48 MAY 2020 | TheJournalNJ.com
18TH ANNUAL GARDEN STATE FILM
FESTIVAL DELIGHTS THOUSANDS
the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom,
Canada, Italy, Australia, Finland, Belgium and Croatia, to name a few. The
best part was that the event brought conversation promoting entertainment
into living rooms at a time when it was needed most.
“I am intensely proud of our team,” Sheehy said. “We believe the
opportunity to venture into a new, digital frontier could serve as a blueprint
for festivals worldwide. We had a blast bringing global film fans
GSFF 2020 through online and virtual exposures, especially when so
many were feeling isolated. We know that the arts have a positive impact
on mental health, and it gave people plenty of non-virus topics to talk
about.”
Dirato added, “We were blown away by the number of people who
tuned in to our 18th festival. Our legions of fans backed our monumental
decision to stream online, and they turned out in record numbers, considering
the pandemic.”
Chairman of the Board Eric Ascalon added, “Working with a shoestring
budget, a small staff, some brilliant technicians, a legion of dedicated
volunteers, a whole lot of passion and a little bit of luck, we became
the first Indie festival in this COVID-19 world to essentially transform its
complete real-time schedule.”
Founder Diane Raver said, “I couldn’t believe the decision we were
faced with. For the past 18 years, we have come together as a family. We
didn’t know what to expect when we made the decision to go virtual, but it
was truly a heaven-sent solution that allowed our family to join together in
a time we needed each other most of all. I thank so many who continued
to support us by buying tickets throughout the entire weekend and look
forward to meeting them all in per- son next March 24
through 28, 2021 for the 19th annual
Garden State Film Festival.”
The GSFF also thanks its many
honorees and sponsors, including
the Presenting Sponsor, The
Journal, who steadfastly supported
the event throughout all the
last-minute adjustments.
The Garden State Film Festival
is busy planning upcoming
best of the fest events and numerous
outreach screenings
of films for school, veterans,
seniors and special groups. To
learn more, visit
GSFF.org.
During a time when Gov. Phil Murphy banned public gatherings of
10 or more, what do you when you are weeks away from running
an event that will draw nearly 25,000 attendees? You go virtual and
you bring more than 240 of the best independent films from around the
world to an audience who are stuck at home, looking for some diverse entertainment.
And that’s just what the Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) did
this March!
It was indeed a feat. A live stream undertaking like this had never
been done by any other film festival, and the fact that this festival was
so large just multiplied the challenges. Executive Director Lauren Concar
Sheehy and Director of Operations Kristen Dirato assembled a technical
team to work around the clock to create the intricate technical platform that
would allow ticket holders to move seamlessly between screening rooms
throughout the event.
In another boiler room, Founder Diane Raver, numerous executive
board members and their team worked out the physical adjustments including
online ticket fulfillment and cancelations of live venues. Others
worked on the media relations side to share the word that the festival
would continue while attracting an even wider audience base who eagerly
took advantage of the virtual format. Then there were all the travel and
hotel cancellations, the permissions required of all filmmakers and the
endless phone calls.
But in the end, an audience of 15,000 tickets holders and their loved
ones settled in front of their home TVs, computers, tablets and mobile
phones to watch hour after hour of these incredible films. There were feature
length and shorts, documentaries, student films, animations, thrillers,
family selections and live stream Facebook Q&A sessions with the filmmakers
following each screening block. Even the black tie awards ceremony
went virtual, hosted by the pajama-clad team of Sheehy and Vice Chair
Heather Brittain O’Scanlon.
The virtual format of this year’s festival allowed filmmakers to reach
movie buffs all over the world as the data shows the films were screened in
BY LORI DRAZ
/TheJournalNJ.com
/GSFF.org