GARDEN STATE FILM FESTIVAL to Debut in Atlantic City, 4/4

On Friday, April 4, 201 the Garden State Film Festival will kick off its twelfth season in its new home with a cocktail party and premier screening at Resorts Casino and Hotel. Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian will serve as Honorary Chair, emcee and cut the ribbon on the city's newest cultural event. Joining him that evening will be celebrity VIPs Ed Asner, Diane Ladd, and Stockton College professor, actor and orator Franklin Ojeda Smith, this year's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Dr. Smith is a successful working character actor who arrived at his current career by circuitous route. After almost 30 years in academia and a battle with cancer, he decided to pursue his secret ambition to become a working actor and found almost immediate success. In the past decade, he has amassed dozens of film and television credits. Dr. Smith is featured in the festival selection, Pacing the Cage, screening at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 in Resorts Horizon.

The party begins at 7:00 p.m. with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the Resorts Ballroom located on the dining level at 1133 Boardwalk. It will be followed by a premier screening in the Superstar Theatre of How to Make Movies at Home, an independent comedy set in small town Maine where local filmmakers come face to face with Hollywood when the town is selected as the location for a reality tv show. The film's writer and director Morgan Nichols, producer Amy Palmo, cinematographer David Danesh, and actors Elizabeth Lardie, Ellen Soderberg, Oded Gross, John Andrew Morrison, Micia Mosely and Julie Kline are all attending and will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Mr. Nichols previous features, Jesus Freak and The Little Death received numerous awards and critical acclaim.

Tickets are $25.00 for the cocktail party and screening and $12.00 for the screening only, available in advance on-line, and at the door on a first come first serve basis. Weekend passes provide access to both events and are available for $60.00 at www.gsff.org and at the festival box offices located on site.

For more information about the Garden State Film Festival, contact: Anne Kneuer atanne@gsff.org or (877) 908-7050.

About the Garden State Film Festival

The Garden State Film Festival was envisioned by 25-year film industry veteran Diane Raver and the late Hollywood actor Robert Pastorelli in 2002 and launched the following year. Since 2003, thousands of films have made their public premiers, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have attended; and the total infusion of cash to local businesses since inception exceeds $5 million. Until 2013, it was held in Asbury Park, in and around the Convention Center complex. In 2014, it will move to Atlantic City as a major component of DO AC, the marketing campaign to promote arts and culture the city spearheaded by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. The GSFF is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization.

About the Sponsors of the 12th Annual Garden State Film Festival

The 12th Annual Garden State Film Festival could not be possible without the generous support of the following sponsors: For more information about our sponsors please visithttp://www.gsff.org/sponsors