LONG BEACH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Kicks Off 9th Year of Free Film Screenings on Long Beach

The Long Beach International Film Festival (LBIFF) is celebrating its ninth anniversary with an action-packed line up of independent and studio films from around the globe. Taking place from July 27 through August 1 in Long Beach and on longbeachfilm.com, the Festival will screen an international slate of over 40 films, including feature-length narrative, documentary, short and animated that will compete for a series of Jury Awards.

Enjoy free, live screenings on the beach at the Allegria Hotel (80 West Broadway, Long Beach) nightly at sunset, just bring a lawn chair and blanket. Tickets are free, pre-registration is required at www.longbeachfilm.com. Thursday and Friday nights will screen full-length feature films on the beach, and Saturday night will be "Shorts on the Beach," a compilation of short films screened one after the next at the beachfront theater, built specifically for the festival.

On Thursday, July 29 at 8:30pm, festival-goers can register to watch 86'd: How A Global Pandemic Rocked The World's Culinary Capital, a documentary film by six-time Emmy Award-winner Rob Petrone. the executive producer and host of Restaurant Hunter for Verizon's Fios1 News. As COVID-19 started spreading in New York in March of 2020, Petrone reached out to many of his former Restaurant Hunter colleagues with an idea -- to capture this pandemic from a restaurant perspective in real time, creating a time capsule of the biggest story any of us have ever lived through. He put his restaurant industry contacts and expertise to work, following a moving target of a story wherever it led, which included a linen supply company and a one-woman farm. The emotions are raw as the documentary is history as it unfolded.

On Friday, July 30 at 8:30pm, tune into My promise to PJ, a documentary film by actor Daniel Baldwin, that takes viewers on his journey across the world to fulfill a promise. A promise he made to his friend (PJ) Patrick Michael Raynor Jr. that if PJ should become two years sober, they would run with the bulls together in Pamplona, Spain to celebrate PJ's sobriety. Tragically, that day never came, and after 3 years of sobriety, PJ died of a surprise drug overdose. Haunted from the loss of PJ, Baldwin decides to get in shape and run with the bulls to honor the promise he made to his beloved friend. Along the way you see the emotional aftermath that drug addiction has on a family that tries to cope with the loss of their son, brother, nephew and friend.

On Saturday, July 31, families can enjoy "Shorts on the Beach," a compilation of different movie shorts played one after the next on the shores of Long Beach. Visit www.longbeachfilm.com for the full move schedule, including a list of the 40-plus films being screened virtually. Festival guests can pay $5 per film to watch anytime on the website, or pay $40 for a pass to see all films at any time during the festival dates.

Having had to cancel last year's Festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LBIFF is excited to present this year's festival as a hybrid, offering films both in-person and online. Typically, the Festival offers multiple nights of in-person events such as "Chefs and Shorts," wine-paired dinner with the Island's top chefs and "Taste on the Beach," featuring bites and sips from Long Island's best restaurants and bars, as well as dozens of film screenings at the Long Beach Cinema and Regal Lynbrook & RPX.

Partnering with the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has helped grow the Long Beach International Film Festival (LBIFF) through the years as Nassau County increasingly develops into the prime film shoot destination it is today. Home to television shows, movies, documentary films and more, Long Island has the people, places, scenery and studios to rival Los Angeles as the film capital of the country. In 2022, LBIFF will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in a big way with the many live food, film and fun events like in years past.

ABOUT LBIFF

The Long Beach International Film Festival began in late summer 2012 and showcased nine short films and documentaries during the inaugural event. In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck Long Beach, flooding and destroying the city's only movie theater, and jeopardizing the future of the film festival. But the show must go on! With the help and grant money from Nassau County, the LBIFF was able to host a successful 2013 season, and has continued to do so each year. The 2021 festival will screen an international slate of over 40 films, including feature-length narrative, documentary, short, animated and student films.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of 86'd: How A Global Pandemic Rocked the World's Culinary Capital