By Rosemary Conte
originally published: 02/22/2015 I think of New Jersey as the Land of Festivals, and Asbury Park, the Queen City of Festivals. It's a renaissance city. And while music has been drawing people from around the world to Asbury Park, there is a growing presence of art galleries, as well as artisan and indie filmmaker studios there. In April, "the queen" will host a hybrid event called the Asbury Park Music In Film Festival.

This new festival, a competition, will feature more than music videos. There are 10 categories ranging from full-length features to public service announcements. You'll see animated music videos, music documentaries, documentaries on building musical instruments, and documentaries on musicians and music producers. They will be shown at local venues from April 10 to April 12, from 9 am to 10 pm. The entries will be judged by a panel of film and music-industry pros, including this writer.

Matt Hockenjos, the festival's Executive Director, says, "We'll be using unconventional venues (churches, community centers, restaurants and galleries) to bring people in, and bring cultures together. Scattered throughout the festival, bands featured in the films will be playing live in these various spots---and it's really going to be strong at night. This isn't going to be a festival that ends at 10 pm and everybody goes home when there's nothing to do. The city will be alive and happening throughout the weekend.

"There are a variety of jobs that need to be filled for the festival weekend, including box office staff, festival guides, merchandise team, setup crew, street team and production crew." For more information about the festival and volunteer opportunities, visit www.apmff.com .

"The Garden State Film Festival left Asbury Park for Atlantic City in 2013 after 10 years in the city," said Tom Gilmour, Director of Commerce for Asbury Park, and president of the Asbury Park Music Foundation." And in typical Asbury Park-entrepreneurial style, the new film festival has content and appeal that is a "notch or three up" from the one that fled to AC!

The Asbury Park Music In Film Festival is organized and sponsored by the Asbury Park Music Foundation and the Asbury Park Press. Kudos to them for creating a festival that creates greater awareness of the importance of music in visual media.

For artists who keep "tickler files," be reminded that APMFF expects to release the "Call for Entries" around October 2015 for the 2016 festival. Deadline for entries this year was February 5.  

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