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The 13th Annual Garden State Film Festival will be held in Atlantic City, March 19-22, 2015. The four-day event closes with an awards dinner at which several honors will be bestowed for achievement in filmmaking. James Wilder will receive the Independent Spirit Award at the Sunday, March 22nd dinner to be held at the Claridge Hotel, the newly refurbished beachfront venue on the historic Boardwalk. Last year's recipient was actress Laura Dern.
"James Wilder embodies the independent spirit not just for his roles on film and television but for his passion for artistic creation," states Diane Raver, Executive Director of the festival. "We are also delighted he is attending the festival with his new film. His starring performance is outstanding and the film is terrific," she adds. In Two Brads and a Smoking Gun (upcoming theatrical release title, 3 Holes and a Smoking Gun) Wilder plays an ex-Hollywood screenwriter turned teacher in a battle of wits with a devious student.
Raised in the bohemian enclave of Sausalito, Wilder attended an all-boys advanced learning institute. At the age of 14, he was living in Paris, regaling audiences with his one man show at such legendary venues as the Moulin Rouge and Lido, and later on Broadway. Wilder nabbed a role in the Broadway hit Sugar Babies while studying at the famed NY Actors Studio. His breakout role was as the troubled addict son of Ed Asner in the ABC Circle Theater presentation "Cracked Up." Coincidentally, Asner will also be honored at the 2015 festival where a documentary about him, My Friend Ed, is premiering on Saturday, May 21st.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Wilder made a splash on the small screen in a number of popular series, including Equal Justice, Melrose Place and Models Inc., and found success in film, as well. He starred in The Coriolis Effect, which won The Grand Prize in its category at the Venice Film Festival. It was his scorching depiction of serial killer Carl Isaacs in the acclaimed Miramax film Murder One that thrust him into the limelight. Having spent an entire day with the prisoner at Atlanta's Reedsville State Penitentiary, Wilder embodied the dark and sinister psyche of a deranged murderer with chilling acuity. Or as the New York Times wrote: "James Wilder, as Carl Isaacs, is a thoroughly malevolent character, one in whom evil rather than insanity seems to prevail."
A true renaissance man, Wilder balances his work as an actor with a passion for visual art, architecture and design. Untrained as an architect or interior designer, Wilder's keen eye and distinct vision has transformed a dozen empty lots throughout California into panoramic living art. The homes he built in his exclusive Hollywood Hills neighborhood have evolved into a loosely-structured artist's retreat. Wilder has experimented with sculpture, and creates apparel and jewelry approaching his various endeavors with equal enthusiasm and expertise.
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 13th Annual Garden State Film Festival:
The 13th Annual Garden State Film Festival could not be possible without the generous support of the following sponsors: Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Panavision, Artists Alike Studios, njscreenwriter.org, NJ TV, InkTip,Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs. Richard Stockton College, Dante Hall, The Noyes Arts Garage and others. For more information about our sponsors please visit http://www.gsff.org/sponsors.
