The sixth annual Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) showcasing film, video and animated works by independent filmmakers, will roll out the “red carpet” and light up the sky from April 4 – April 6 in Asbury Park. Attending this year’s event are notables including: Danny Aiello, Chris Costello, Chip Cronkite, Joe Gruschecky, Budd Schulberg, Paul Sorvino, Sean Stone, Brian Thompson, Michael Uslan, and Montel Williams among others. This year’s honorees include novelist and Oscar-winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Screenplay Writing. Chris Costello, daughter of Hollywood legend Lou Costello, will be accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting on behalf of her father. Kate Carter, founder of LifeChronicles, a company producing videos for families with health or life crises, will be receiving the Broader Vision Award for Filmmaking Dedicated to the Greater Good.“This year’s event far exceeds our greatest expectations as a young festival.  To have such honored guests and industry veterans in Asbury Park is the culmination of an exceptional Board of Directors and a very hard working group of volunteers” stated Diane Raver, Executive Director/Co-Founder. 

This year the festival has increased the number of venues to nine, including the Paramount Theater, 5th Avenue Pavilion, Berkeley Hotel, VFW Post 1333, Mattison Park, Synaxis, The Stephen Crane House, Stone Pony and the Youth Temple in Ocean Grove.