Johnny Mathis to retire with final show in Englewood

Jersey Proud: Broadway’s ‘Doo Wop Project’ comes to Little Falls

Fred Astaire Dance Studios opens new location in New Canaan

Jonas Brothers' Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour tickets go on sale

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week returns with 70+ eateries next week

Main Street Connecticut: Showcasing the best spring spots Bridgeport has to offer

newyork

Lauren Due

3282025NJlauren6

Well, the New Jersey film industry is booming, and you could check it all out at the Garden State Film Festival. Yeah, New, New Jersey's Lauren D is at the Cranford Theater with the organizers for a preview. Hey Lauren. Hey, it's going to be a great event already going on. We have David, Lauren, Doreen, all board members of the Garden State Film Festival. Lauren, you're the executive director. Let's get right to it. So the history, how many films, where can you watch it? So the history of the Garden State Film Festival it all started with Diane River, who's the founder of the Garden State Film Festival, when she came home from New York City to. Her children, she was very upset at Asbury Park in the state it was in, so it was her cultural mecca growing up, so she thought, why not make an all-encompassing film festival for the Garden State and name it the Garden State Film Festival. So it's our 24th year, and we have over 200 films from 16 different countries, and we're screening across 9 venues. We have 49 events. Basically in 4 days and we're so excited to be once again back at our home at the Cranford Theater. I love it here in Cranford, Dore so great here. So we're at the Cranford Theater very excited. This is our 5th year hosting the Garden State Film Festival, and we're just thrilled that we can provide an arena for independent filmmakers to showcase their passion projects and. Just their hard work exactly and David, it's so incredible to be here in New Jersey you know the fantastic thing about it is that we are the home for independent film. When you at Garden State Film Festival, we give you that independent film and we really make filmmakers become part of a family. They are, once they're in the festival, they are sold. They're there forever. We love them. And we stick to Jersey, right? And we appreciate Jersey and we actually are gonna meet some of those filmmakers coming up today, so stay with us. We are at the Cranford Theater this morning, Lauren Dune he's 12, New Jersey.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/79340acb-e3e7-4235-9226-f801f7d8075d/79340acb-e3e7-4235-9226-f801f7d8075d.transcribe

3282025NJlauren630_2025-03-28-07-03-59

Well, the New Jersey film industry is booming, and you could check it all out at the Garden State Film Festival. And news New Jersey's Lauren D is at the Cranford Theater for a preview for us. All smiles. Lauren, you're actually speaking with some of the filmmakers. Let me tell you that, and this one I love first rights we're gonna talk to Marilynn Adams, and this is incredible. You're from California, but this is about a mob, and we know all about that in New Jersey. So tell us about what this film is about. Um, First Rites is about a, uh, it's, it's principally about a crime family. Angelo played by Flavio Romeo and his two sons, Vinny and Geo played by Jaron Anderson and Matthias Cassar and. Um, Vinny is groomed as the uh as the heir parent because his brother's always in trouble. He's actually just getting out of prison when we open on the movie. And through the journey, yes, but Vinny Vinny's not really built for it and so it's, it's sort of a, a transitional movie for Vinny of how he deals with it and the pressure and uh there's two major pieces of the family trying to um. Sort of groom Vinny and and Vinny and Geo sort of navigating that of becoming the next generation to take over the family but there's there's another family that they're warring with there's also some cops uh. That are after them for specific reasons that you'll see in the movie, but um. But yeah it's um it's a really cool tale um old school mob style but in present day uh we filmed in New York in New Jersey um we filmed a lot in New Jersey and we yeah yeah what was your favorite part about New Jersey real quick? Oh my gosh, I think probably the people, the people were just really cool. We worked with so many incredible people when I cast the movie from California, from Northern California. I knew one cast member, Darren Anderson, and he played, he played one of our lead characters, and, uh, he introduced me to everyone else and a lot of them come from New Jersey and especially like Flavio, he's the one who's like, you've gotta put it in at the Garden State Film Festival. This is so you gotta check it out. When can you check it out if you want to? Uh, it's gonna be this Saturday 9 p.m. at the Cranford Theater. Get your tickets now. We are hanging out at the Cranford Theater this morning, Lauren Dune is 12, New Jersey.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/256087a1-f8b9-482e-a316-c84f69eefdc0/256087a1-f8b9-482e-a316-c84f69eefdc0.transcribe

3282025NJlauren7_2025-03-28-07-37-23

New Jersey Film Festival film industry is booming, and you can check it out at the Garden State Film Festival. Yeah, Nissan New Jersey's Lauren D is at the Cranford Theater with the organizers. She has a preview for us, and Lauren, you're speaking more with more filmmakers now. What are they saying? Exactly right on the stage here we're gonna talk about Bagger man. We have the director. We have producers and actors. You joked around, you said you gotta do everything these days, right? So let's talk to the man himself, the director. So what's this film about? It's about a homeless Iraq War veteran living on the streets of New York City and uh he discovers uh. Suitcase full of money from the 1970s and um uses that to change his life for the better and I recognize you. You are that man with the money so what's it like acting on the streets of New York and even New Jersey? It's a maze exhilarating. New York tests you no matter what you're doing, so we had the audacity to try to make a movie. And it came out pretty good, I gotta say, yeah, yeah, Frankie did pretty good. You're Lenny, the, the actor and producer, yeah, and Matt, this is your first time producing. What was that like? Yeah, this is my first time producing and as Lenny said, it's independent film is wearing many hats. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of passion and, uh, shooting in New York and New Jersey. We're just excited to be here at the Garden State Film Festival and um, yeah, did a little acting in front of this. The camera as well. Very cool. And where can people check out your film? When is it gonna be shown? So our film is gonna be screening here at the Cranford Theater, uh, Block CT 38. It is on Saturday, the 29th at 6:15 p.m. Check out for tickets at www.gsff. Matt, we love the plug. Thank you. Anything else you guys want to add about New Jersey and what's it's like filming filming around here? We love New Jersey and um they make it much easier than other states. Thank you so much. We love it. Great job, guys. Thank you so much. Check out their film. We're hanging out at the Cranford Theater this morning. Lauren Dude's New Jersey.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/cf38fc45-5334-45de-97bf-d13eacfde64a/cf38fc45-5334-45de-97bf-d13eacfde64a.transcribe

3282025NJlauren730_2025-03-28-08-12-46

Well, the New Jersey film industry is booming, and you could check it all out at the Garden State Film Festival. That's right. And you saw New Jersey's Lauren D is at the Cranford Theater for a preview for us. You've got all the goodies and the snacks there. You're giving us a behind the scenes look. Grab your snacks. You want the you want the chocolate? What do you want popping up some popcorn for popcorn we got here. We're doing it. We have Doreen you're the owner operator of the theater. I absolutely love it here. I know you love it here. I mean, what is the movie theater all about? Well, there is nothing like the movie theater magic experience. It's a place where people gather, come together to enjoy films on the big screen, sharing the emotions that those films give, have some great movies. Snacks and just spend time with friends and family enjoying what's on the big screen and all laughing together and not only just with your family you're laughing with like the entire theater too yes and that's the beauty of these small hometown theaters is you know everybody it's like cheers right? everybody knows your name so you get to come to the movies you run into your school friends or your girlfriends or family um and you gather and a lot of times people make new friends when they're here so it's I always feel that movie theaters are the definition of community it's where we all come together to gather. um, and just share into a magical movie experience and you're right in the heart of downtown Cranford. I mean just the absolutely perfect location. Let's show everyone what it looks like here because the carpet, it's all about the carpet too right? is it not? Well, and that's part of the, the nostalgia of the movie theater, um, so the Cranford Theater is gonna be 99 years old in November, so we're coming up on our centennial. So when we renovated the theater in 2019, we wanted to kind of keep a little bit of that classic nostalgic feel. Um, yeah, let's go. Come on Ridge, watch your step because we're gonna, I love this. We're like walking into the theater, you know, this is so fun. So we have 5 auditoriums. This is our largest house, um, so in this auditorium we host a lot of special events, a lot of red carpet events. We have a stage in here. Uh, our film festival, the Garden State Film Festival will premiere here on Saturday and be in this large. Auditorium all day and we do a lot of Q&As and a lot of special events and where can they find out more about all these events that you do because you do so many events they are a lot of fun and you whole family and we do. I mean movie theaters are fun and movie theaters are great places to come together to enjoy those experiences. So on our website CranfordTheater.com and also on downtown Cranford we. Share we partner together on a lot of great events and a lot of collaborations. So for example, our 2025 senior citizen series, which is complimentary to Union County citizens, kicks off next week. We have a pajama party series for families and children. Doreen, you have so much going on. Thank you so much. We're going to talk more all about it coming up back to you guys. Grab some popcorn.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/6a339334-1747-4065-a2eb-35e770216870/6a339334-1747-4065-a2eb-35e770216870.transcribe

3282025NJlauren8_2025-03-28-08-29-51

Well, the New Jersey film industry is booming, and you can check it all out at the Garden State Film Festival. And you saw New Jersey's Lauren D is at the Cranford Theater with the organizers, and she has a preview. Do you have a bunch of crunch? That's my favorite snack in the movies. I can try to find that. I'm sure they have that there. Asia, we're having so much fun this morning. We are enjoying the movies. We're talking to the producers, the organizers, so I want you to grab a popcorn and let's, uh, check out some of the filmmakers and producers. I'm the producer of our movie which was filmed in New York and a lot in New Jersey and if you're looking for an old school style mob movie First Rites is definitely the movie for you. We are the creators of the movie Beggar Man. It's about an Iraq war veteran who finds a bag full of money from the 1970s and it's like the world knows, and so he's trying to put his life back together with this. Cursed money. I'm in. How can we get tickets? You're the executive director here. Hello, go to GSFF.org for tickets and more information. Here are some of the board members. We're screening at Asbury Park in Cranford. Doreen, we'll see you at the movies. You sure will. Let's go meet some of the producers, film editors, directors. What do we got going on here? New Jersey's booming, right? Oh my gosh, everything is legal in New Jersey. Yes, it's booming here. All right, you were making fun of me for the popcorn, so here we go. Ready? Let's go. You're up. 00, yeah, now you're up. Oh shoot, that here we go. Everybody but me. Alright, we're having fun at the Cranmer Theater. Hope to see you down here. Laura dude, it's 12 New Jersey. I try to, yeah, you got in there, Laura.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/582bd4ec-20eb-4227-874c-c8b3d7042196/582bd4ec-20eb-4227-874c-c8b3d7042196.transcribe

News 12 is getting a preview of the 23rd annual Garden State Film Festival. Locations include the Cranford Theater and various places around Asbury Park.

Preview of the 23rd annual Garden State Film Festival

News 12 is getting a preview of the 23rd annual Garden State Film Festival. Locations include the Cranford Theater and various places around Asbury Park.

More Stories

Johnny Mathis to retire with final show in Englewood

Jersey Proud: Broadway’s ‘Doo Wop Project’ comes to Little Falls

Fred Astaire Dance Studios opens new location in New Canaan

Jonas Brothers' Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour tickets go on sale

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week returns with 70+ eateries next week

Main Street Connecticut: Showcasing the best spring spots Bridgeport has to offer

Johnny Mathis to retire with final show in Englewood

Jersey Proud: Broadway’s ‘Doo Wop Project’ comes to Little Falls

Fred Astaire Dance Studios opens new location in New Canaan

Jonas Brothers' Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour tickets go on sale

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week returns with 70+ eateries next week

Main Street Connecticut: Showcasing the best spring spots Bridgeport has to offer

More from News 12

Made in New Jersey: Bang Cookies makes Jersey City sweeter

Kane in Your Corner: Vacation rentals face scrutiny over spy cams

Mount Kisco welcomes new Healing Paws vet clinic

Target in Mount Vernon faces boycott over end of DEI program

Brooklyn restaurants prepare for return of outdoor dining starting April 1

Brides-to-be on edge after fire at popular Massapequa wedding dress shop