LONG ISLAND, NY — The 2020 Gold Coast International Virtual Film Festival and Drive-In Series will celebrate its 10th anniversary from October 13 – 20 with a host of unique offerings that will appeal to a wide range of audiences throughout the Long Island, New York, region and beyond. The Virtual Film Festival, powered by CineSend, will be available via mobile and desktop web browsers as well as Apple TV and Roku apps. This special digital platform will allow you to customize your Film Festival experience either through an All-Access pass or single-ticket option, and special discounts will be offered to Gold Coast Film Society members. Films offered as part of the Virtual Festival will be available to view throughout the Festival week. The Festival will also feature four Drive-In events that will take place at various venues across the Town of North Hempstead including in Great Neck and Port Washington.
This year’s lineup showcases more than 70 feature-length and short films, many with pre-recorded filmmaker Q&As, including documentaries, foreign films, narratives, dramas, comedies and more.
The Festival will launch on October 13 with a free Opening Night Virtual Gala to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Gold Coast Arts Center, the non-profit organization that produces the Festival. Included in this year’s virtual film screening lineup are several new films saluting the visual and performing arts including BILLIE, a documentary about the life and music of iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday; MATISSE, From MoMA and Tate Modern, an intimate behind-the-scenes documentary celebrating the giant of modern art; a 10th anniversary screening of the NAACP Image Award-winning film Thunder Soul, a heartwarming documentary showcasing the Kashmere High School Stage Band and word-class funk powerhouse; and Beyond Moving, which tells the inspirational story of a South African ballet prodigy on his ‘Billy Elliot’-like journey to become a professional dancer, followed by a special conversation with the film’s director Vikram Dasgupta and ballet dancer and star Siphe November.
Other highlights include the Sundance Grand Jury Award-winning film YALDA: A Night for Forgiveness, a provocative new film from Iran about a woman who accidentally kills her husband and must plead forgiveness from his family on a reality TV show; The Artist’s Wife, starring Lena Olin and Bruce Dern (GCIFF 2011 Legend Award winner); SXSW winner for Best Documentary The Donut King, about an immigrant achieving the American Dream by baking one of America’s favorite desserts; and Thou Shalt Not Hate, a tense drama about an Italian doctor and son of a Holocaust survivor, who comes across a traffic accident victim with a Nazi tattoo on his chest. In honor of National Emergency Room Nurse’s Month, and as a tribute to all essential workers, the Festival will also present a free online screening of the new documentary In Case of Emergency which profiles the life and work of several emergency room nurses around the United States. This screening is being presented in partnership with Northwell Health’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health.
In addition to its Virtual Festival, GCIFF will present several films as part of a new Drive-In Series including The Beatles in their feature film debut A Hard Day’s Night, one of the “most deliriously entertaining movies of all time”; a fabulously fun program of Family Short Films appropriate for children of all ages and the award-winning classic suspense film North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock, best viewed on the big screen.
For more information regarding the complete schedule of virtual film screenings and filmmaker Q&As and drive-in events, and to purchase passes and tickets, visit www.goldcoastfilmfestival.org.
To RSVP for the free Opening Night Virtual Gala celebrating Gold Coast Arts 25th Anniversary, and for ways to help sponsor or support this important event, visit www.goldcoastarts.org/gala25.
Gold Coast International Film Festival
Since 2011, the festival has brought the latest Hollywood hits and Indie favorites to standing room only audiences throughout the fabled Gold Coast of Long Island. Add A-list celebrities and unforgettable events to the mix, and it’s easy to see why the Gold Coast International Film Festival has become the “go to” festival for film buffs and the public. The Gold Coast International Film Festival is produced by the not-for-profit Gold Coast Arts Center.
Previous honorees and special guests of the festival and the Gold Coast Arts Center include film industry VIPs Francis Ford Coppola, Hugh Grant, Baz Luhrmann, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino, Ed Burns, Bruce Dern, Isabella Rossellini, Lou Diamond Phillips, Morgan Spurlock, Eli Wallach, Gabriel Byrne, Jacques Pepin, Bill Plympton, Phil Donahue, Phylicia Rashad, Joan Allen, Jay McInerney and Michael Cuesta, as well as composer Morton Gould, artists James Rosenquist, Oleg Cassini, Edwina Sandys and Bob Gruen, comedian Susie Essman, Broadway stars Kelli O’Hara, Melissa Errico and Savion Glover, and 4-time Oscar winner for production and costume design Catherine Martin.
Sponsors and partners of this year’s Festival include: founding partner, the Town of North Hempstead; Nassau County Industrial Development Agency; Warner Media; AT&T; AARP Long Island; A.L. Sarroff Fund; TD Charitable Foundation; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; The Katz Institute for Women’s Health at Northwell Health; Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock; The Bristal Assisted Living; Liman Video Rental; Sid Jacobson JCC; Great Neck Parks District; Landmark on Main Street; The Inn at Great Neck; WLIW21; Altice; Blank Slate Media; and many local businesses.
Gold Coast Arts is a 501(c)(3) multi-arts organization dedicated to promoting the arts through education, exhibition, performance, and outreach. For a quarter-century, it has brought the arts to tens of thousands of people throughout the Long Island region. Among the Center’s offerings are its School for the Arts, which holds year-round classes in visual and performing arts for students of all ages and abilities; a free public art gallery; a concert and lecture series; film screenings and discussions; the annual Gold Coast International Film Festival; and initiatives that focus on senior citizens and underserved communities. These initiatives include artist residencies, after-school programs, school assemblies, teacher-training workshops, and parent-child workshops. The Gold Coast Arts Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The Gold Coast Arts Center is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts “Partners in Education” program and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
For more information, visit www.goldcoastarts.org.
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