“Is he here yet?” asked the people crowding into the Loews Jersey Theater for the Golden Door International Film Festival kick off on Sept. 16. “Is he here?”
“He” was fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, sponsor of the opening gala, by far a better known celebrity than any of the film stars that attended. The opening night was the place to be and be seen. Film stars and movie makers mingled with the public for a night of good will at the historic theater. This was arguably the social event of the season, a meet and greet, and nearly everybody wanted to greet Hilfiger.
Started in 2011, Golden Door International Film Festival has earned significant cachet, in no small part to the quality of films and the hard work of festival founder and Jersey City native Bill Sorvino. Bill’s more famous uncle, Paul Sorvino, with whom most people wanted a photograph, also paid the opening gala a visit.
The festival was also sponsored by Autism Speaks, which was represented by Kerry Magro, author of “Defining Autism From the Heart,” and who has struggled to become a remarkably gifted public speaker, despite having to overcome the challenges of autism himself.
The event had everything you could want from a posh gala, from velvet ropes and a red carpet to a background jazz band, whose tasty sounds went mostly unnoticed by the hundreds who packed the lobby of the Loew’s.
“I play the rule of Sussie. It was a joy to play.” – Chella Ferrow
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She also had a role in a companion short film called “Six Letter Word,” in which she plays a mother struggling to deal with the cost of treatments for an autistic boy.
While there were famous and not so famous film stars, almost everybody who attended looked or sounded like a star, dressing up, even pausing for a fashion-like photo session at the door.
This year’s festival featured more than 90 films screened at a number of venues throughout Jersey City.
Dark role was a ‘joy to play’
The films covered a wide range of subjects. One standout for subject matter was “African Gothic,” which was scheduled to be screened at the Loew’s on Sept. 20. The film, which stars Chella Ferrow, is an adaptation of Reza de Wet’s award-winning play “Diepe Grond.” Directed by American Gabriel Bologna (originally from Bergen County), the film tells a dark, intense and disturbing story of murky, ugly secrets and sexual games.
“I play the role of Sussie,” Ferrow said. “It was a joy to play. The greatest challenge I had was that first moment of jumping off the cliff as an actor. I did not know my co-star Damon Shalit. We were really just strangers to one another, and had to really just become brother and sister in this very isolated world, overnight. That was both scary and wonderful, as being out of your comfort zone as an actor can usher forth a raw and unplanned kind of truth that comes from feeling naked and vulnerable in an unfamiliar world.”
She said this challenge became fuel for her journey with this actor.
“Sussie is a wild, vulnerable creature, trapped in the traumas of her childhood, and so very much relying on unbridled child-like instincts to survive,” she said. “Not having time to think too much about who I was, was very freeing. And, I was fortunate to have wonderful actors to work with. Damon Shalit and I became immediate siblings, and found a natural kind of magic with one another as these crazy, tormented, but very lovable child-adults.”
While she said she did not live the life of the characters, she drew upon her own experiences while living in South Africa to bring the character to life.
“I see this as a rare and unusual piece that challenges the veneer and addresses the uncomfortable issues of family, isolation and abuse.”
“The messages of the film are timeless, and so they definitely apply to audiences worldwide,” Ferrow said. “We have all known and witnessed oppression within the family unit. We all know the kind of destructive forces that can become unleashed when deep pain is suppressed in people and communities. This film looks at the ways in which a repressed value system mars the very innocence it proclaims to protect. It looks at abuse within the family. It is also a dark and unusual, but very beautiful love story, and love stories shall surely fuel us until the end of time.”
A look back at painful history
This is not a totally dark film, but it is set against the backdrop of when apartheid was still in force in the mid-1980s.
“I think with the recent death of Nelson Mandela, this film provides an opportunity to look at what apartheid was about and raise awareness,” Bologna said.
The film has already received rave reviews and awards at other film festivals, and Bologna said he held back release in order to compete in film festivals like this.
Films for the festival are being shown over four days at venues that include Panepinto Galleries, Brightside Tavern, the Hudson County Community College Culinary Center and the Westin Hotel concluding on Sept. 21. Encore screenings of the opening films are also part of WPA Live! Fair in Washington Park on Saturday, Sept. 20.
For more information and a complete schedule, visit GoldenDoorFilmFestival.org.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.