GSFF says goodbye Asbury Park, hello Atlantic City
With $300,000 in funding, AC secures annual festival for next three years
Atlantic City has officially acquired the Garden State Film Festival [GSFF] for at least the next three years.
The city’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority [CDRA] voted Tuesday at their monthly meeting to provide financial assistance in the amount of $300,000 to the film festival over the next three years, according to Diane Raver, the festival’s executive director.
“I’m sorry to say, we are leaving [Asbury Park],” said Raver.
Raver and fellow GSFF board member Gwen Pastorelli, who is the sister of late actor and festival co-founder Robert Pastorelli, made the drive down to Atlantic City to hear the decision themselves.
“We were saying on the ride down, it is incredible it is that it came to this,” Raver said, “but we are over the moon at finally being recognized for the part we play in the state’s tourism efforts. To be appreciated is very important.”
The CRDA’s board of directors made a preliminary vote to determine the project availability of hosting the film fest at their July 16 meeting. The vote today determined project approval and fund reservations, according to an agenda for the CRDA’s monthly meeting.
Through the CRDA, capital investment funds are used to provide “meaningful, positive improvement in the lives of New Jersey residents statewide,” according to their website.
Raver said next steps for the GSFFs board of directors will be to determine screening locations for the festival, to be held April 3-6, 2014.
“The thing about Atlantic City is that there are a ton of venues,” said Raver. “The goal is to stay on the boardwalk from Resorts to the Tropicana.”
Included in the list of possible locations is the IMAX theater within the Tropicana Resort, which Raver said would allow the GSFF to “really be able to expand to [their] full potential.”
The annual film festival has been held in Asbury Park’s Paramount Theater [above] since its inception ten years ago. Due to a state-mandated installation of sprinkler systems in the theater and adjoining Convention Hall — which must be addressed by the fall — Madison Marquette may decommission the building because of the cost of the fire protection systems. Madison Marquette has said that its loss of control of 600 parking spaces along the waterfront is a major factor affecting its investment decisions regarding Convention Hall and boardwalk properties.
GSFF representatives began searching for a new host city in July, after communications between festival board members and city officials to keep the event in Asbury Park went unresolved.
Raver would, however, still like to have a presence in Asbury Park, she said.
“We hope to continue our mission and to bring a “Best of the Fest” to Asbury Park each year,” she said.
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