The Garden State Film Festival Embraces the Americans with Disability Act

Accessibility Efforts

Stars will shine March 23 through March 26, 2023, when the Garden State Film Festival presents hundreds of independent films. The multi-day event brings together a large number of producers, directors, actors, investors, distributors, and industry talent to the State of New Jersey, the birthplace of American filmmaking.

GSFF Continues Supporting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

During its 21-year history GSFF has been on the forefront of ADA needs and provided free tickets to its wheelchair bound guests and their helpers. Included in this year’s lineup GSFF is excited to once again include our Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) outreach.

While GSFF has long championed the cause of making its event without accessibility barriers both monetarily as well as physically, and to present culturally and enriching programing for its community inclusive of its ADA friends, this year includes enhanced presentations.

“We continue to prioritize accessibility throughout our event, by providing and creating innovative solutions and ensuring ADA compliant means, to meet, and hopefully exceed the needs of our attendees,” said Stephanie Clineman, GSFF’s ADA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Chair and Board Member.

The Garden State Film Festival always looks for ways to expand its initiatives to embrace the ADA community. In alignment with its ongoing goals the ADA/DEI Committee’s Board Policy is to develop, monitor and maintain a safe, accessible, and respectful environment for the Garden State Film Festival guests, volunteers, filmmakers, crew, staff, and board of directors. Working to coordinate services and programming that will provide equal access to the widest possible audience, acknowledging race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, creed, and disability as aspects of diversity. As the leader of many packs, GSFF had an accessibility menu on their website long before it became mandatory striving to make the GSFF as inclusive as possible.

I am very proud of our ADA/DEI committee members for helping to improve upon our ADA programs, said Lauren Concar Sheehy, Executive Director.  Diane Raver started something special that no other film festival offers and it brings me great joy to see the lives we touch.”

GSFF will continue its policy to admit wheelchair bound patrons and their helper free of charge at its 21st anniversary event scheduled for March 23-26 in both Cranford and Asbury Park, NJ.

“Paralympian”

On the schedule this year is the film “Paralympian”, which screens March 26th at 2:45pm in the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel Kingsley Room in Asbury Park, NJ.

Directed and Produced by Aldiyar Bairakimov and also Produced by Venera Kairzhanova, and Roman Zhukov, it is based on a true story about an Olympic team skier who survives a catastrophic accident. As he adjusts to his new life without one leg, the athlete sinks into a deep depression because his accident removes him from his life goal to be in Olympic competition. When he is offered a spot at the Paralympic games, which he used to mock, it is a learning experience that surprises both him and his former teammates.

The film is also subtitled, making it a great choice for our hearing-impaired patrons to attend. Other ADA accommodations can be found on our website at https://www.gsff.org/policies-procedures.

For tickets and more information please visit the website at gsff.org.

The Cinema for the Ears Experience

Another GSFF inclusive program is “Cinema for the Ears” featuring the multi-award-winning fantasy/adventure audio story, Fading Kingdoms.

Creator Daniel Meyers said, “the goal of this project was to try and create cinema for the ears for all to enjoy.” GSFF sees this as an immersion program for adults who are blind or have experienced a change in vision. These oral stories involve a cast of over thirty actors, most of whom are professionals including performers such as Shawn Mims, aka Mims the Rapper, famous for This is Why I’m Hot, number one on the Billboard charts in 2008.

Cinema for the Ears is active now until March 26th.

The GSFF Express, the festival’s Jitney transport is also ADA compliant and will be traveling from venue to venue in Asbury Park on March 25th and 26th. Please allow extra time to use this service.

More info can be found at GSFF.org which includes an Accessibility menu. Look for the ADA icon  to access it.

You can enjoy over 230 films on all subjects, in a variety of lengths, showing in numerous locations all around Asbury Park, and Cranford plus parties, celebrities, seminars, networking, and lots more. It’s a fast-paced weekend of non-stop fun for all ages. Films are shown in ~two-hour-long screening blocks that include a variety of works like shorts, feature-length, music videos, and trailers. Each screening block concludes with a question and answers session with the filmmakers and actors.

Other events held throughout the festival include a panel discussion with 2023 Lifetime Achievement for Cinematography Honoree Ron Vidor.  Vidor takes you behind his award-winning lens as he shares stories from the sets of some of Hollywood's best-known blockbusters, including hazardous, challenging, and near-death experiences, from his five-decade career. Hear what it's like to work with directors like Spielberg, Reiner, Stallone, and others. Exotic locations, death defying feats...it's all in a day’s work, to get those perfect shots he is best known for.  Followed by a Q&A. Another great choice for our vision impaired friends is the live reading of the winning feature screenplay, Curly’s Camp for Girls (and Boys), written by Kelly A Byrne, Sunday, March 26, 10-11:30am in the Oval Room on the Second Floor at the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel.  These special events are not to be missed!

The Garden State Film Festival offers a variety of ticket packages from the full festival Parkway Pass for $95 that gives you full access (Black Tie Dinner not included, separate ticket needed), day and individual screening and event passes.

To learn about the films and for tickets visit gsff.org.

About the Garden State Film Festival

The Garden State Film Festival is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization, created to promote the art of filmmaking on all levels. This globally recognized festival also provides creative arts education programs and creates a forum where local and international independent filmmakers can exhibit their work. Their outreach programs also support the U.S. Military, seniors, children, and the underserved populations.  Since 2003, thousands of films have made their public premieres, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have attended; and the total infusion of cash to local businesses since inception exceeds $10 million. It is held in Asbury Park and surrounding area as well as Cranford, NJ.

The artistic philosophy of the Garden State Film Festival is rooted in the celebration of the independent film genre and the creation of a forum where local and other independent filmmakers can exhibit their work. It was also created to pay tribute to New Jersey’s legacy as the birthplace of the American filmmaking industry in Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratories where he invented the first film cameras and projectors, to Fort Lee, where the original studios were founded. Our event provides novice and aspiring filmmakers, actors, and others interested in careers in the film business, the opportunity to meet and network with industry professionals in an atmosphere conducive to learning and mentoring. Further, we are happy to be present each spring in Asbury Park and to serve as an added engine for the city’s vitality through arts, commerce, and culture.

For more information visit gsff.org or email [email protected]

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