The 2021 Atlantic City Cinefest
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$5 per block/$20 for all festival pass
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Half-price tickets for family members of filmmakers must be purchased at the door.
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All films screened at Stockton University’s Atlantic City Residence Complex, 3701 Boardwalk
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Please enter on main entrance on Atlantic Avenue.
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Screenings will take place in Room 119/120
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The panel discussion will take place in Room B115
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Wear a mask.
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All screening times are rounded up to a whole number
Tickets can be purchased at the door!
FRIDAY OCTOBER 22ND
BLOCK 1: 7:00 p.m - 8:35 p.m.
KIDNAPPED
Director Keith Vaile 1:30:00 minutes
A young mother who is also a teacher puts the law into her own hands when her only daughter goes missing.
BLOCK 2 8:40 p.m. - 9:50 p.m.
VITRIOL
Directed by Mark Clauburg 22 minutes
A short documentary exploring vehement social media interactions from both sides of the political spectrum.
THE STAMP COLLECTOR
Director Luke Momo 8:52
A high-tech thief comes home from the scene of a crime, reeling with guilt and misbegotten plans. How will his artificially-intelligent assistant, designed to help commit crimes, respond to his programmer's sudden change of heart?
WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MISFITS
Director Sebastian Foxworth 22 minutes
Earth's fallen angels have children and these children have abilities. As an adult, Marcus often struggles with how to use his abilities and often has flashbacks to his teenage years and the place where he and his friends grew up while honing their abilities. He's lost touch with them now but has decided to track them down because of a dream he had that he needs to share with them. He fights some bad guys along the way.
DESCENDANT (animation)
Director Sebastian Foxworth 8 minutes
Fallen Watcher Angels have children on Earth. These children have abilities. Marcus Kaine, the Avenging Angel, is the son of the Fallen Watcher Angel Sariel. He's Not your average superhero. Death is an option with him. If you try to kill him or if you deserve to die - then your ass is dead. A rule he lives by while protecting the metropolitan area of Chesilhurst City.
THE LOST SON: A STAR WARS STORY
Director Sebastian Foxworth 6 minutes
There's a new Jedi in the universe and he's powerful.
Fridays After - Party!
The after-party will be held Friday October 22nd at Water Dog on the 6th floor at Ballys Atlantic City from 10 pm to 12 midnight. Admission is open to crew and cast of any film and those who purchased an all-festival pass. Must have a badge or wristband. Beverages are not included.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 23RD
BLOCK 3 11:30 a.m. - 1:20 p.m.
THE WISH & THE WISP
Director Vashmere Valentine 15:23 minutes
Two bickering siblings learn the true value of friendship and the magic of believing, when they find a real wish and encounter the menacing creature who wants it back!
THE RAINY DAY
Director Mario Lopez 7:58 minutes
A boy searches for his missing father in the streets of New York City in the midst of a global pandemic and social upheaval
MAX IS BLEEDING
Director Jordan Anstatt 7:58
Courtney is on the way to the vet with her boyfriend and injured dog Max, but something’s wrong. Her strange demeanor begs the question: is Max the only one who needs help?
WATER BORN
Director Lowell John Boston 16:27 minutes
Six people of color are asked a direct question - Do you know how to swim? Their amazing answers and stories are turned into beautiful works of animation and live action that question and challenge whether a crippling stereotype, one that has plagued African-Americans for decades, is true or not.
DARK
Director Kevin Overton 22:21 minutes
A homeless woman breaks into what she thinks is an abandoned bar in hopes to get a good night’s rest. After being confronted by the owner she soon learns her stumbling into that bar was no accident and she's been chosen by a higher power to do deaths dirty work.
BUMPIN'
Director Ryan Cervasio 1:39 minutes
Anna just wanted to enjoy the party, but her friends had other plans.
DAY ONE
Director Ryan Cervasio 1:59 minutes
Distance makes the heart grow fonder.
RONNIE'S STORY
Director Donna Roman Hernandez 19:47
An 82-year-old survivor of marital domestic violence, Veronica 'Ronnie' Welch, tells how she survived decades of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her husband and tells how her volunteerism with the Woodbridge (NJ) Police Department''s Domestic Violence Response Team empowers other victims of domestic violence no matter what their ages are to leave their abusers and recover from the trauma of long-term abuse.
Annual Filmmaking Discussion Panel 1:30 p.m.
The annual filmmaking panel discussion will be held Saturday Oct. 23 at 1:30 pm at the Residence Complex, Albany Avenue and the Boardwalk.
BLOCK 4 1:25 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
GROOVE
Director Mark L. Mazzeo 1 minute
Matt is in the zone, he's groovin'. Until the outside world intrudes.
BLISS
Director Mark L. Mazzeo 3:29
Cindi has a passion for cooking. That love is tested when she posts a picture of her latest creation to social media.
THE LAST WHITE MAN
Director Mark L. Mazzeo 1:37:30
The Last White Man is a dark satire/psychological thriller with a focus on race, identity, and social politics in modern day America. Karl Gordon, an underemployed pizza delivery boy, works in his quiet suburban hometown where romantic, professional, and social failures fuel his hatred for the changing world around him, setting him on a course that can only lead to carnage.
BLOCK 5 3:15 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.
THE CURSED ROAD
Director Chris J. Cullen 8:33
In the tradition of the pasted down story of the lady and white and many other weird NJ tales 4 people decide to drive down this road that is known to be cursed. They do not know what to expect and the guys just seem to want to put a scare into the two girls until something actually does happen!
CRAZY FOR THE BLONDE
Director Mark Clauburg 18 minutes
Two serial killers compete for the same victim, a blonde-haired woman who has plans of her own.
WE'RE GOOD
Director Larry Rosen 3 minutes
A couple have an argument that accelerates out of control very quickly.
CRAZY KINDA LOVE
Director Larry Rosen 7 minutes
Sheila and Ben are not at the same place in their relationship. Sheila is at the stage of planning a future and sharing all her inner thoughts and feelings; and Ben hasn't thought about dessert yet.
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
Director Eric Phillips 18:53 minutes
AJ and Avory are two brothers who have had the same opportunities since day one, but Avory has a vice that has put his whole life on the ropes getting into the streets. AJ faced pressures of his own and ended up in college on a collegiate scholarship playing basketball. As their brotherhood is tested they find themselves on the wrong side of things, testing their bond they are faced with adversity. The murder of one can cause the darkness to come out of the innocent. Will they be consumed, or will morality keep their vengeance at bay?
COUPLES THERAPY
Director Melanie Rivera Waldman 5:18 minutes
An eccentric therapist introduces three estranged couples to her unorthodox talk therapy techniques. Can she make or break their love?
OVER THERE
Director Sam Pescherine 15 minutes
In the final months of WWI, a homesick American soldier becomes trapped behind enemy lines with his glory seeking Captain. Yet the two men are brought into conflict over the fate of the German soldier they took prisoner.
AMERICAN MARRIAGE
Director Giorgio Arcelli Fontana 14:45 minutes
Leonardo, an Italian immigrant who lives in New York, marries a Latina woman, Nikki, to obtain the American greencard. Through the comedy of it all Nikki and Leo fall in love “for real” but it looks like "Uncle Sam" will be the one to have the last laugh.
BLOCK 6 4:45 p.m. - 6:05 p.m.
GEMINI
Directors Jack Skyyler, Alex Zinzopoulos 37:11
After Hades murders two teens, his third victim, Juno, escapes, teleporting through solid steel into an open field where her body is found unconscious. Immediately after, a high-school student, Kali, awakes with a psychic link to Juno and telekinetic powers. Kali's telekinetic powers are first used against her school bully; but they make her a target for Hades who is hunting Kali and Juno as he attempts to overthrow his brother Zeus.
THE HEART OF CAMDEN - THE STORY OF FATHER MICHAEL DOYLE
Director Douglas Clayton 40 minutes
As a young priest, Father Michael J. Doyle came to the U.S. from rural Ireland in 1959, bringing with him a joyful disposition, a fervent Catholic faith and an unwavering determination to help his congregation and community. These traits were put to the test in Camden, where he found himself confronted with urban decay and despair. Industries were closing and people were leaving. Crime, drug use, the breakdown of families, the proliferation of hopelessness—this was Camden’s reality.
BLOCK 7 6:05 p.m.-8:05 p.m.
THE CREEP IN THE HEAP
Director Rob Sibilla 16:59 minutes
Hunting for fresh meat, THE CREEP stalks the lonely rural highways of the Pine Barrens. In the dead of night, he hunts his prey in empty parking lots and isolated road sides, searching for stragglers and runaways. When he runs out of victims on the road, the staff of an isolated dairy bar find themselves with a CREEPY new customer. Filmed on location at a historic South Jersey dairy bar, THE CREEP IN THE HEAP is an authentically local slasher here to take you on a wild ride!
REGRET
Director Maurice Paramore 1:39:00
An incarcerated former boxer tries to reconnect with his long lost daughter only to find out she is just as stubborn as him. Regrets is a heart felt, coming of age snapshot into the life of a lost young teen, as we follow the relationship she has with her father figures, and uncover that it's never too late to find yourself.
BLOCK 8 8:05 p.m. – 10:10 p.m.
ANGELINA
Director Andre Joseph 6:15
"Angelina" is a a pandemic-themed music video project for award-winning musician Milan Lazistan from his album "The Neverending Summer". The story follows two people connecting through a dating site whose lives change while separated in quarantine.
I.W.S.K.
Director A.J. Ciccotelli 17:58 minutes
A young criminal psychology major tries to get an A in his class by contacting a real life serial killer for an interview.
CUE THE SUN
Director Jack Foley 18:37
A young woman gets a new lease on life with help from an unexpected source.
MEAT PUPPET
Director Joe Valenti 1:20:00 minutes
He has a taste for beautiful women.