Bill Sorvino – A Dream of a Film Festival

by Sally Deering

 Ideas sometimes come to us in dreams and that’s exactly how Bill Sorvino conceived the Golden Door International Film Festival to be held in Jersey City in October. What started as images flickering in his sleeping mind will now be images flickering on the silver screen.

 “I had a dream last year about having a film festival in Jersey City,” Sorvino says,” and it was like lightning in a bottle. Jersey City is close to my heart. I grew up here and my family has a 100-year history here. I want Jersey City to have something in its own right.”

 

Dreaming of a film festival is not much of a stretch for Sorvino. He’s a screenwriter and actor who studied at the William Esper Studios in New York City and has appeared in several indie films. He also hails from a theatrical family – his uncle is celebrated actor Paul Sorvino and he’s cousin to Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino – and throughout the years Bill Sorvino shared conversations with his Uncle Paul and cousin Mira about film, theater and acting held during family gatherings at the dinner table.  

“My uncle had a farm in Pennsylvania and I would go and hang out and we would eat and talk,” Bill Sorvino says. “One weekend, Mira, my Uncle Paul and Mira’s husband were at his house down the shore and my uncle was holding an (impromptu) class on acting. We were sitting there mesmerized by his depth of knowledge.”

 Not everyone who comes from Jersey City wants to come back and shine a light on the talent here. Usually star-struck wannabees head to Los Angeles and carve their niche there. But Sorvino’s different – his passion for Jersey City and the place where he grew up and his love for film and theater and his uncle Paul and cousin Mira are key factors to his dream. Sorvino and his Uncle Paul are very close – and it’s quite likely festival-goers in October will get a chance to see Paul Sorvino at the festival’s closing night gala at Loew’s Jersey City, the restored movie palace in Journal Square and one of the venues for the festival’s screenings.

The Golden Door International Film Festival will take Jersey City by storm from Oct 13^th through October 16^th – where four local venues will unroll the red carpet to film stars, celebrities and film-goers screening films by local and international filmmakers. It’s a juried competition with awards given out in ten categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor/Actress and Best Cinematographer. Still in the preliminary stages – the venues have been chosen and film submissions are pouring in and Sorvino, who grew up in downtown Jersey City and attended Hudson Catholic high school and St. Peter’s College, wants to encourage local filmmakers to submit their films. Comedies, dramas, documentaries, animations and short films are welcome as are student films.

Filmmakers can submit their films to the Golden Door International Film Festival by going to the website www.withoutabox.com an online submission system for film festival and screenplay competitions. Film Festival directors like Sorvino use the website to manage their festivals and for filmmakers it’s the go-to-place to enter the festival, upload their films and PayPal their entry fee. (Deadline for submissions to the Golden Door International Film Festival is July 1, 2011; entry fee is $50.)

“Everyone goes to withoutabox.com if you are going to put on a festival or submit to a festival,” Sorvino says. “They do the money transactions and post the checklist of submission requirements. It makes it easier to screen the films, too.”

 Festival Highlights

The Golden Door International Film Festival will screen film submissions in Jersey City at the beautifully restored Loew’s Jersey City movie palace in Journal Square; Michael Anthony’s restaurant on the waterfront; LITM restaurant, a hip bistro on Newark Avenue; and Bar Majestic, a cozy gathering place across the street from City Hall on Grove Street.

“Another thing I’ve really come to love about planning the film festival is getting to meet the owners of these places,” Sorvino says. “These owners want to create a better sense of community and have an artistic insight.”

So far, Sorvino has received submissions from all over the globe including South Africa, India, Austria and England and several from local filmmakers. Although the roster of films that will be screened hasn’t been chosen yet (filmmakers will be notified Aug 1^st) several submissions have caught Sorvino’s eye including “Street Corner Harmony” a documentary by Abraham Santiago and Steven Dunham about Doo-Wop groups of the 1950s narrated by record producer Wayne Stierle; and “Night Club” a film by San Borowski starring Ernest Borgnine, Mickey Rooney, Lance Howard and Clint Howard (Ron Howard’s father and brother,) Sally Kellerman (‘Hot Lips’ in the film “M.A.S.H”) and Bill Sorvino’s uncle Paul Sorvino.

Members of Jersey City’s arts community are also joining in to support the festival. At the closing night gala at Loew’s Jersey City a panel of judges, including John Dapolito of Jersey City, who teaches acting and script analysis in New York, will give out awards. Members of the Golden Door International Film Festival’s Board of Advisors will also be on hand including Christine Goodman, Founder/Director of Art House Productions in Jersey City; Eileen Gaughan, administrative aide for the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs; and Joseph Calamito, publisher of the Riverview Observer newspaper and website.

 “I’m holding it in Jersey City, because for me, when I was growing up here downtown was terrible,” Sorvino says, “and in 2007, I came back and saw the changes. It’s amazing what can happen when there’s group effort, community pride and positive energy moving forward. You have a vibrant artist community in Jersey City, great bars and restaurants. It’s like a little Manhattan. I want to make movies here. I tell everybody I know in the business, we have to look at Jersey City as a location to make films.”

To Sorvino, Jersey City could easily become the new go-to destination for filmmakers on the East Coast. All it takes is a festival and a dream.

Submit your Film

Golden Door Film Festival

Film Submissions:  Go to www.withoutabox.com  or  www.goldendoorfilmfestival.com

Deadline:  July 1, 2011

Fee for Submission:  $50

Notification:  Filmmakers will be notified Aug 1, 2011 if their films have been accepted to the competition

The post Golden Door International Film Festival Director Invites Filmmakers to Screen Their Dreams in Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

Metropolitan-area Photographers Spotlight Womenâ€s Strength and Hudson County Dignitaries Honor Women who make a Difference

Feeling rather guilty for not remembering March is Womenâ€s History Month, I began to think about all the great women I have admired. Then I realized, Womenâ€s History Month is not just about thinking nice thoughts about Eleanor Roosevelt (whom I greatly admire); itâ€s about honoring women everywhere who are out there every day contributing to the fabric of our society.

The Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, which hosts 14 arts events a year in the Brennan Gallery at the William J. Brennan Court House in Jersey City, is presenting an exhibit to remind us of the importance of Womenâ€s History Month. Meredith Lippman and Eileen Gaughan of the Cultural Affairs office curated an exhibit of 38 photographs for “In her Strength,” an exhibit by 24 photographers that illustrate womenâ€s courage, energy, tenacity and fortitude. The photos shows women in reflection, with their families, marching for equality, rock climbing, boxing and participating in all sorts of activities. Each of the photos holds a special meaning to the artist which is evident in these candid photos of women in both private and public moments.

“The amazing qualities that women possess often go unnoticed,” Lippman says. “The photographers have captured images of women from around the globe and across ethnic and racial boundaries.”

Artists featured in the exhibit are Heidi Sussman, Gloria Bernard, Tamarra Mohapatra, Debbie Guedalia, Gwen Charles, Tamara Fitzpatrick, Sharon Harvey, Beatrice Mady, Monica Holder, Mildred Kerr, Noncy Ori, Melida Rodas, Kaitlyn Chow, Leona Seufert, India Blake, Roberta Smith, Heidi Sussman, Trang Tran, Kat Wolfe, Mary Pugh Clark, Faruz Ugdah, Lydia Frank, Roslyn Rose and Heather Kurdyla. Many of the artists are professionals and some are on their way, like Heather Kurdyla, 22, of Kearny, a photography major at New Jersey City University. Kurdylaâ€s images are photographs of photos of her great-grandmother Josephine Perna juxtaposed on things she once owned.

“I found some of her belongings and these old photos of her and I wanted to document her life through her belongings,” Kurdyla says. “She was born in 1911 and I thought about all the things she lived through. I was very close to her.”

For 20 years, Robyn Rose of Hoboken was a professional printmaker and used etchings in a lot of her work. She became more involved in photography, doing Polaroid transfers and then started working with Photoshop. Her photograph, “The Suffragettes,” incorporates vintage images of Suffragettes in a time in womenâ€s history that has had a resounding affect on Rose as an artist.

“The Suffragette piece has some personal connection to me,” Rose says. “My sister lives in the Rochester area and weâ€ve gone to historical spots there where there were Suffragette meetings, protests and jailings. Iâ€ve been an ardent feminist since the 70s.”

Debbie Guedaliaâ€s two images in “In her Strength” include a photograph titled “The Bridge,” and “Letter to my Children.” Both works use photography to translate her personal psychological landscape, Guedalia says. “Letter to my Children†is a visual diary of her trip to Poland in August 2010. It contains thirteen color triptychs (three images placed next to each other to create one image) taken over six days of traveling. The triptychs attempt to map out the present-past-present visual world that hides beneath the surface of the landscapes of Krakow, Warsaw, Lubin, Aushwitz-Birkenau, Madjanek, Plaszow and the Lepudowo forest in Poland, she says. They also represent three generations of her family photographed in the memories of those environments and time-frame.

“I created a narrative space that never actually happened, but that the camera has recorded,” Guedalia says. “The image ‘The Bridge†was photographed in Krakow on the bridge that overlooks the Vistula River. All three images contain archival photographs: a sign in Krakow that reads: ‘Jews Forbidden Entryâ€; our guide holding up a book containing a picture of the bridge on which we were standing; and a third image of a girl on the bridge carrying a chair that must be a family heirloom during the evacuation of the Jews. I created these works in an attempt to understand what happened over sixty years ago; and yet, today I still find incomprehensible.”

Feminism abounds in the photographs featured in the “In her Strength” show, which runs through March 25th. Women photographers ranging in age from early 20s to early 90s are represented and the exhibit is a great way to introduce your budding feminists to women who have made a difference.

Our History is Our Strength

Once a year, Hudson County rolls out the red carpet to pay tribute to local women who make an amazing contribution to the quality of life here in Hudson. This yearâ€s program is called “Our History is our Strength” and will spotlight local activists who are usually behind the scenes. It will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 6:30 pm, in the Theodore Conrad Rotunda and is dedicated to the memory of the late Honorable Shirley Tolentino, JSC, who served on the bench in the Justice William Brennan Court House.
Twenty-five women will be honored for their community service, commitment to social activism and contribution to the quality-of life of all the people who make this side of the Hudson their home. They are: Bernice Lord, senior citizen activist; Cathy Macchi of the Hudson County Office on Aging; Maureen Walliser of Hudson County Enterprises; Rosalyn A. Browne, community activist; Monique Smith-Andrews, community activist for women cancer survivors; Dr. Ofelia Garcia, community activist; Alfa Demmeliash, Executive Director of Rising Tides Capital; and Joan Rosen for career service to the Bayonne Public Schools.
Also being honored are Bali Macchio of the Windmill Alliance; Christina Ellis, Educator, Holy Family Academy; Joyce Adams, health care activist; Netta Meltzer, community activist; Rose Gunther, community activist; Eleanor Mueller, activist for St. Josephâ€s School for the Blind; Jeanette Peña, Union City Educator ; Catharina S. Wolf of the Wrap 4 A Smile foundation; Dr. Madeline Zak, community activist; Rose Marie Evaristo, community activist; Jaclyn Cherubini, Director of the Hoboken Shelter; Shirley M. Dennis, community activist; Rosemary McFadden, Jersey City Deputy Mayor; Carol Kravitz, artist and teacher; Jennifer Cullen, community activist; Elaine Nicoliello, community activist; and Elizabeth Irmia-Ferrer, West New York educator.
The programâ€s MC will be Freeholder Doreen McAndrew DiDomenico, who also chairs the Womenâ€s History Month committee. The St. Dominick Academy Dominoes under the musical direction of Joseph Napoli will sing and special presentations will be given by Ana Tolentino, who will reflect on the influence her late mother had on her life and career; Alisa Reid, a student at P.S. No. 40 in Jersey City who will give a recitation on Sojourner Truth; and Dr. Carmela Karnoutsos, a retired Professor of History at New Jersey City University who will highlight the lives of local women leaders of the past.

“This is a way for us to honor the contribution women have made to the Hudson County community,” say Bill LaRosa, Director of Hudson County Cultural & Heritage Affairs. “Women are doing tremendous things here.”

The Brennan Gallery
Justice William Brennan Court House
583 Newark Avenue
Jersey City
201-459-2070
Contacts: Eileen Gaughan: egaughan@hcnj.us
Meredith Lippman: mlippman@hcnj.us

The post Women Take a Bow- In Her Strenght- Photography Exhibit Now to March 25th -Jersey City’s Brennan Court House first appeared on River View Observer.

 Pictured above William La Rosa, Administrator- Hudson County Cultural Affairs & Heritage Affairs/ Tourism Development; Artist Virginia Kamenitzer(who exhibited two photos),and Meredith Lippman; Program Development Specialist, and Eilleen Gaughan; Assistant Administratorboth Ms. Lippman and Ms. Gaughan are  the curators of the exhibit.

The Exhibit will be held from March 2nd- March 26th

For more photos

Photograher Roberta C. Scott standing near one of her photos in exhibit.

 

 

 

 

Artisit – Photographer and Writer Melida Rodas smiles in front of one of her photos on display.

 

 

Photographer Beatrice Meady poses proudly by one of her photographs on display until March 26th at the William J. Brennan Court House in Jersey City.

 

 

 

The post Opening Reception for “HERSTORY” at Justice William J. Brennan Court House, Theodore Conrad Rotunda, Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

Howard Pyle, the “Father of American Illustration,” was also famous for painting historic murals like “The Landing at Carteret” which hangs in the Essex County Court House in Newark and other works collected by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Delaware Art Museum and the Brandywine River Museum. But you don’t have to hop a plane to Frisco or a train to Delaware to see Pyle’s paintings up close. Four murals depicting the history of Hudson County hang in the beautifully restored, Beaux Arts landmark Justice William J. Brennan Court House in Jersey City, where people from all walks of life can view Pyle’s majestic and historic paintings.  

Adorning public buildings with historic art by contemporary artists was a popular concept at the Turn-of-the 20^th century and Pyle’s murals were hung at the Brennan (then called the Hudson County Court House,) soon after it opened on September 10, 1910 (this is the building’s centennial year.) Pyle’s murals are cherished commodities and respectfully maintained by the Hudson County Cultural & Heritage Affairs Tourism Development office housed on the first floor of the building where the department’s administrator Bill LaRosa and his talented staff – some of whom are artists, performers and writers themselves – carry on Pyle’s legacy:

Every month, the staff transforms the first floor’s Theodore Conrad Rotunda into the Brennan Gallery, a public art space that gives local artists a venue to show their work and the local community a chance to experience art up close and personal.  To LaRosa, his staff and the man in charge, Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, art is for the people and by the people.

 “The arts community is an important and growing part of our population,” DeGise says from his wood-paneled office on the first floor of the court house. “Ten percent of our capital projects go to public art. The Brennan was built 100 years ago and it’s still very beautiful and useful. There’s a lesson there. Do it right and with an eye toward the future.” 

And while Pyle, a master artist and illustrator of his time chose to look back in Hudson County’s history as the inspiration for the murals he created, LaRosa and the Cultural Affairs crew concentrate their efforts on artists who create contemporary works in all genres of the visual and performing arts.

 “We have some of the greatest murals of the 20^th century on our walls,” LaRosa says from his first floor office steps away from the marble-floored rotunda. “Why shouldn’t contemporary artists have the privilege of being seen here? The court house is an ideal location to showcase art work.”

To respect the dignity of the Brennan which is on the National Register of Historic Places, LaRosa and his crew stage the Brennan Gallery with the clever use of portable walls and strategic lighting.

 “I remember seeing the gallery when it was completed, it was just beautiful,” LaRosa says. “The paintings were up, the lights were on – the rotunda was made for it.”

Because the court house is a government building, the work is seen by a wide-range of people, from the high-ranking government official to the local citizen on their way to jury duty. Seeing everyday people appreciate the art gives LaRosa great pleasure, he says.

  “I’ll see jurors, sheriff’s officers and county employees looking at the art work and that makes me feel good because that’s what it’s designed to do,” LaRosa says. “Art is for everyone.  A public building shouldn’t be cut and dry. If it can serve a higher purpose, then why not?”

Looking back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Hudson County was home to many art galleries exhibiting local artists’ work, but times changed when storefront galleries became real estate gold. These days, local art galleries are practically nonexistent and many artists look for alternative venues to show their work like restaurants, office buildings, even city halls.

“There are very few galleries in Hudson County because of property values and lack of accessible public spaces,” LaRosa says. “The Brennan Gallery is one of the few.”

This week, the Cultural Affairs team is preparing for a special exhibit for Women’s History Month called “Herstory” curated by Assistant Administrator Eileen Gaughan and Program Development Specialist Meredith Lippman. The show opens March 2^nd and runs through March 26^th and features black-and-white photographs taken by local women photographers who were asked to go out into the community and photograph other women at work.  

“We thought what better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than with an exhibit of women photographing women working in unconventional roles in fields like architecture and mathematics,” Gaughan says. “Who knows a woman better than another woman and who can celebrate women better than her peers?”

 For the past two years, the Women’s History Month exhibition has given women artists like So Yoon Lym, a photographer and painter, the opportunity to have their work shown. Prior to having her work chosen for the 2009 show, Lym’s work was picked for the February “African Americana” exhibit.

  “For the African-Americana show, the artists had to be of African-American ancestry,” Lym says. “What a revolutionary and contemporary concept – that all Americans are in some way connected to this month and could be through their art work. I have always looked to New York City as the center of the art world and though this is true, it’s great to know that there are venues in Jersey City that showcase and promote contemporary artists.” 

Along with professional artists and photographers who exhibit at the Brennan, LaRosa and his staff present shows by senior citizens, teenagers, even patients from a local hospital. Lippman recalls a group show by students at St. Dominic’s Academy, a Catholic High School in Jersey City, who expressed their artistry in a series of painted wooden chairs.

“It was a knockout of an exhibit,” Lippman says.

As Program Development Specialist, Lippman also runs a workshop series to help artists manage their careers. An artist herself, she understands the problems they face trying to handle their careers while creating their art. So, she assembles panels of professionals who discuss important issues like writing artist statements, knowing what museum curators look for when producing shows, copyrights and other matters.

 “I email the artist community and ask them, ‘What do you need?  Give me an idea of what we can do to help you,'” Lippman says.

Along with the Brennan Gallery, LaRosa and his staff host the Brennan Coffee House, a once-a-month, Friday night hootenanny where the rotunda gets transformed again, this time as an intimate bistro with café tables and chairs. Local folksingers and musicians – some with a national following – perform on a portable stage and the acoustics are just right for folk music.  A pet project of County Executive DeGise who’s a real fan of folk legends like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, the coffee house has become a popular night of entertainment for local music lovers and within the historic setting of the court house, songs of protest and peace seem to resound with a deeper meaning.

In September, DeGise will host a special celebration honoring the Brennan’s centennial year. It’s been a hundred years since Pyle’s murals were hung in the court house, but the concept of giving art justice still holds true today through the work of DeGise, LaRosa and the Cultural Affairs staff.  Providing a public forum for art exhibitions not only nurtures an ever-growing artist population, it nourishes a community’s quality-of-life.

As County Executive DeGise says, “There’s a lesson there.”

 Sally Deering is a freelance writer on art and culture.

For more information, email SallyDeer@gmail.com

 

 

The post The Art of Justice: Howard Pyle’s Legacy Prevails at the Brennan Court House first appeared on River View Observer.