By Lisa DiCarlucci, Entertainment Editor
Watching films on a projector in a room surrounded by posters advertising the world’s “strongmen” and sideshow would be a bizarre atmosphere for your typical film festival. Luckily, Coney Island is not your typical festival.
Film makers from both the local area, and even from as a far as Canada, came out this October 2nd -4th for the 9th annual festival to showcase their work.
Overall, the films were quirky and amateur. It felt that many of the categories were extremely vague as to what they were showing. The level of quality and professionalism ranged from very strong to that of a home movie. While many of the films were profound and well made, it was obvious that the standards for festival consideration were low in some categories.
One of the more notable aspects of the festival was the documentary short film, “Against the Tide” directed by Hofstra alumnus, Douglas Durant and edited by senior film major, Michael Mayer. Their film followed the Coney Island Polar Bear Club who goes swimming in the ocean in the cold winter months. The two filmmakers went as far as to actually take the cold swim with the club to really capture the spirit of the Polar Bears, and they certainly did. The film gave great insight into the spirit of the people of Coney Island and its rich history. There was an entire portion of the festival dedicated to Coney Island and each film showcased the quirky characters that make Coney Island so unique.
The festival ended appropriately with an awards ceremony in the El Dorado bumper cars attraction, each filmmaker taking a seat in a car for the awards and then taking a free ride around the track. It was a perfectly strange ending to a perfectly strange festival.