Golden Door Film Festival

The Golden Door Film Festival is a film festival in Jersey City, New Jersey inaugurated in 2011. The four-day festival takes place in Fall, and shows features, documentaries, and shorts. The opening and closing night awards ceremony are located at the 1929 movie palace Loew's Jersey Theater at Journal Square with many screenings and other events at various Downtown venues. The festival was founded by actor, producer, and musician Bill Sorvino. There are competitive awards for features, shorts, documentaries, student works, LBGT-themed films and the Women in Cinema-Alice Guy Blache Award for female directors.

Loew's Jersey

America's Golden Door

The Statue of Liberty National Monument, comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island, is located in the Upper New York Bay opposite Liberty State Park in Jersey City. "I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" is the last line of "The New Colossus," the poem by Emma Lazarus. Many immigrants passed through the city's Communipaw Terminal and it is sometime's referred to as "America's Golden Door".[1][2][3][4][5][6] The festival's name is inspired by the emigrant experience.[7][8]

2011

The first festival took place October 14–17, 2011. Forty-three films were shown[9] and there were eighteen categories for competition.[10] Lifetime achievement awards were given to Academy Award winner Leon Gast[11] and Paul Sorvino. Night Club (2011) by director Sam Borowski won awards for best feature, best director of a feature, best male lead in a feature (Ernest Borgnine), best female lead in a feature (Natasha Lyonne), and best acting by a supporting actor/actress (Sally Kellerman).[12] Life! Camera Action... & Another Day Another Life also picked up several awards.

2012

Fifty-three films were screened during the 2012 festival held October 11–14, 2012.[13][14][15][16] Two new categories for competition have been added, the Student Filmmaker Award and the Women in Film-Alice Guy Blache Award, named for Alice Guy-Blaché, the narrative film director whose studio was located in Fort Lee, the birthplace of America's first motion picture industry at the beginning of the 20th century.[17][18][19] Guy-Blaché is also considered a pioneer in the business.[20]

Michael Wolfe's Maybe Tomorrow won several awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Best Supporting Actor went to Dominik Tiefenthaler.[21]<

2013

The 2013 festival opened October 10[22] with the documentary Fall to Grace about former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey.. Armand Assante was given a lifetime achievement award.[23][24] Sorvino announced that he would be working with Saint Peter's University to develop a film institute.[25][26]

2014

The 2014 festival was held September 16-21 throughout Jersey City, with its opening night and awards ceremony at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre. Autism awareness has become one of the philanthropic missions of the festival. Tommy Hilfiger on the board of Autism Speaks, became a sponsor of the festival in 2014.[27] and kicked off the event. The two opening films the were Six Letter Word, a short about autism, and The Odd Way Home. There were 92 films shown during the festival.[28]

See also

References

  1. "The Golden Door......". Random Number. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  2. "Jersey City America's Golden Door". Legal Force Trademarks. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  3. "Jersey City: "Wall Street West"". Business Weekly. October 28, 2001. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  4. "Hudson Shakespeare Company". Hudson Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  5. Scherer, Glenn; DeCoste, Paul (2009), Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest Hiking Adventures, Falcon Guide, ISBN 9780762711192
  6. "Jersey City New Jersey USA". The Rotary Club. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  7. "Golden Door International Film Festivals launches at Landmark Lowe's in Jersey City". The Jersey Journal. October 14, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  8. Glasner, Pamela (September 10, 2014). "Golden Door International Film Festival: The Stuff of Dreams". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-09-15.
  9. Robb, Adam (October 14, 2011), "Golden Door International Film Festival begins in Jersey City", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2012-10-06
  10. "2011 nominations". Golden Door Film Festival. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  11. Robb, Adam (October 16, 2011). "Jersey City Oscar winner Leon Gast feted with lifetime achievement award at Golden Door International Film Festival". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  12. Wright, E. Assata (October 17, 2011), "Golden Door Film International Festival wraps up; Night Club big winner of night", Hudson Reporter, retrieved 2012-10-06
  13. Ruptam, Mahindra (October 6, 2012), "Now in second year, Golden Door Film Festival, starting Oct. 11, has 53 offerings", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2012-10-06
  14. Ruptam, Mohindra (October 5, 2012), "53 films to be screened at Golden Door International Film Festival", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2012-10-06
  15. "Take two Golden Door Film Fest set to return", Hudson Reporter, retrieved 2012-10-06
  16. Hortillosa, Dawn (October 5, 2012), "Celluloid Heroes: Second Annual Golden Door Film Festival Puts Local, International Filmmakers in the Spotlight", Jersey City Independent
  17. Koszarski, Richard (2004), Fort Lee: The Film Town, Rome, Italy: John Libbey Publishing -CIC srl, ISBN 0-86196-653-8
  18. "Studios and Films". Fort Lee Film Commission. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  19. Fort Lee Film Commission (2006), Fort Lee Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 0-7385-4501-5
  20. Picconito, Ann (Julr 4, 2011), "About Town: The True Story of Alice Guy Blache", Fort Lee Patch, retrieved 2012-10-06 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. "Winners 2012". Golden Door Film Festival. November 18, 2012.
  22. https://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?festival_id=9614
  23. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/10/post_391.html#incart_river_default
  24. http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/23771689/article-Golden-Door-Film-Festival-returns-to-JC--McGreevey-will-do-Q-A-at-third-annual-event--?instance=latest_story
  25. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/10/st_peters_university_to_launch_film_institute_in_2015.html#incart_river_default
  26. http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2013/10/17/st-peters-announces-new-film-institute-to-debut-in-2015/
  27. Hortillosa, Dawn (June 2, 2014). "Tommy Hilfiger backs Golden Door International Film Festival in Jersey City". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  28. Hortillosa, Dawn (September 14, 2014). "Golden Door Film Festival returning to Jersey City with 92 films". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved 2014-09-14.

External links