LAMBERTVILLE: Film festival gets boost from grant

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   LAMBERTVILLE — The Friends of the Lambertville Library have been selected to receive a $1,500 state grant toward the cost of putting on the Artist Visions Film Festival again.
   The festival, planned for this summer, is free of charge to the public.
   The New Jersey State Council on the Arts Local Area Projects grant is $500 more than the original grant made last year to the Friends for the 2010 film festival.
   ”We are honored to receive this funding,” said Friends’ Board of Trustees Vice President Jane Wesby. “It is a great encouragement to us, and vote of confidence for the local creative community showcased in this festival.”
   The festival will be held in June, July and August on first Fridays and second Saturdays.
   ”Last summer we featured the festival all in one weekend,” said Sara Scully, program producer. “We decided this year to hold the events throughout the summer to give our artists maximum exposure throughout the season.”
   The event showcases youth and adult filmmakers and visual artists from Hunterdon and Bucks counties with free outdoor film screenings, live music and a video installation in Lambertville. The video installation will feature short films about, or inspired by, Bucks and Hunterdon counties.
   The total cost of putting on the festival and offering it free to the public is about $40,000, according to Ms. Scully.
   ”We aim to raise $15,000 to $20,000 in cash and the remainder in in-kind donations of goods and services,” she said. “The more cash we raise, the more we will be able to pay the musicians who participate rather than asking them to play for free, and the more widely we can publicize the event.”
   One of the goals, Ms. Scully said, is to “fuel our creative community’s economy” by keeping the funding in the community and paying participating artists.
   To meet their funding goal and keep the festival free to the community, the Friends plan to solicit “community partners” to match the state grant, in exchange for advertising at the event.
   In partnership with City Market, of North Main Street, the Friends also will sell picnic dinners to raise funds. The dinners must be preordered and picked up, to be enjoyed during the festival’s outdoor events.
   Student filmmakers can submit their work to the Student Film Fest for free using the application that can be found at: www.princeton.lib.nj.us/teens/media/index.html.
   Filmmakers from Bucks and Hunterdon counties can submit short films to the outdoor video installation for free by submitting a URL link to their online video by April 30. The link should be e-mailed to [email protected].
   Filmmakers selected for inclusion in the video installation will be notified by May 8. They will be required to provide a high-resolution copy of their submissions on DVD by May 15.