It was like pulling teeth, getting me out of the Village, west of the Hudson, putting those new license plates on my Karmann Ghia back in 1987. Telling people I lived "just outside NYC" when traveling, or "12 miles from the city".
But times have changed. We're urban-suburban. Really quite hip, thank you. Our property taxes -- well that's another story, but we have great public schools and we don't pay sales tax on clothes, a bonus any clothes horsie will kill for.
And, starting tonight, we have one heck of a film festival to call our own. The Montclair Film Festival debuted at Kasser Theater at MSU with a screening of The Oranges, a wry suburban story of friendship and adultery, followed by a live chat between one its stars, Oliver Platt, and local NY Times writer David Carr.
It's hard to explain just what it is about a film festival -- but any worries the industry had that VCRs, then DVDs and cable could kill off theatrical films, first voiced 30 years ago, seem to be unfounded. People like sitting in the dark together sharing emotions. Film is celebratory in nature. It explores our collective consciousness (un and otherwise).
Hats off to everyone who made this happen. Hats not off to Governor Christie, who by cutting the tax credit for films shot in NJ, made a film about the Oranges cheaper to shoot in New Rochelle. Every dollar a film crew spends working in the state creates many more dollars for local businesses. Maybe for next year's NJ budget, we can get that detail right, especially once the Montclair Film Festival shows just what film and film making can do to build community and support local business. That's a Jersey girl talkin'.
But times have changed. We're urban-suburban. Really quite hip, thank you. Our property taxes -- well that's another story, but we have great public schools and we don't pay sales tax on clothes, a bonus any clothes horsie will kill for.
And, starting tonight, we have one heck of a film festival to call our own. The Montclair Film Festival debuted at Kasser Theater at MSU with a screening of The Oranges, a wry suburban story of friendship and adultery, followed by a live chat between one its stars, Oliver Platt, and local NY Times writer David Carr.
It's hard to explain just what it is about a film festival -- but any worries the industry had that VCRs, then DVDs and cable could kill off theatrical films, first voiced 30 years ago, seem to be unfounded. People like sitting in the dark together sharing emotions. Film is celebratory in nature. It explores our collective consciousness (un and otherwise).
Hats off to everyone who made this happen. Hats not off to Governor Christie, who by cutting the tax credit for films shot in NJ, made a film about the Oranges cheaper to shoot in New Rochelle. Every dollar a film crew spends working in the state creates many more dollars for local businesses. Maybe for next year's NJ budget, we can get that detail right, especially once the Montclair Film Festival shows just what film and film making can do to build community and support local business. That's a Jersey girl talkin'.
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