The Slate

Heading south to the sunny Jersey Shore, HFI’s next festival spotlight is on the Cape May Film Festival. Founded back in 2000 by screen and stage actor Robert Prosky (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Natural), the festival started with Hollywood glitz and celebrities. Sadly, Prosky passed in 2008 and the torch of running the festival was handed off to the Cape May Film Society. I recently sat down with the Director of the Society, Dottie Knapp and her husband, Society Treasurer Malcolm Knapp, to talk to them about what their coastal fest was all about.

If you want a little advantage getting your film in the fest, you’re gonna have to make them an offer they can’t refuse. I’m not saying they won’t take someone from California but it wouldn’t hurt if something in the film is somehow associated with New Jersey, you know what I’m saying? Whether it’s the filmmakers, the location or the story itself, Malcolm and Dottie feel the Garden State should be emphasized. Besides that, “we particularly like the look of films that are really not that interesting commercially,” Malcolm says, “films and documentaries that are just not profitable but still should be seen.” So, moviemakers who like to get experimental should check this venue out.

While preparing for the festival takes most of the year, the Film Society holds several other events. “[We] run a one-week summer film camp for younger people,” Malcolm says. “And we run movies we think are good… this summer we’re going to run Wings, the first movie ever to win an Oscar.” Each year, the Society likes to include something extra in the festival. A couple years ago it was a screening of Beast of the Southern Wild with special guest Co-producer Chris Carroll. Malcolm and Dottie also revealed the exciting topic they plan to cover this year: The Beatles! They hope to screen documentaries about the band and “get a speaker who was one of the people who was associated with The Beatles at that time,” Malcolm says. The guest speaker is still to be announced.

For more information, visit http://www.njstatefilmfestival.com/