The Second Annual Gold Coast International Film Festival presented by the Great Neck Arts Center, with the Town of North Hempstead as Founding Sponsor, will present seven days and nights of bold, dynamic films, programs, panels, tributes, conversations, awards and festivities on Long Island’s North Shore.  GCIFF gets underway Monday, October 22 with two pre-festival events followed by its Opening Night Gala on Wednesday, and then runs at the Clearview Cinemas in the communities of Manhasset, Roslyn, Great Neck and Port Washington through Sunday, October 28, 2012.

Festival Director, Aviva Miller, and L. Somi Roy, Executive Producer in charge of programming, have put together a festival where “Everyone’s Invited.”  

Festival highlights include a sneak preview from Indie icon and festival honoree Edward Burns of his latest film, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas; a classic film presentation in celebration of 50 years of West Side Story with original cast members in attendance; Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, Quartet; a slate of Narrative, Documentary and Short films that touch on everything from suburban soccer moms to great music legends and themes, from Jewish themes to Long Island talent and stories; award-winning foreign films from countries such as Israel, Denmark, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany and India; a touching documentary honoring an unlikely heroine of WW II; a timeless Silent Film, The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks and presented with a tremendous live musical accompaniment; a filmmaker panel with legendary Hollywood agent Bud Moss and friends; an insider's workshop on making an Independent film; and an animation workshop from two-time Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton. With its broad range of terrific movies, panels and programs, The Second Annual Gold Coast International Film Festival has something for all.

And, of course, those great highlights of any film festival…the parties, honors and galas!  This year we will honor, among others, Long Island’s own Edward Burns (The Brothers McMullen, She’s the One, Saving Private Ryan), consummate actor, producer, director, and writer with the “Artist of Distinction Award for Achievement in Film.”  In addition, Best-selling author Nelson DeMille (The Gold Coast, The Gate House, The General’s Daughter, and his latest novel, The Panther) will receive the Festival’s “Gold Coast Legend Award” honor at the Great Neck Arts Center/GCIFF Opening Night Gala – complete with an entertainment performance by the incomparable KT Sullivan.  Venues for many of these events and parties include some of the fabled Gold Coast mansions that were once the havens for New York’s business and celebrity elite, including NYIT's de Seversky Mansion (former DuPont estate), the Oheka Castle, commissioned by Otto Kahn, and the former Chrysler Mansion (currently on the grounds of the United States Merchant Marine Academy).

Regina Keller Gil, Executive Director and Founder of The Great Neck Arts Center and the Gold Coast International Film Festival says: "I have always believed in the power of the arts to move, excite, illuminate and uplift the human spirit.  Among the visual and performing arts, film stands out as the art form that is arguably the most accessible to a wide audience. Film can open the doors to history, politics, finance, ballet, adventure, opera, war and peace and the whole spectrum of the human experience. It can be pure magic. Please join us as The Gold Coast International Film Festival brings that magic to audiences in the Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County."

Festival Director, Aviva Miller says: “Our region boasts a great cultural diversity, and part of the mission of GCIFF is to celebrate and highlight that diversity.  Film is one medium where cultures intersect, allowing viewers to experience new perspectives as well their own, thus creating an enriching, validating and sometimes healing effect.  We at the GCIFF are proud of our 2012 slate of films and programs and are eager to share them with our audience.”

The program for The Second Annual Gold Coast International Film Festival includes:

ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR – Directed by Xan Aranda (USA)

A rare glimpse into the life of a remarkable contemporary musician and composer. Stirring, soulful vocals, eccentric violin plucking and whistling, and music that ranges from blues to calypso to rock and electronic. With filmmaker Q&A.

BAD PARENTS – Directed by Caytha Jentis (USA)

With: Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Titus, Kristen Johnston, Michael Boatman
This witty, satirical comedy exposes the absurd, yet very real world of suburban youth soccer. With filmmaker Q&A

BLISS (Glueck) – Directed by Doris Doerrie (Germany)

A black but ultimately affirming comedy about life at the fringes in the changing European landscape of today's Berlin.  This film contains nudity and violence.

CHAKRAVYUH – Directed by Prakash Jha (India)

A Bollywood action epic about a man who goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of left-wing revolutionaries, but falls in love with one of the ultra-violent leaders and sees his allegiances begin to change.

A rare behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most beloved rock groups, Journey. Take a trip around the world with band members, fans and the newest Journeyman, Arnel Pineda. With filmmaker Q&A.

ERROLL GARNER: No One Can Hear You Read – Directed by Atticus Brady (USA)
With: Woody Allen, Ahmad Jamal, the late Steve Allen, and Dick Hyman.

This film follows a career that lasted four decades and tells the piano virtuoso's story through perceptive and revealing conversations with friends, family, and fellow musicians. With filmmaker Q&A.

Alice lives with her family in a beautiful villa, when her quiet life takes a turn for the worse and she must find a way to support her family. In the best tradition of Italian comedy,offers pointed political criticism in between its explosions of laughter.

Writer-director-star Edward Burns returns with this warm, acutely observed story about an expansive Irish clan’s fraught yuletide when their long-absent patriarch declares his intention to come home for the holiday.

A favorite of film critics, Hong has made one of his most charming and graceful comedies about an irresistible Frenchwoman who finds herself in a deserted South Korean village. A 2012 Cannes Film Festival selection.

LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR – Directed by Antonino D'Ambrosio (USA)

With: Billy Bragg, Chuck D., Edwidge Danticat, Eve Ensler, John Sayles and others.

An exuberant mixed media collage incorporating art, music, animation, and performance. Brings together 50 influential creative voices, each revealing that we can re-imagine the world we live in.

THE MARK OF ZORRO: Silent Film with live music! – Directed by Fred Niblo (USA)
*Event sponsored by Gold Coast Bank. 

Swing into action, drama, and romance! Starring the great swashbuckler himself, Douglas Fairbanks. With live musical accompaniment by Bernie Anderson on authentic 1920s theater organ.  Following the film will be a presentation of early classic shorts by Charlie Chaplin (a Gold Coast resident) from his Keystone era.

MOTHER OF NORMANDY – Directed by Doug Stebleton (USA)

With Special Panel featuring: Maurice Renaud, Director/Producer Doug Stebleton, Writer Jeff Stoffer, Henry Roosevelt, Dr. Peter Kinney and others.

Madame Simone Renaud spent a lifetime tending to the graves of those American soldiers who perished on D-Day and corresponding with their loved ones back home.

ONE TRACK HEART: The Story of Krishna Das  - Directed by Jeremy Frindel (USA)

A young Long Island man leaves behind rock star dreams to search for happiness and fulfillment in India, struggles with depression and drug abuse and ultimately turns to music - emerging as Krishna Das, a world-renowned chant master and spiritual leader who continues to transform the lives of people all over the world.  Krishna Das will be attending and participating in the filmmaker Q&A.

ORCHESTRA OF EXILES – Directed by Josh Aronson (USA)

Featuring: Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman

The remarkable story of the 4-year odyssey undertaken by the Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, which culminated in the founding of the orchestra that would become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

QUARTET – Directed by Dustin Hoffman (UK)

With: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins

The story of retired opera singers and lifelong chums who reside in a home with an entirely musical clientele. Hoffman’s first effort as director addresses the theme of aging, and does so with grace, gusto and wonderfully wry humor.

In this vivid, lively, and imaginative animated film a rabbi’s cat swallows a parakeet and begins to speak, soon driving everyone crazy by insisting on having a bar mitzvah. Not suitable for young children, as it includes both violence and subtitles.

RESTORATION – Directed by Yossi Madmony (Israel)

Winner of 11 Ophir Awards (Israel's Oscars) this carefully crafted film traces the shifting bonds between father and son as a man struggles to hold on to the antique restoration workshop that has been his life’s work.

ROADIE – Directed by Michael Cuesta (USA)

With: Ron Eldard, Jill Hennessy, Lois Smith, Bobby Cannavale, David Margulies

After 20 years as a roadie for Blue Öyster Cult, Jimmy reluctantly returns to Queens and runs into his high school crush now married to his old nemesis.  A film about a generation realizing you can't escape the past but you can't relive it either. GCIFF 2011's hit is reprised to mark Blue Öyster Cult  - live at Landmark on Main Street on 10/27.

This sumptuous historical drama chronicles the scandalous love triangle between a queen, her German doctor and the mad King of Denmark. A sharp, contemporary edge to the notorious true story of illicit love and political intrigue.

THE SAPPHIRES – Directed by Wayne Blair (USA)

In this fun and uplifting musical, three young, sexy and talented are plucked from the obscurity of a remote Aboriginal mission, branded as Australia’s answer to “The Supremes” and dropped into the jungles of Vietnam to entertain the US troops.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – Directed by David O. Russell (USA)

With: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles and Jennifer Lawrence

An acerbic comedy-drama from David O. Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter), about a former high-school teacher who returns to his family home after eight months in a mental institution and begins to slowly rebuild his life.

WEST SIDE STORY: Celebrating 50Years – Directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins  (USA) – This pre-festival screening will take place on Tuesday, October 22 at the Auditorium on Broadway of the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

 With: Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn
Special Guests: George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn

A special screening of the dazzling landmark musical that won ten Oscars, including Best Picture.  There will be a Q&A preceding the film with original stars Academy Award winner George Chakiris (Bernardo) and Russ Tamblyn (Riff).

Many of the narrative, documentary and short films in the program will be eligible for the Panavision and Deluxe Audience and Jury Awards.

AN EVENING WITH Director, Actor and Star: Edward Burns

The GCIFFF is proud to honor Edward Burns with our 2012 “Artist of Distinction Award for Achievement in Film.” This very special event will feature a premiere of Burns’ latest film, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas followed by a Q&A with the star and an invitation-only after-party.  Tickets are available to the general public for the screening and Q&A.

Multiple Academy Award®-nominated animator and cartoonist Bill Plympton will delight audiences as he talks about his career as an independent animator, screens his classic shorts, music videos, and clips, conducts a drawing demonstration, and talks about how filmmakers can make a living creating short films.  Followed by a booksigning of his new book Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out.  Everyone who attends gets a free Bill Plympton drawing! THIS IS A FREE EVENT.

CONVERSATION WITH BUDD BURTON MOSS & HIS HOLLYWOOD FRIENDS

Based on his book, …And All I Got Was 10%!, Budd Burton Moss takes us from the back stages of Broadway through the end of the old movie studio casting system; all the way up to present-day cutthroat agency deal making and the creation of reality shows.  This panel is a true insider’s view of the entertainment industry and what it really takes to be a talent agent. Also on the panel: actor and model Kiera Chaplin (granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin), actors Andrew Prine and Heather Lowe, and filmmakers Loren Herbert and David Voche. THIS IS A FREE PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT.

Join us at this very special event at this truly remarkable venue. Honoring Author Nelson DeMille (Gold Coast Legend Award), KT Sullivan (Artist of Distinction: Music), Michael Lamoretti (Man of the Year) and Congressman Gary Ackerman. Cocktails, dinner, awards, and performances.

Join screenwriter and producer David Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia, Don’t Stop Believin’) and Writer/Director Louis Guerra (Emmy Award® Winning television series “Homeland”) for a true insider’s view of the making of an independent film. THIS IS A FREE EVENT.

 No film festival can do it by themselves, and we are delighted that among the wonderful sponsors of the 2012 Gold Coast International Film Festival are Town of North Hempstead, Jon Kaiman, Supervisor; Nassau County, Edward Mangano, County Executive; Great Neck Arts Center; Prudential Douglas Elliman; AMC Networks; Cablevision; Clearview Cinemas; NYIT; News 12 Long Island; Newsday; Deluxe; Panavision; Katten Muchin; and J.M. Kaplan Fund.

The Gold Coast International Film Festival celebrates the rich culture, history and talent of this fabled region. The “Gold Coast” was once a haven for New York’s elite such as the Pratts, Whitneys, Roosevelts, Fricks, Guests, DuPonts, J.P. Morgan, and Otto Kahn, and today their mansions exist as museums, historic spots and party spaces (which GCIFF makes good use of). Great Neck (the hub of the Festival) was home to many celebrities including Groucho Marx, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, George M. Cohan and other titans of the silver screen. Most apropos, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his most famous work The Great Gatsby here. Today’s Gold Coast remains a confluence of culture and class. Those influences from our past combined with the artistry, storytelling and technology of today’s world, enable the Gold Coast International Film Festival to thrive and soar and present our audiences with a fantastic and accessible festival experience.  Everyone’s Invited!