idea Gone Wrong, Jason Headley, USA
Brave New Jersey, Jody Lambert, USA
The Dunning Man, Michael Clayton, USA
Gold Star, Victoria Negri, USA
Man Underground, Michael Borowiec and Sam Marine, USA
Memories of Summer, Adam Guzinski, Poland
Our Father, Meni Yaish, Israel
Woven, Nagwa Ibrahim and Salome Mulugeta. USA
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION FILMS
The Crest, Mark Covino, USA
One October, Rachel Shuman, USA
The Oyster Farmers, Angela Anderson and Corinne Gray Ruff, USA
Santoalla, Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer, USA/Spain
Swim Team, Lara Stolman, USA
That Way Madness Lies, Sandra Luckow, USA
EPISODIC CONTENT
Black Magic for White Boys, Onur Tukel, USA
SHORT FILMS
The Accord, R.C. Cone, USA/Iceland
Another Girl, Austin Kase, USA
The Bake Sale, Susan Skoog, USA
The Best and the Loneliest Days, Qianzhu Luo, USA
Break-In, Christopher Cox, USA
Bruce Loves You, Darin Quan, USA
C.I.T., Cara Consilvio, USA
Candice and Peter’s Smokin’ Hot Date, Leanne Bishop and Michael Mason, Canada
Catherine, Britt Raes, Belgium
The Collection, Adam Roffman, USA
Commercial Crabberman (A Livelyhood On The Barengat Bay), Andrew DiAngelis, USA
Le Creuset, Don Downie, USA
Deadbeat, Jesse R. Tendler, USA
Demonoid (1971), Alaric Rocha, USA
Do No Harm, Roseanne Liang, New Zealand
Dogs and Tacos, Steven Bachrach, USA
Don’t Think About It, Niv Klainer, USA
Election Night, Ryan Scafuro, USA/England
Epiphany V, Kevin Newbury, USA
La Folia, Adam Grannick, USA
For Marta, Isabel Ellison, USA
Fresh Blood, Richa Rudola, USA
Fry Day, Laura Moss, USA
Good Luck (in Farsi), Jessica Cummings, USA
Hilda, Kiira Benzing, USA
The Hobbyist, George Vatistas, USA
I’m Sticking With You, Eric Shahinian, USA
Innocent or Otherwise, Alex Forstenhausler, USA
Juliet Remembered, Tamzin Merchant, UK
Life and Sand, Simon Mendes, USA
Lone Signal, Jessi Erian Colon, USA
Nanny, Kathy Meng, USA
Night Shift, Marshall Tyler, USA
The Other End, Sudeep Kanwal, USA/India
The Other Side, Griselda San Martin, Spain
The Poet and the Professor, Ariel Kavoussi, USA
Prerequesite, Geoffrey Guerrero, USA
Refugee, Joyce Chen, Emily Chen, and Emily Moore, USA
Rikishi, Julien Menanteau, Germany
Rose’s Children, Josh Adwar and Jamie Dolan, USA
Says, David C. Lynch, Ireland
The Scarecrow, Phillip Rhys, USA
The Seven Men of Hanukkah, Daryl Lathon, USA
Shapers, Graham Willoughby, USA
Silver Lining, Joe Kolbow, USA
Siren Song: Women Singers of Pakistan, Fawzia Afzal-Khan, India/Pakistan
The Skull, Graceann Dorse, USA
The Spectrum, Sean MacLaughlin and Quinn MacLaughlin, USA
Spell Claire, Greg Emetaz, USA
Static, Kevin Hoyer, USA
Stitched, Heather Taylor, USA
Sure-Fire, Michael Goldburg, USA
Test of Courage, Rena Dumont, Germany
Twin Days, Alex Markman, USA
Wake, Kristen Kress Parness, USA