Fort Lee Film Commission and Fort Lee Coalition for the Arts will hold the annual John Barrymore Birthday Fundraiser on February 15, 2012 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at In Napoli Restaurant (116 Main Street) in Fort Lee. Tickets are $15 each and all proceeds to go to the Fort Lee Film Commission / Fort Lee High School Production of the musical Mack & Mabel this May.

Fort Lee Film Commission Film History Map of Fort Lee Available Free to the Public

The Fort Lee Film Commission was awarded a 2011 Bergen County History Grant to develop and print a film history map of Fort Lee, the first American film town. This guide to the birthplace of the American film industry includes rare archival photos from the Fort Lee Film Commission collection as well as informative narrative and a descriptive map of the borough listing the locations of film history sites and information as to if the structures still exist. For copies of this map, call the Film Commission at (201) 693-2763 or visit the Fort Lee Museum (1588 Palisade Avenue, hours weekends Noon to 4PM and Wednesdays 7-9PM), the Fort Lee Borough Hall, 309 Main Street, or the Fort Lee Public Library, 320 Main Street.

Directors Guild of America Bestows Special Directorial Lifetime Achievement Award on Fort Lee's Alice Guy Blache

The DGA bestowed a Posthumous Special Directorial Achievement Award for Lifetime Achievement to the first woman director in cinema history, Alice Guy Blache at their DGA Honors ceremony in New York City on October 13th. Madame Blache built Solax Studio on Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee in 1912 and she produced, directed and wrote hundreds of films at this location through World War I. The Fort Lee Film Commission has been lobbying for this DGA award for Madame Blache for the past decade. We thank the entire DGA for this honor and most especially DGA Vice President and 2009 Fort Lee Film Commission Alice Award winner Gary Donatelli for his leadership within the DGA to make this honor possible. Members of the Fort Lee Film Commission attended this ceremony.

The Fort Lee Film Commission worked with DGA VP Gary Donatelli, The Whitney Museum's Joan Simon, Alice Guy biographer Alison McMahan, New York Women in Film & Television, Christina Kotlar and Nancy O'Mallon and Garden State Film Festival Executive Director Diane Raver to make the DGA Special Directorial Lifetime Achievement Award to Alice Guy Blache possible. We thank Mr. Scorsese and the DGA for a wonderful presentation and tribute to Fort Lee's own Madame Blache of Solax Studio.

Greetings From Palisades Amusement Park: Our Last Summer in the Sun

Slide Show & Lecture by Palisades Amusement Park historian and documentarian Vince Gargiulo
September 16 @ 7PM at the Fort Lee Historic Park Museum off Hudson Terrace and Bruce Reynolds Blvd (Bridge Plaza South)

This event is co-sponsored by the Fort Lee Film Commission and the Palisades Interstate Park and is free to the public. There will be a meet & greet with author Vince Gargiulo and light refreshments served from 7-7:30PM and program will start at 7:30PM. Vince will display rare photos and artifacts from the park during the slide show / lecture and he will be joined by Fort Lee Film Commission Executive Director Tom Meyers and Palisades Interstate Park Historical Interpreter Eric Nelsen as they discuss the history of this great American amusement park on the 40th anniversary of its closing. For further info call the Fort Lee Film Commission at (201) 693-2763.

Greetings from Palisades Amusement Park: Palisades Amusement Park on Film & TV

October 21st @ 7PM at the Fort Lee Community Center (1355 Inwood Terrace, 2nd floor)

This event sponsored by the Fort Lee Film Commission is free to the public. Palisades Amusement Park historian Vince Gargiulo and Fort Lee Film Commission Executive Director Tom Meyers will screen rare films, some of which have not been seen since their original TV air dates. Among the programs screened will be two CBS TV shows filmed on location in the park in the 1950's and broadcast on national TV. We will also screen the rarely seen film Reckless Romeo starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. This film was shot in Palisades Amusement Park and on Main Street and Linwood Avenue in Fort Lee. Vince Gargiulo will also introduce a screening of his PBS documentary Palisades Amusement Park A Century of Fond Memories. Admission is free and seating is limited to the first 150. Doors open at 6:30PM. Call the Fort Lee Film Commission at (201) 693-2763 for further information.

 

New Jersey Education Association Awards Fort Lee Film Commission $5,000 Grant

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) recently presented a $5,000 sponsorship check to the Fort Lee Film Commission. The NJEA via this sponsorship will partner with the Fort Lee Film Commission on a number of programs in 2011. These programs include the annual Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Bergen County High School Student Film Festival in November and the birthday luncheon for the first woman director in cinema history Alice Guy Blache on July 1. This sponsorship funding was also used to mount the recent Reel Jersey Girls Film Symposium at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park, NJ. The funding is much appreciated and will also be accessed for outreach and education to New Jersey students as regards the film history of this pioneer film state of New Jersey.

FLFC holds symposium on first woman director in film history

The Fort Lee Film Commission sponsored a symposium on the first woman director in world cinema history, Alice Guy Blache of Solax Studio, which was located in Fort Lee, NJ. This April 2nd, 2011 symposium was held in the Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, NJ as part of the 2011 Garden State Film Festival. Visit http://www.gsff.org for further information on the 2011 Garden State Film Festival (March 31-April 3) at Asbury Park, NJ.

Symposium panel members (left to right): Fort Lee Film Commission program organizer Christina Kotlar Turchyn, casting director Kimberly Skyrme, writer / curator and arts administrator Joan Simon, symposium moderator and Executive Director of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFTV) Terry Lawler, New Jersey based writer / director / producer Hisani Dubose and New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission Executive Director Steve Gorelick. Not pictured is symposium member and GSFF Executive Director Diane Raver.

Left to right, symposium panelists Hisani Dubose, GSFF Executive Director and 2011 Fort Lee Film Commission Alice Guy Blache Award winner Diane Raver and Steve Gorelick.

Hooray for Hollywood and TCM's "Movies & Moguls"

Reproduced from newsobserver.com - submitted by adriennj on 11/01/2010 - 07:35

Movies are one of America's greatest contributions to culture, and that's what makes "Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood" (TCM, 8 tonight), so wonderful. [www.tcm.com/moguls]

The rise of "Hollywood" is the story of immigrants, ingenuity, creativity and big business; in other words, the history of movies has all the elements for great storytelling.

The seven-part series (each only an hour) looks at the industry from its very beginnings, through the ground shifting that occurred via the 1960s film auteurs.

The scope and depth of the documentary, narrated by the regal Christopher Plummer, is impressive. There's rarely seen and never-before-seen footage, but more than that, it's packed with facts presented in an agile way.

I screened two parts; the first, "Peepshow Pioneers," introduces such great names as the Warner Brothers (who opened their first theater, the Bijou, in a storefront using borrowed chairs from an undertaker), Louis B. Mayer and Carl Laemmle. Thomas Edison, who invented moving picture machine, comes across as a genius, not above using thuggery to protect his intellectual property. (Penny arcade films, by the way, sound a lot like an early version of YouTube.) We learn Fort Lee, N.J. was the first Hollywood, and D.W. Griffith was a stage actor who worked for Edison's movie company, then went to a competitor for more money, somewhat reluctantly, to work as a director. And there were women involved in those early years. One, Alice Ghee, was a secretary who made films after work.

The second part "The Birth of Hollywood," covers 1907 to 1920 when films went west and films starting to become full-length and diversified in genre -- animated, comedy, Westerns all sprung up. We meet Charlie Chaplin, and learn about the rise of Mary Pickford and the star system. Indeed, women are highlighted in this part; it's interesting that women played a major role in Hollywood's development, as artists and audience, (one historian says the industry was built by 'immigrants, women and Jews'), and nowadays, women struggle to find roles on screen and as directors. Griffith's controversial "Birth of a Nation" also undergoes clear-headed analysis.

Besides film historians, the documentary includes descendants of some of these great pioneers, so you get a more personal sense of them.

TCM is following each hour with films that reflect the period covered in the hour. At 9, after "Peepshow Pioneers" the network will air the films of Thomas Edison, 30 narratives shorts and documentaries. Then at 11, the documentary airs again, followed just after midnight with eight shorts by D.W. Griffith (before "Birth of a Nation"), and then at 2:10 a.m. there are 16 shorts by French filmmaker Georges Melies, who incorporated special effects into his films.

TCM Moguls & Movie Stars Producer Jon Wilkman Thanks Fort Lee Film Commission

 

Click above image for web site

2011 JERSEY FILMMAKERS OF TOMORROW BEST OF FEST - "IT ONLY TAKES ONE"

The 2011 Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Bergen County High School Student Film Festival was held on November 12 at MediaMix Studios in Allendale, NJ. The Best of the Fest winner is Alexandra Schulsinger of Northern Highlands Regional High School for her film IT ONLY TAKES
ONE. The Best of the Fest prize is a $500 US Savings Bond and 72 hours of post production time in Sirk Productions Digital Studio in New York City. Second prize ($200 US Savings Bond) goes to Steven Lopez of Rutherford High School for his film A LOPEZ CARTOON: UNDERCOVER APPLE MASTERMIND. Third prize ($100 US Savings Bond) goes to Ryan McIlraith of Northern Highlands Regional High School for his film TALKING BACK AT THE BEACH.

Applications for our 2012 Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Bergen County High School Student Film Festival will be placed online on March 1, 2012. We are proud to have the New Jersey Education Association, FDU and MediaMix Studios on board as sponsors of this festival. Visit www.jerseyfilmmakersoftomorrow.org for further
information or call (201) 693-2763.

 

JFOT Festival Director Tom Meyers and 2011 JFOT Best of the Fest winner Alexandra Schulsinger

FLFC congratulates Bergen County students on success at Garden State Film Festival

The Fort Lee Film Commission congratulates our 2010 Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Bergen County High School Student Film Festival winners Kevin and Nicole for their success at the recent Garden State Film Festival in
Asbury Park:

2011 GSFF Winners

The Garden State Film Festival would like to recognize films shot in the State of New Jersey with the following winners in the “Home Grown Award” categories:

Home Grown Student Short, High School
“Carved”
Kevin Cheetham, Director/Writer

Home Grown Documentary Short-High School
“Havana Nights”
Nicole Umina

Fort Lee Film Commission produced documentary on the first woman director in cinema history, Alice Guy Blache, is in production

The Fort Lee Film Commission will participate in the Whitney Museum Fall 2009 Alice Guy Blache Retrospective.  This will be the largest film retrospective to date on this first lady of the cinema.  We will highlight her role as the owner / operator of Solax Studio in Fort Lee.  The Fort Lee Film Commission will be filming the Whitney Museum retrospective for inclusion in our documentary on Alice Guy Blache.  We hope that this work will lead to Alice Guy Blache's entry into the Director's Guild of America.

Fort Lee Film Commission presents 2010 Alice Guy Blache Award to Parker Posey

The Fort Lee Film Commission presents its 2010 Alice Guy Blache Award to one of the great American actresses of our day - Ms. Parker Posey - June 11 at the Lake Placid Film Forum, which hosted this award ceremony as part of a fantastic annual film festival. Pictured belowe from left to right: Tom Meyers, Fort Lee Film Commission Executive Director, Parker Posey, Lake Placid Film Forum Artistic Director Kathleen Carroll, and Fort Lee Film Commission Chairman Nelson Page.

HOLLYWOOD ON THE HUDSON - New Book Authored by Fort Lee Film Commission's Richard Koszarski

Rutgers University Professor and film historian Richard Koszarski's new book HOLLYWOOD ON THE HUDSON is available in book stores. This comprehensive study of the film industry on the East Coast tells a unique story that has not been well documented over the years. When the film industry left for California there remained a vibrant and active film community in the New York City / Fort Lee, NJ area. Professor Koszarski uncovers the facts and details of this interesting chapter of American film history.

Left to right - Fort Lee Film Commission Chairman Nelson Page, 2006 Barrymore Award Honoree Academy Award winning actress Celeste Holm, Fort Lee Film Commission executive Director Tom Meyers and Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Festival Director Christina Kotlar at the Lafayette Theatre during the 2006 "Evening with Celeste Holm" tribute (photo by Donna Brennan).

The Fort Lee Film Commission recently completed a two-year restoration of the only known existing print of the first surviving American film version of Robin Hood. This film, made at the Eclair Studio in Fort Lee in 1912 (current day site of Constitution Park on Linwood Avenue), was restored from a 16mm print and 35mm nitrate elements provided to the Film Commission by the late film collector Al Dettlaff. The film was restored and blown to 35mm. Fuji Films donated the film stock and the restoration process was directed by Sirk Productions' Kris Fraga, Marc Perez, John Sikes and B.B. Enriquez. Metropolis Film Labs of Manhattan under the direction of Jack Rizzo performed the lab work. Film historian and commission member Richard Koszarski led the restoration team in the reconstruction of inter title cards and insertion of 35mm elements. The Film Commission premiered Robin Hood at a June 23 screening at the Fine Arts Theatre in Hollywood, California. Pictured at the screening are film historian and Entertainment Tonight movie critic Leonard Maltin (center), Film Commission Chairman Nelson Page (left) and Film Commission Executive Director Tom Meyers (right). The Film Commission will hold the New Jersey premiere of "Robin Hood" during the October "Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow" program.

Photo by Donna Brennan

Teens of the Lou Costello Jr. Youth Center of East Los Angeles Complete "The Lou Costello Project" Film

The teens of the Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center premiered their film "The Lou Costello Project" on June 24 at the Fine Arts Theatre in Hollywood, California. This film, produced jointly by the Mary Pickford Institute and the Fort Lee Film Commission, details the history of the Center and its founder Lou Costello and highlights the life of the kids of the Center today. A special thanks to documentary filmmaker Andie Hicks of the Mary Pickford Institute for her work with the teens of the Center. The Fort Lee Film Commission hopes to enter this film in film festivals across the country including the 2007 Garden State Film Festival.

Former FLFC Chair Lou Azzollini, Chris Costello, FLFC Exeuctive Director Tom Meyers, FLFC volunteer Scott Manganelli and Lou Costello Jr. Youth Center Recreation Coordinator Louis Euzarraga are pictured holding photos of Lou Costello at the Center.