• DECONSTRUCTING DAD •

Back to New Jersey but not Asbury Park, a very different Jersey Shore town — Atlantic City and the Downbeach Film Festival.  It’s Friday October 14th at about 6pm (it’s part of a block of films that starts at 5pm, see this link to festival website for details) and the venue is The Screening Room located on the 13th floor of the Ocean Tower at the Resorts Hotel, and panel discussions will be held in The Director’s Room. The festival’s mission statement is: “We are rooted in the celebration of film, and the creation of a forum where filmmakers can exhibit their work. The festival promotes new films, as well as filmmakers and actors all in an effort to celebrate the art form of moviemaking.”  Sounds good to me, and I will be there, and as an added bonus, I’ll be joined by Jeff Winner of the Raymond Scott Archives, who is a major character in the film.  Jeff has encyclopedic knowledge of Raymond Scott lore and legend, so it’s always extra special when he can attend a screening.  We’ll both be available after the screening for a Q&A.  And another bonus, this is likely the only public screening where attendees will also be able to gamble at will after the screening, so it’s truly a unique event!

Additionally, there’s a festival related preview interview with me on radio station WVUD Sunday night October 9th, hosted by George Stewart, who hosts a weekly show on the station and is the person who first contacted me about the festival.  It’s available on the air and online.  Many thanks to George and William Sokolic of the festival for making this all happen.

And looking back for a moment I had a great time over the weekend of October 1-2 at the All Tomorrow’s Parties “I’ll Be Your Mirror” festival in Asbury Park NJ, thanks again to Deborah Higgins and Barry Hogan, the festival organizers for a wonderful couple of days. And thanks too to Aidan Flax-Clark of Lapham’s Quarterly, who brought the film to ATP’s attention, and to Abbey Lustgarten and Jason Altman of the Criterion Collection for including the film in their curated film section at the festival.

—Stan Warnow