(HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, NJ) -- Want to create more video to market your arts organization but not sure how to do it on a budget? ArtPride New Jersey and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts present an interactive, half-day professional development workshop focused on creating high-quality video content for social media on Thursday, August 15 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm at Grounds for Sculpture.  The workshop will be led by Social Sidekick Media, Branding & PR and Animoto.... READ ON

(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- Years ago, Kevin Smith and friends held open auditions for his first film Clerks at the First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Now 25 years later, Kevin Smith and friends return to read the unfilmed Clerks 3 screenplay on Saturday, August 3rd at 7:30pm.  The event is  a fundraiser for theater repairs. There are only 80 seats available so tickets are $100 apiece, with all money going directly to the First Avenue Playhouse.... READ ON

(BEACH HAVEN, NJ) -- Lighthouse International Film Society and Pangaea Natural Foods in Manahawkin will present the award-winning documentary Modified on Thursday, July 18th at 8:00pm at the LBI Historical Museum in Beach Haven. Canadian Filmmaker Aube Giroux (writer, director, producer) will take part in a Q&A via Skype following the screening. Admission is $5.... READ ON

(RED BANK, NJ) --  The 4th Indie Street Film Festival runs July 24-28, 2019 in Red Bank, NJ, and celebrates art, community, and independent storytelling. The festival will open with Gay Chorus Deep South (a 2019 Tribeca Film Festival official selection) by David Charles Rodrigues and close with International Falls by Amber McGinnis. Screenings take place at Bow Tie Cinemas, Two River Theater, and Detour Art Gallery, showcasing some of what makes Red Bank one of the best arts towns in the state. ... READ ON

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Mayo Performing Arts Center presents free summer movies throughout July and August.  Tickets will be available at the MPAC box office beginning July 8 for Captain Marvel. Tickets for other events will be available two weeks prior to showings.... READ ON

(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- In celebration of JAZZ HOUSE KiDS’ 10th Annual Montclair Jazz Festival, kicking off July 26 and culminating on August 10, Montclair Film will partner with JAZZ HOUSE KiDS to feature four classic films that showcase some of the greatest jazz music ever created for the big screen. From Duke Ellington’s legendary score for Anatomy Of A Murder, to Miles Davis’ transformative score for Elevator To The Gallows, to Sonny Rollins’ character-defining music for Alfie, to the brilliant live performances captured in the classic ‘Round Midnight, the music in these films epitomize the beauty of jazz. ... READ ON

There’s a famous gag in the climax of Back to the Future in which, having traveled back to 1955, Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly finds himself fronting a band onstage at a high school dance. McFly picks up a guitar and performs a version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B Goode’, a song which wouldn’t be recorded until 1958. The school kids love this new sound, but McFly pushes his luck with some Van Halen-esque metal strumming. “I guess you’re not ready for that yet,” McFly observes, “but your kids are gonna love it!”... READ ON

Jesse Ross was a student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City when he traveled to Chicago with classmates to participate in a model United Nations conference in November 2006.  Filmmaker Brian Rose, a grad student from the Kansas City area, was in Chicago just a few days earlier visiting a friend.  The two did not know each other, but their paths would ultimately meet when Rose created the documentary When I Last Saw Jesse.... READ ON

Among the many films screened at the recent New Jersey International Film Fest at Rutgers was Anywhere Is Here, the debut feature film from Ian Lettire.  The screening took place not long after Lettire graduated from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.... READ ON

The late George A. Romero always claimed that critics would bash his movies, but whenever they visited his sets they always wanted to play zombies. A zombie movie seems like something that would be a lot of fun to take part in, which may explain why Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die boasts such a stacked, star-studded cast, like a ‘70s disaster movie but for hipster thespians. I hope everyone had fun making The Dead Don’t Die, because I sure did not have fun watching it.... READ ON