Editor

Director-writer Kevin Smith will be honored August 9 at a retrospective during the inaugural Downbeach Film Festival (DBFF), August 8 to 10. New Jersey native Smith will speak about his career and hold a Q & A with the audience in the Screening Room at Resorts Atlantic City. The festival will also award Smith the Lifesaver Award for lifetime achievement to date for such films as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma, Chasing Amy and Clerks.
The festival kicks off August 8 with a slate of films in the morning and afternoon at the Margate Performing Arts Center. Blocks of works by students from Rowan University's Radio/TV/Film department and from chARTer-TECH High School are included among the features, shorts and documentaries scheduled for screening at the Margate Performing Arts Center during the three days.
“For a first effort, we're excited about the level of talent we are bringing to the festival, including Kevin Smith and Jim Jarmusch,” said Executive Director, William Sokolic.
Many of the films will include a Q & A afterwards with filmmakers or stars. A reception with a cash bar at Sofia follows the opening night screening.
Among other highlights:
•The East Coast premiere of Explicit Ills, executed produced by Jim Jarmusch, who will attend with stars Paul Dano, Frankie Shaw, and Lou Taylor Pucci, and writer-director Mark Webber. The film is slated to close the festival, August 10th at 4 p.m.. The DBFF will also honor Jarmusch and Dano and celebrate achievements at the first DBFF Awards ceremony that evening in the Screening Room at Resorts.
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Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed Broken Flowers with Bill Murray, as well as Coffee and Cigarettes, with Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright and Steve Buscemi.
Paul Dano had co-starring roles in The Girl Next Door, Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, in addition to Explicit Ills.
•Adrian Grenier, from the hit HBO series “Entourage,” stars in a short film, Across the Hall.
•Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly, 10TH & Wolf) stars in a short film, In Vivid Detail.
•Marc Cantone will screen his film, Cutout, with Philadelphia singer, Al Martino.
•Brandon E. Brooks (Producer-"The Quiet Ones") will moderate the panel “Producing What Hollywood Wants” with filmmakers Stewart Rafill (The Philadelphia Experiment), Diane Kirman (The New Swiss Family Robinson), Jonathan Sachar (The Speed of Life) Eric D. Wilkinson (The Man From Earth) and Robbie Bryan (iMurders) anticipated in the house. The panel will occur at the Ventnor Cultural Arts Center on August 9.
•Brooks (Screenwriter-“Sweet Fifteen”) will also oversee the screenwriting panel, “How to Break Down Hollywood's Walls” on August 10 with expected panelists Margate's Scott Neustadter (The Pink Panther 2), Rafill (Mac & Me), Liz Destro (Explicit Ills), Martin Guigui (Raging Bull 2) and screenwriting teacher, Michael Eldridge (Homeland). This will also be held at the Ventnor Cultural Arts Center.
•Robert X. Golphin (The Great Debaters) will attend the World Premiere of Beautiful Man in the Buff, a short film he stars in, wrote, and produced. Beautiful Man was directed by Pennsylvania based filmmaker Zeiad Hussein (Ghosts of Gallagher).
•William Katt (“The Greatest American Hero”, House) will attend the Opening Night screening of a film he stars in, Jerome Bixby’s The Man from Earth. Producer Eric D. Wilkinson will also be in attendance.
•William Forsythe (Dick Tracy, The Devil’s Rejects) will attend the screenings of 2 DBFF film selections he stars in, iMurders and Southern Gothic, and will be honored with the inaugural DBFF Acting Chameleon Award, which represents his brilliant character-acting career. Soap star Terri Columbino ("As the World Turns") and actor Frank Grillo ("Prison Break") will also attend this screening.
•Courtney Gains (Stephen King’s Children of the Corn, Sweet Home Alabama) will attend the DBFF East Coast premiere of Benny Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness, a film in which he stars in, co-wrote, and penned much of the music within. The film’s director, Martin Guigui (Raging Bull 2), will also attend this premiere screening.
The slate of features we anticipate including are:
•Stuck. A young woman commits a hit-and-run, then finds her fate tied to her victim. Stuart Gordon directs, with Mena Suvari (American Pie) and Stephen Rea (The Crying Game).
•Phoebe in Wonderland. Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher. Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Patricia Clarkson (No Reservations, Lars and the Real Girl), Bill Pullman (Igby Goes Down, Independence Day) and Campbell Scott (Music and Lyrics, Delivering Milo).
•Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth. An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he is an immortal who has walked the earth for 14,000 years. Ellen Crawford (Escaping Jersey, Free) and William Katt (Jawbreaker, Carrie), who will attend the festival for this Opening Night screening.
•iMurders. A mysterious love triangle leads to a tragic shooting. Months later, eight members of a Myspace-esque chat room are being gruesomely murdered in the privacy of their own homes. Billy Dee Williams (Lady Sings the Blues, Star Wars), Charles Durning (O Brother Where Art Thou, The Sting), and William Forsythe (Devil's Rejects, The Rock), who will attend this screening and will be a DBFF honoree.
•Homeland. A Romeo and Juliet tale of an Israeli and a Palestinian who fall in love in New York to the wrath of their families. Director Michael Eldridge and writer, Brad Rothschild will attend.
.Public Interest. Philadelphia native Brad Robinson screens his directorial debut dramedy Public Interest, which is a satire that delves into the world of reality television. Through "archival footage" and modern day interviews, the film looks back on what was the biggest disaster in the history of television. The film stars Robert Curtis Brown (Bruce Almighty) and Kristina Klebe (Rob Zombie's Halloween).
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•Explicit Ills. The film weaves in and out of the lives of "ordinary" Philadelphians -- kids, couples, and families of all races and classes. Also stars Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Rent) and Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Carribean 2 & 3, Miami Vice).
•Southern Gothic. A man who must atone for a tragic mistake by saving a little girl from a ruthless, undead preacher. Hazel Fortune works in a strip club in the small Southern town of Redemption. Haunted by the death of his only daughter, Fortune has become a self-destructive, suicidal alcoholic, until he meets Starla Motes. Hazel's downward spiral is interrupted when she is befriended by Starla’s daughter, Hope. Yul Vazquez (Bad Boys II, War of the Worlds), Nicole DePort (Tooth and Nail, Next Exit) and William Forsythe star.
•Cosmic Radio. The owner of a counter-culture radio station whose business is on the verge of going belly-up—along with the illusions that have fueled his life so far—when the daughter of a conservative Senator comes to town hoping to undermine an effort to clear cut the forest in the nearby hills, sparking a political battle that has ramifications far beyond the concerns of the sleepy resort community and its small-town denizens. Starring John Sachar (Just Add Water, Southern Gothic), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Mulholland Falls), Seymour Cassell (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore).
•The Speed of Life. A slightly quirky, fantasy prone teenager who lives alone with his blind foster mother has plans to leave the city. As soon as he can save enough money, be released from probation and help his foster mother to regain her failing vision, he intends to travel to far away lands and explore the world, a world he sees primarily through the stolen videotapes of tourists. Peter Appel (The Happening, Delirious), Gilbert Cruz (Sex in the City, Cradle Will Rock) and Noah Fleiss (Laramie Project, Brick) star.
The schedule is subject to change. Check the website for any updates and for times.
If You Go:
The festival offers tickets for individual events, all-film passes and all-festival passes.
Tickets can be purchased online at www. downbeachfilmfestival. org; at Margate City Hall; the Ventnor Cultural Arts Center; at the festival itself; or by mail to Downbeach Film Festival, Margate Performing Arts Center, 7804 Amherst Avenue, Margate, NJ 08402. Tickets will be held at the venue for pick-up. Call 609.823.7952 or 609.823.9159 for more information.
Prices:
•An evening with Kevin Smith: $60
•Individual tickets for film blocks: $7 to $10
•The festival opener: $10
•The reception at Sofia Restaurant in Margate: $35; $40 with the opening film. Limit 75
•Industry Panels: $35 each, lunch included. Limit 50 per panel
•The Awards Ceremony, honoring Jim Jarmusch and Paul Dano: $60
•The Festival Pass, access to all events: $255 plus t-shirt
•The Oscar Pass, access to all screenings: $75 plus t-shirt
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