On March 4th, Arthouse Film Festival will return for ten weeks to its home base New Jersey theatres: AMC Mountainside and AMC Monmouth Mall. The festival is open to anyone, but seating is limited, so early enrollment is advised.  Subscription is $139 for five weeks or $245 for all ten weeks.  After February 27th, rates will go up.  Also being offered is a specially priced flex ticket so users may choose any eight out of ten nights for their convenience.

If you are not one of the thousands of New Jersey film buffs who have attended in years past, just imagine seeing a festival-winning gem before release to the public, then the lights come up, and there in front of you are the creators of the film, ready to answer questions and discuss their work.

Oscar winners and nominees Danny Aiello, Alan Arkin, Frank Darabont, Jesse Eisenberg, Ethan Hawke, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Melissa Leo, Viggo Mortensen, Chazz Palminteri, John Sayles, Aaron Sorkin, Fisher Stevens and David Strathairn have joined Dylan Baker, Jim Breuer, Famke Janssen, Danai Gurira, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Derek Luke, Mary Stuart Masterson, David Morse, Connie Nielsen, Joe Pantoliano and Kevin Smith as guest speakers who have come to share their insights with festival participants.

The festival has hosted 1,898 movie premieres with 1,176 live guest appearances over the past 28 years.

“The program will always be flexible in order to take advantage of opportunities as they arise,” said festival director Chuck Rose.  “Wonderful surprises and fantastic celebrities can pop up out of nowhere, so we try to keep the schedule as fluid as possible. 

“Even before we started in 1990, I began working to create an international VIP network of actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, journalists and film industry pros whose jobs involve creating and evaluating the cream of Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride, Venice, Berlin, SXSW and the other important film festivals.  We also work to ferret out potential hits in the development and production stages so we are ready to pounce on the best films first. 

“Last fall, before release to the public, we premiered: Green Book, First Man, Cold War, Shoplifters, The Guilty, The Old Man & the Gun, At Eternity’s Gate and many more outstanding films which then went on to earn 16 Oscar, 12 Golden Globe and 18 British Academy Award nominations.”

For information, to see which films were screened in the past, or which ones may be screened this year, or to register, visit www.ArthouseFilmFestival.com  or call 732-870-6012.

Confirmed films and those under consideration for the upcoming festival include: Ask Dr. Ruth, director Ryan White; Aniara with Emilie Jonsson, Bianca Cruzeiro, directors Pella Kagerman, Hugo Lilja; The Best of Enemies with Sam Rockwell, Taraji P. Henson, director Robin Bissell; Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache director Pamela B. Green; Booksmart with Lisa Kudrow, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, director Olivia Wilde; The Brink, director Alison Klayman; Dogman with Marcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce, director Matteo Garrone; Hail Satan?, director Penny Lane; The Hustle with Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, director Chris Addison; In the Aisles with Sandra Huller, Franz Rogowski, director Thomas Stuber; Late Night with Mindy Kaling, Emma Thompson, director Nisha Ganatra; Long Shot with Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, director Jonathan Levine; 3 Faces with Behnaz Jafari, director Jafar Panahi; Tolkien with Lily Collins, Nicholas Hoult, director Dome Karukoski; Transit with Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, director Christian Petzold; Working Womanwith Liron Ben-Shlush, Menashe Noy, director Michal Aviad; and more to come.