NYC Event: Inaugural New York City Gold Standard Film & Arts Festival to be Held in 2022 - Celebrates Film, Theater and Comedy Artists over 50 - Entries Now Being Accepted Via Film Freeway

A new film and Arts Festival is coming to New York City, the Gold Standard Festival. Hosted by the Goddard Riverside’s Community Arts Program, it will be a week long festival to celebrate emerging and established film, theater, and comedy artists 50 years and older. This inaugural festival will be held April 26 - May 1, 2022. Entrants can enter via Film Freeway as of October 28, 2021. For more info visit: https://goddard.org/goldstandard/ . Festival Directors Caytha Jentis and Eileen Katz are spearheading the festival.  Both have extensive background in entertainment and community service and wanted to create an arts festival to showcase and support this underserved demographic.   

Females in Entertainment Interview: Writer/Director Caytha Jentis Talks about her Pandemic Short April Showers with Bill Sage and Lorraine Farris and her Feature Pooling to Paradise

By Suzanne Ordas Curry

I met Caytha many moons ago when her film Bad Parents premiered at the acclaimed Montclair Film Festival (NJ). Bad Parents was her third feature, after And Then Came Love and The One. 

Now she has a short screening at Monclair, one she filmed during the pandemic - because there are some things like creativity that cannot be crushed by Covid.  We talk about her short, April Showers and also about her newest feature, Pooling for Paradise which is streaming just about everywhere now.

Tell me about your latest feature Pooling for Paradise - a road trip movie with a rather interesting group of passengers!  What inspired you to write it?

New Drama Podcast Around the Sun by Brad Forenza Features Actors from Stage and Screen Including Marsha Mason, BD Wong, Sally Struthers, Alysia Riener, David Alan Basche, Francois Clemmons, RHONJ Dolores Catania and More On Broadway Podcast Network

Whether you're an avid podcast listener, or want to try something new, the brand new scripted drama podcast by Brad Forenza called Around the Sun might check off your boxes. In association with Broadway Podcast Network, AROUND THE SUN. features prolific talent from stage and screen, including winners and nominees of every major performance award (Drama Desk, Emmy, Golden Globe, Grammy, Oscar, Screen Actors Guild, and Tony) The podcast was launched  eclusively on the Broadway Podcast Network and is available wherever you listen to podcasts 

Learn more at: https://broadwaypodcastnetwork.com/podcast/around-the-sun/ 

Merry Merry and More: NJ's Christmas Con by That's 4 Entertainment is Back with a Star Studded Lineup - See Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennet, Melissa Joan Hart, Danica McKellar, Jackee Harry, Caroline Rhea, Beth Broderick, Jen Lilly, Ryan Pavey, Autumn Reeser and so many more in one Magical Weekend!

By Suzanne Ordas Curry

Christmas Con is back! After last year's pandemic winter, the lovely ladies of That's 4 Entertainment have once again put together a marvelous and merry convention for Christmas movie fans in the heart of NJ.

Having been at the inaugural event, this fan/writer will tell you that it won't let you down. Filled with stars from all your favorite holiday movies, you'll get to see them, pose with them, take in the ambience of the holidays, tour the tables, eat the foods, listen to the speakers an oh, oh (or rather ho, ho) SO MUCH more!

Writer/Director Dana Glazer of A Case of Blue Takes A Deep Dive into the Joni Mitchell References in His Movie

Where does creative inspiration come from? We talk here with Writer/Director Dana Glazer whose movie A Case of Blue is now streaming. If you are a Joni Mitchell fan, you might already have has an inkling that the film might have some relationship to her work just be hearing the title. Read more about how Dana used one of his favorite artists as a muse for his film.

SBTS: "A Case of Blue" - tell me about how you were inspired to name the movie after her album "A Case of You". 

Dana Glazer: The film title is an amalgamation of Joni's songs, not from one song specifically. Certainly, the Blue album was a really big influence on me when I was in my 20's and trying to find the right life partner. The tug-pull of Joni's desire to find romance while also having total freedom spoke to me. 

Kilian and the Comeback Kids has NYC Premiere: Taylor Purdee, Lee Grant and more Attend including Photos and Schedule

The indie feature film Killian and the Comeback Kids premiered in New York City on a September night at Cinema Village.

With everyone excited to be at an in-person event -with protocols in place - viewers watched the musical film, enjoyed an in-person Red Carpet and celebrated at the after party down the street.

Killian and the Comeback Kids is the story of a young, mixed race musician who comes back to his hometown after finishing college. With an uncertain future he brings together some hometown friends to form a band in hopes of doing something big. The movie is filled with original music. Written and directed by Taylor Purdee, the cast also includes Nathan Purdee, Kassie DePaiva, John Donchak, Shane Andries, Emily Mest, Shannon O'Boyle, Andrew O'Shanick,Yael Elisheva and introducing Genesis McCaulley. Oscar Winner Lee Grant and YouTube Star Maddi Jane have cameos. The soundtrack is available on most music platforms.

Killian & the Comeback Kids will be in theaters around the country. Please check the website or Fandango for specific dates. All dates subject to change. 

NYC/NJ Event: NJPAC Live Performances for 2021: Chaka Khan, Amy Grant, Ramy Youssef, Jane Lynch, Harry Potter, Thanksgiving Comedy, Christmas Shows and more

The New Jersey Performing Arts  Center in Newark, NJ is back to  business with a schedule of live  performances for the whole family. For tickets visit: https://www.njpac.org/

Review of The Many Saints of Newark: Stellar Performances but Misses its Mark - Does David Chase Have Another Target in Mind?

 

By Ashton Samson  

3/5 🤮🤮🤮

I never thought I would wake up one morning to find myself writing anything critical whatsoever about David Chase's work, but The Many Saints of Newark fell short of Chase's original television phenomenon, The Sopranos.

There are a few positives that may make it worth a watch for an avid Sopranos fan, such as wonderful acting, accurate depictions of the Newark race riots, excellent music reminiscent of the era and a few good ole fashioned mobster shootouts. My recent review of The Sopranos memorialized why I loved the show and why it will remain a legendary television phenomenon. However, it is essentially devoid of the pizzazz that made the show so fantastic.

There is still the question of who made Tony Soprano

NYC Area Event: Trent Dawson's Katonah Classic Stage Presents Oleanna: A Live Play to Make You Think, Broadway Actor Jordan Lage and Lea DiMarchi Join the Cast

 

By Bridget Neirotti

Katonah Classic Stage Kicks Off Their New Season of Plays with Oleanna

Are you yearning to partake in New York’s recovering culture? Are you tired of watching things on that slightly-too-bright LED TV or your tiny laptop screen? A live play might be your answer. Katonah Classic Stage (KCS) brings Oleanna to the stage November 4th through the 14th, 2021 at the Bedford Historical Hall in Bedford, New York outside of Manhattan. The cast includes many talented actors from the NYC area as well as Broadway/Film/TV actor Jordan Lage (Succession, Madame Secretary) and Actress Lea DiMarchi (This is The Night), This two-hander drama centers around the riveting miscommunication between a professor and his student, studying how power struggles and political correctness can distort a situation-- and not always for the better.

Review of The Sopranos: A View of this Iconic Show from A Young Fan - Five Reasons Why He Spent His Summer Watching 86 Episodes

 

By Ashton Samson                                                                              

I had to meet adult Tony Soprano this summer so that I could meet his younger self this fall! For many years, I simply avoided watching The Sopranos because of its length and the commitment that comes with watching 86 episodes of television. Additionally, my hectic schedule would scarcely grant me the time to dive into a show that I knew would enthrall me and leave me paralyzed, eyes glued to the screen, backside to the chair. 

As fate would have it, I concluded that this past summer, mere months before the release of the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark,  seemed like the perfect time to become acquainted with one of television's most iconic characters and my prediction proved correct.