New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

A Moment on Main Street


By Gary Wien

originally published: 10/02/2021


Filmmaker Brianna Stimpson loves to travel.  Her Instagram page has photographs taken from places around the world.  Traveling is part of her identity, but when the pandemic hit she found her world suddenly got much smaller.  As she focused on her immediate surroundings, she began documenting how the pandemic was affecting businesses within a section of Main Street in Belmar, New Jersey.

Stimpson grew up in Freehold, but has lived in California, Washington, DC, Australia, and New York since graduating from Marymount Manhattan College in 2012. Her family had just moved from Freehold to Belmar before COVID hit, which is where she found herself. In many ways, the pandemic allowed her to see Belmar in a new light.

“That’s the thing about the pandemic, it’s forced us to stay in one spot and look at our surroundings,” explained Stimpson. “I just happened to be going back to my hometown. Getting out of the house and moving up and down that street was a good way to escape,” said Stimpson.  “It was impossible not to wonder what everyone was going through day to day.”

So she began asking them.  She got several to agree to be interviewed for the documentary called A Moment On Main Street, which screens at the New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, October 3rd.  The film can be screened at the festival’s movie theater on Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick at 7:00pm or is available for screening at home.  Tickets are $15 and available for purchase online.  The ticket also includes the full-length documentary, Last Call: The Shutdown of NYC Bars which shows how the pandemic affected the hospitality industry in the city.

There are many popular downtown Main Streets in New Jersey, but Belmar is rarely mentioned on such lists.  The fact that Belmar has a typical Main Street is entirely the point - businesses around the country are going through these very same issues.  This could be Main Street Anywhere USA.




Reach New Jersey's largest arts & entertainment audience, click here for info on how to advertise at NJ Stage



Stimpson spoke with Kate Walters of Sweet Tease Tea Room, Joe Rizutto from Main Street Donuts, Liz Collins of Coastal Core Fitness, Bobby J. Quinn of Jake’s Downtown, Ronaldo Lino of Surf Suds Laundromat, and Patricia Tecza of Nostalgic Nonsense.  They all shared stories of how the pandemic shut down their business, forced them to adapt, and how they are trying to survive this period in time. 

“I reached out to business owners,” said Stimpson.  “I had an idea for the project, reached out to see who wanted to tell their story, and was will to talk to anybody about it.  The whole point is that it’s Main Street and everybody has an interesting story right now.”

Stimpson took precautions while shooting the film.  She wore a mask and stayed 6 feet away from the subjects. She says filming took place from September through December 2020.  Watching this film as the Delta variant was running across America gave me a sense of deja vu - something that hit the filmmaker as well.

“There was almost a sense of relief that there wouldn’t be a follow-up documentary because everyone had gotten through it,” added Stimpson.  “The vaccines were rolling out - it was just a great moment.  But I just rewatched the film and all the same fears are just as relevant.  We are back to square one in a lot of ways.  Businesses are slightly more prepared than last time.  They have curbside delivery, and have adapted in interesting ways, but in some ways we’re more set back now.”

The film shows small businesses where the business owner is often heavily involved in the day to day operation.  When the pandemic came, it was up to these people to figure out a way to adapt.

“What really struck me was that these small businesses were able to make so many individual decisions and that’s why I tried to keep the government and policies out of it,” said Stimpson.  “Because on a macro level, it feels like we’re all just being thrown around by the new regulations and rules, and new ideas about COVID - but, when you look at the individual day to day decisions and how that affects each customer and employee, I thought that was more interesting.  As Joe from Main Street Donuts says, ‘There’s no rules anymore.  We threw them out the window and we’re just trying to survive.’”

The New Jersey Film Festival runs until October 10 with screenings available online as well as doing live screenings at  Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 7:00pm for each program on their show date.



Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.



Reach New Jersey's largest arts & entertainment audience, click here for info on how to advertise at NJ Stage



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: Despicable Me 4

Tuesday, July 01, 2025 @ 7:00pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: Despicable Me 4

Tuesday, July 01, 2025 @ 10:30am
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

How

How to Train Your Dragon in Concert

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: film


 

How

How to Train Your Dragon in Concert

Saturday, July 12, 2025 @ 2:00pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: Moana 2

Tuesday, July 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 


 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Count

Count Basie Center for the Arts presents An Evening With Francis Ford Coppola and screening of "Megalopolis"

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Legendary director, Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders) is bringing his monumental 2024 film, Megalopolis, to select cities across the country. The tour kicks off at the Count Basie Center for the Arts on Sunday, July 20, 2025 at 7:00pm.



The

The Williams Center to Screen "Wayward Kin" by David Joseph Volino

(RUTHERFORD, NJ) -- After a four-year-long production process, filmmaker and New Jersey native, David Joseph Volino, is sharing the full-length feature, Wayward Kin, with local audiences. See the film for one night only at The Williams Center in Rutherford on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The screening begins at 7:00pm with the cast and crew in attendance.



The

The ShowRoom presents ENCORE: Rock Cinema Returns! A Summer Series of Legendary Sound and Vision

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- The ShowRoom Cinema is turning up the volume this summer with ENCORE: Rock Cinema Returns!, a series of must-see music films that combine incredible sound with captivating visuals. Screenings include The Who's Tommy; Pink Floyd: The Wall; Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains; and Streets of Fire.



Winners

Winners of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival Announced!

The Competition component of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival has just concluded! Overall, we had a very good festival this year and I want to thank the hundreds of people who viewed the terrific films we screened in-person and online. I also want to thank all of the filmmakers, cast and crew who came to the in-person screenings to talk about their films with our audiences.



Amazing

Amazing Supporting Actresses screens at the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival on Saturday, June 7th

Arturo Dueñas’ Supporting Actresses (Secundarias) is a love letter to theater, but more than that, it’s a bustling, compelling portrait of the people who make it come alive. Set against the backdrop of an opening night performance at the Calderón Theater in Valladolid, this Spanish-language film blurs the line between fiction and reality in deeply satisfying ways. It’s shot (or appears to be shot) in one, continuous take, and that single, unbroken breath captures the anxiety, chaos, beauty, and deeply human moments that unfold behind the curtain.