The capital city hosts a burgeoning film festival.
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Festival Guide
By: Josh Appelbaum
Film audiences seeking festivals no longer have to travel to New York, Cannes or Park City.
In 2002, the Trenton Film Society formed to bring films back to New Jersey’s capital, and began screening Academy Award-nominated documentaries and animated and short films. In 2004, the society launched the Trenton Film Festival with 65 entries in competition. Festival director Kevin Williams says the society was formed in the absence of venues for screenings. "There hadn’t been a movie theater in Trenton since 1970," he says. "We had to prove there was still a market for film here."
Last year, the festival attracted 1,800 patrons to screenings of 90 films, and Mr. Williams hopes this year’s offering of 97 films will draw crowds from New York, Pennsylvania and even Washington, D.C. "We’re expecting a nice boost in attendance," Mr. Williams says. "We got an earlier start with marketing and promotions this year, and we’re finding that a lot more people know about us and are looking forward to the festival."
With film festivals popping up as readily as corn at the local mega-cineplex, one might think the crop of worthy entries to Trenton might have thinned, but Mr. Williams says just the opposite is true. "The biggest challenge has been selecting among all the films we want to show," he says. "It’s going to be a strong competition."
With that in mind, the festival will offer two programs for films out of competition: Reel Stories will include a full day of free screenings that focus on true-life and social issues May 5; films by local filmmakers will be screened May 6.
Celebrating pioneering filmmakers, the festival will screen Marshall Curry’s Academy Award-nominated documentary Street Fight to close out the weekend.
This film chronicles the 2002 Newark mayoral election, in which challenger Corey Booker took on longtime incumbent Sharpe James. "(Mr. Curry) was literally one man with one camera," Mr. Williams says. "He was physically threatened, grabbed, shoved and pushed to the ground… We wanted to do something special in order to be supportive of him and his film because we have a (mayoral) election in Trenton (May 9), and we are based in the state capital. So Street Fight is a natural fit to close the festival."
Several films by local filmmakers will be featured in competition this year, including New Brunswick resident Elena Primost’s Pet Psychology and Cranbury resident Jack Roberts’ Walls.
Ms. Primost’s short suggests that some emotions are better expressed through "animal communication" like barks and purrs. "I know some people have a hard time holding their tongues in the heat of the moment and say hurtful things," Ms. Primost says.
As the former managing editor of an animal lifestyle magazine, Ms. Primost says humans can learn from the temperament of animals. "Instead of being angry at one another, it’s healthier to just bark at each other."
Mr. Roberts’ semi-autobiographical short film Walls is informed by his past experiences in the music business. The director and producer played guitar for the New Brunswick-based band Mars Needs Women, which was signed to Warner Bros. Records in the mid-’90s, had a video on MTV and toured around the U.S.
"The ‘Chicago Tribune’ did a write-up on us saying we were going to be an over-night success," Mr. Roberts says. "I always thought that was funny. Seven years of sleeping on hardwood floors and we’re an ‘overnight success.’ "
Set mostly in New Brunswick’s Court Tavern, where Mr. Roberts cut his teeth in music and bartended the story concerns tension between Jay (Jayce Bartok), the band’s lead guitarist, who is intent on breaking into the music business, and Keith (Greg Haberny), a self-destructive front-man.
Mr. Roberts says screenings and related events at the Trenton Film festival provide a much-needed opportunity for fledgling filmmakers to network.
"Just to have your film seen by people is awesome," Mr. Roberts says. "I get excited by meeting other filmmakers to see what they’re up to, tell war stories and make connections. Filmmakers at my level need all the help they can get. So if we can work together there’s a better chance of us all being successful in the long run."
Admission: $8 screenings, $15 seminars, $25 kick-off party, $75 all-access weekend pass, $65 seniors/students. For information on specific film programs, call (609) 396-6966. Trenton Film Festival on the Web: www.trentonfilmfestival.org

