The North Shore will play host to an independent cinema showcase next month, as the second annual Gold Coast International Film Festival returns to the Town of North Hempstead.
From Oct. 24 to Oct. 28 the festival, organized by the Great Neck Arts Center, will highlight both local talent and Hollywood classics, screening films across the North Shore as well as at venues in Manhattan.
Theaters in Roslyn, Great Neck, Manhasset and Port Washington will participate in the festival.
According to festival director Aviva Miller, the festival is designed to promote both the arts and the communities served by the Great Neck Arts Center.
In an interview, Miller noted Great Neck’s cultural history as the home of artistic figures like the Marx Brothers and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“This area used to be Hollywood” said Miller. “I have a clear and deep devotion to make sure [Great Neck] remains on the map.”
One of the ways the festival seeks to do that is by showcasing local talent. The centerpiece of the festival is an early screening of local filmmaker and actor Edward Burns’ “The Fitzgerald Family Christmas.”
Burns, an indie film pioneer who grew up in Valley Springs and attended Mineola’s Chaminade High School, will receive the festival’s Artist of Distinction Filmmaker award.
The film, which stars writer-director Burns, draws on his Irish Catholic upbringing in a story of family dynamics and holiday reunion.
“Ed Burns is probably the most well-known independent filmmaker who comes from Long Island,” said Miller. “We think [Burns] is the face of our festival. He represents the best of Long Island talent in independent filmmaking.”
Filmmakers Michael Cuesta and Louis Guerra, who have both worked on Showtime’s spy thriller “Homeland”, are also among the Long Island natives featured at the festival.
But the festival is not just a hometown affair.
Hollywood classic “West Side Story” will be screened at festival sponsor New York Institute of Technology’s auditorium in a 50th anniversary celebration that will include a question and answer session with stars Russ Tamblyn and George Chakiris.
Chaminade High School will also play host to a piece of film history. Silent movie classic “The Mark of Zorro” will be screened with live accompaniment from the school’s theater organ.
At the festival’s opening gala, best-selling author and Garden City resident Nelson DeMille will be presented with the Gold Coast Legend award.
Among other notable events are a screening of “Quartet,” actor Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, and a talk by long-time Hollywood agent Bud Moss on the ins and outs of show business.
The festival is sponsored by the Great Neck Arts Center, the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, AMC Networks and the New York Institute of Technology, among others.
Miller also spoke to the importance of film as a populist art that provides entertainment and meaning to a wide audience.
“Film is probably the most important genre in media,” she said. “Really, basically anybody can make a movie.”
