Blogfinger

The young filmmakers discuss their work following the showing. Left to right, George Itzhak, Ben Nelson, Gabe Miller, Seth Andrew Bridge, Marlee Roberts and Scott Schuler. (Photos by Mary Walton)

By Mary Walton. Blogfinger.net staff reporter, photographer  and editor.*

When a student from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts contacted Florence Meier about renting her two-story Victorian cottage for a film shoot, she did two things.  She asked to read the script as a precaution — you know, just in case it was a porn movie. And she called Blogfinger with the news.

On January 16, a truck and two cars full of people and equipment pulled up to 124 Main Avenue to make a non-porn movie called “Still.” And Paul Goldfinger turned up to do a story about it.

When Paul arrived the house was crammed with a dozen people, the windows were covered and lights were blazing. Paul asked if he could see the movie when it was completed. Then he started thinking, “Why not have a little event? One thing led to another.”

So it was that Ocean Grove’s first film festival debuted Sunday at The Majestic Hotel with not just one but six films. The

Paul Goldfinger opens the festival with some words of welcome: “Hello, ladies and germs.”

filmmakers, all NYU sophomores, were excited. “This is the first showing of any of these films,” said Marlee Roberts, who not only produced “Still” but entered a film titled “Free” that she wrote, then played the lead role in. “It’s opening night for us.”

“You go through so much heartbreak to make these things that days like this make it worth it,”  said George Itzhak, the director of “Moscow Summer,” about a rocking dance party that evoked the decade of the 1980’s when Italian pop music was the rage among young Russians.

A half dozen of the 30-some people involved in the films were on hand to show their work and then discuss them in a question-and-answer session. They raised their own money and collaborated in multiple roles as editors, directors and producers on each other’s films. Marlee, who has been acting and modeling since she was four, and plays roles in two feature length films opening soon, more or less produced the film festival as well. “It’s like organizing a party,” she said.

“Moscow Summer,” the first film on a program notable for its variety, filled the makeshift theater with spirited rock music. Scott Schuler’s beautifully shot “My Journal” took him to several New York locations as he voiced thoughts from his tattered journal. Gabe Miller’s “Thy Fearful Symmetry” was the moving account of an old man living alone in his apartment, filled with fears and regrets about his life.

As Ben Nelson fiddles with the equipment, Gabe Miller, George Itzhak and Marlee Roberts provide the supervision

“Unidos Si Se Puede,” directed by Jesse Rosenberg, the only classic documentary in the program, was filmed in a community garden for low income Latinos, who told how it had enriched their lives.

Marlee’s film “Free” might have been a simple tale of a girl who is devastated by the sight of her boyfriend kissing another girl, but for a clever sequence in which she reenacted different responses that put her in control and freed her from the pain.

“Still,” the movie shot partly in Ocean Grove and the longest at 18 minutes, was shown last. In her introduction Marlee quoted writer Craig Clayton as saying it’s about “a couple that lives forever.” Or at least from 1784 to 1952 to 2012,  the film’s chronological signposts. Suffice to say, the movie does not end well for them. The main part of the story required a 1950s setting, so the students imported an old record player, a boxy TV and some other furnishings that converted an Ocean Grove Victorian into a mid-twentieth century bungalow. House owner Flo Meier had nothing but praise for her renters.  “They worked so hard and they left the house immaculate.”

In his quest for a venue to hold the festival, Paul called Valerie Hegarty, owner of the Majestic Hotel. She offered space free of charge and provided coffee and several varieties of cake afterward.

Is this projector gonna work? Marlee and George.

The audience reaction was overwhelmingly favorable. “I loved it,” said Will Brandsdorfer. “I was so impressed with them. The fact that they were just sophomores blew me away. I think they’re going to be great.”

He added, “I appreciate good work and realize how technical it is: the sound, the editing, the credits. So many details you never even think about.” As an example, one of Scott Shuler’s scenes involved maneuvering a dolly onto Manhattan’s High Line, the lower west side park built atop a railroad track. Said Will, “It was a lot of work getting all that stuff up there for a shot that may only last five seconds. It conveys an image that makes it look easy, and that’s the mark of an artist in any realm.”

In a note to Blogfinger afterward, Janet Whritner summed up her reaction: “The films were interesting…the young students even more so.”

And Paul, who orchestrated the festival, pronounced it “wonderful. I enjoyed it even though I didn’t always understand what was going on.” The films, he said, “were really original things done by some creative young people and that’s always a thrill.”

Chit-chatting at the party afterward. Flo Meier (right) lent her house to some of the NYU film students in January. The rest is history.

Shooting a scene for “Still,” directed by Ben Nelson, at the Ocean Grove home of Flo Meier. Photo courtesy of Marlee Roberts

* Mary Walton is a professional writer, reporter and editor from the Philadelphia Enquirer who wrote and photographed for Blogfinger while she and husband Charles Layton lived in the Grove, and he also was a co-editor with me.

MUSIC: Buck Owens sings about movies: