Mini Film Festival in Asbury Saturday

The Boardwalk Film Festival presents a Mini-Fest this Saturday, June 25th. Here's how you can see some great movies and attend a great event afterwards.

Films will be shown in the auditorium at Asbury Park High School (1003 Sunset Ave.) at 4 pm, followed by an after-party with live entertainment at Johnny Mac's, 208 Main Street in Asbury at 7 pm.

The first annual Boardwalk Film Festival will be held in Asbury Park in September, but organizers wanted to give the community a taste of what's to come, with some great films, a discussion with the filmmakers, and a party to wrap up the evening.

The centerpiece of the June 25th event will be the East Coast Premiere of "Riot", a documentary film by Kevin McLaughlin, who is also the organizer of the festival.This film has received glowing reviews, with one scene being described as 'jaw-dropping."

Riot will be preceded by two short films, including 'Taking the Plunge,' an animated film produced by a group of students from NY's School of Visual Arts, including Rumson native Nick Manfredi. This film has been featured in several high-profile film festivals including Cannes! AND, it was this year's winner of both the Emmy and Oscar for Best animated Student Film. It's described as something as good as you'd see coming out of Disney or Pixar and you will not believe this was made by students!

The main Boardwalk Film Festival is set for September 16th to 18th and will feature a number of films and parties at various venues around Asbury Park. The goal of the festival is to celebrate good storytelling that doesn't trivialize or glorify violence. Filmmaker interest has been tremendous. Over 1100 submissions have been received so far from over 70 countries, so there is sure to be a great collection of films in the festival.

The festival screens films in various categories including feature films, documentaries, shorts, student films, and LGBT films.There is also a new category called Future Features which will showcase TV pilots, webisodes, and sample scenes...all works intended to serve as a blueprint for a larger production at a later date.

The festival would like to support local filmmakers. The deadline for entering is June 30th. You can submit your film online by CLICKING HERE. The festival organizer would love to see a lot of local filmmakers sharing their work with their hometown crowd!

Tickets for the two-part event on June 25th are on sale now and can be ordered online by CLICKING HERE. An online ticket purchase for the screening and party includes two drinks, live entertainment, and free pizza, and costs just $23.