Thursday, June 1, marks the launch of the Staten Island Film Festival, a joint effort by the Staten Island Economic Development Corp., the Jewish Chamber of Commerce and a host of other local organizations eager to see Staten Island take its rightful place in the film world.
Recently, Looking North took a moment to talk with two of the festival's key organizers, Festival Director Jeannine Marotta [top photo, right] and publicity coordinator Kamillah Hanks [second photo, right]. Both are native islanders, but their motivation comes from different directions. For Marotta, a St. George resident with a background in events management, the festival is a chance to unite the island's small but growing corporate community around a single issue: Improving Staten Island's reputation both an arts destination and artists' haven.
For Hanks, a resident of Stapleton Heights and a featured Staten Island Ferry powder room denizen captured on digital tape in the Katja Esson-directed 2002 documentary Ferry Tales, the festival is a chance to add further momentum to a career shift that began the moment she agreed to help Esson publicize her film. It's also a chance to share for local filmmakers and those with an inside view of the industry to share a little painfully-acquired wisdom with the many novices seeking to make and to market their own films.
Recently, Looking North sat down with Marotta and Hanks to discuss the festival and its potential impact to the island.
Looking North: How did the Staten Island Film Festival come into being?
Jeannine Marotta: It came about probably two years ago. A number of project leaders -- the Staten Island Economic Development Corp., the Building Industry Association of New York, the J.C.C. and the Staten Island Board of Realtors -- discussed that there is a market or there could potentially be a market for a film festival on Staten Island. So we worked with a number of consultants, and one consultant came back to us. The consultant had done research and confirmed that there really was a market for the island. Knowing how many festivals go on throughout the country, there's no reason Staten Island shouldn't have one.
LN: Yeah.
JM: And so about about a year and a half [ago] the planning began. We've been heavily into it and now it's coming up on June 1st.
LN: Things move quickly. When the consultant said "market," what did they mean? A market to see the film festival or a market for local films?
JM: Overall...Basically the film festival focuses on culture and community. I think that, with Staten Island, we lacked something that focused on that aspect of it. I think people locally need this and will attend. We are promoting it regionally and nationally in addition ot locally, but our main focus is Staten Island.
LN: What was the thinking about getting Staten Island filmmakers involved? I know that the Independent Film Night [aka FilmFest Reloaded] has been attracting people.
LN: Yeah, we've gotten over 400 submissions from around the world, and we've chosen 113 quality films. Within those films, we do have a section for local filmmakers.
It varies. We have international filmmakers, Staten Island local filmmakers, people from all over the country.
LN: Is there a percentage of local films that were in the final selection?
JM: Out of 113, about 11 films are from local filmmakers.
LN: A little less than ten percent. That's not bad. Now, what type of audience are you expecting?
JM: We're anticipating 5,000 plus. With the response that we're getting, it may end up over 5,000.
LN: Like you said, you wanted to fill a void. What does a film festival do for the community from an EDC perspective?
JM: For Staten Island?
LN: Yeah.
JM: Well, basically I think it brings the community together. I think an important thing that we have attempted to do, which we were successful in doing, we've worked with 20 community groups such as the Italian Club [of Staten Island], the [Staten Island] Children's Museum, again the JCC. They've each picked a film where they're bringing their community in, and I think it bridges that gap if you will, circumvents whatever barriers may exist between community groups. This is bringing everyone together in away.
I also think that a benefit of the festival is that it will definitely have an economic boost to the island. We've recruited five different restaurants who are going to be doing a jazz theme throughout the weekend. Between hotel and restaurants, the economy, we like to think this will help that as well as get people excited: To go to an event like a Tribeca [Film Festival] where they don't have to leave the island.
LN: When you look at this in comparison to the arts that are already taking place on the island, do you see this as a way to stimulate them?
JM: I think so. I think this will stimulate them. And I think it's an aspect that hasn't really been touched upon. There's the museums and the arts and science and cultural diversity interests going on throughout the island. But with film, that really hasn't happened yet, especially with independent films.
LN: The cost of making a film seems to be going down in direct proportion with the cost of the equipment. It seems we're in the phase where Staten Island's uniqueness as a location could be pumped up a bit more. I mean, you've got Working Girl and War of the Worlds was shot here, but I wonder if you see the island becoming more of a location.
JM: We hope so. Actually, one of the events that we're having the weekend is a panel discussion about marketing your business as a film shoot location -- which is a nice tie-in to what we're talking about. I think that if you have a restaurant or a business -- hotel, retail whatever it is -- if you can the attention of directors filming movies, I think that's great. You're promoting Staten Island. You're promoting your business. I think there's a lot of potential.
LN: What are some of the big films you've got? Any plums?
JM: Our opening night film is The Celestine Prophecy, which is a book and has a huge following of fans. The director, Armand Mastroianni is from Staten Island. [He] currently lives here and he has transformed the book into a movie and that's our opening night. It was premiered in Milan where it won an award at Milan. It got a huge, huge response. I'm happy to say we're having the New York premiere for him. Cugini is another film. We've got Streetfight. We have a number of local films. We have student films. Let's see...
LN: The one that caught my attention was Staten Island Catapult.
JM: Yes!
LN: What's that one all about?
JM: Somebody...I haven't seen it yet myself but so many people did see it absolutely love it. I guess somebody had an idea where they would build a catapult...
Kamillah Hanks...as an alternative to the ferry...
JM:...shooting people over to Manhattan [laughs].
LN: It sounds weird. Is it a documentary? A mockumentary? A comedy?
JM: I think it's a short.
LN: So it's a sort of "come and see it if you want to know what it's about" film?
JM: Exactly.
LN: Speaking as an island resident, I get pumped up when I find out there are creative people nearby thinking up wacky ideas like that and putting them on film. Is there going to be any effort to do what Robert Redford has done out in Sundance. I mean, Sundance isn't just a film festival, it's an institute dedicated to helping directors and screenwriters improve their art. Is there anything like that going on with this film festival?
JM: Kamillah is working on something. As for the event overall, because it's the first annual, we're going to hopefully build from this and see what happens.
LN:[to Kamillah] So what do you have planned?
KH: On May 30th Curtis High School is going to host the Staten Island Film Festival and our first youth film forum. I have confirmations from about eight of the Staten Island filmmakers, and they're going to come and they're going to have a panel discussion and teach the kids that are really interested in film. They're basically going to give information on how to get grants, how do they start in the film industry, and why it's so important that they do stick close to home and that there is a resource on Staten Island for up and coming filmmakers. Curtis High School is one of the few high schools that do have a film club.
We're looking to have a huge turnout, because all the kids in high school are really excited about it. So that'll be on May 30th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Curtis High School.
LN: You get the sense that something like that could trigger a wave of future films.
JM: We're hoping it's going to be a success. So far the response has been kind of overwhelming, which is a good sign [laughs].
LN: Better than underwhelming.
JM: Yes, [laughs] you're right.
LN: So tell me a little about your background. How did you get into the film business?
JM: My background is that for the last decade I've planned numerous very large events: walkathons, major sponsorships, consisting of thousands of people and dealing with all the details, the logistics, planning and execution.
LN: Those walkathons are serious events. I know a couple ham radio groups that volunteer to play a supporting role because it's the closest they'll ever get to the chaotic conditions of a large scale emergency or evacuation.
JM: Very serious.
LN: Are you talking about stuff that was on the island or all around New York City.
JM: Both. I managed the Staten Island branch but I worked out of the Manhattan office. In addition to Staten Island, I also helped with the Manhattan Walkathon, Queens.
LN: How is Staten Island unique in terms of planning something like this?
JM: With the foundation I had worked for, and it may just be unique just to that foundation -- it's hard to say unless I see what the statistics are compared to other foundations -- but what we found was that Staten Island, whereas Manhattan would have many more corporate sponsorships, Staten Island would have corporate sponsorships, but the dollars that were raised were mostly by families. The foundation that I worked for was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, so the families with children who had the disease tended to raise more money. Again, I think it goes back to the whole community. It's just much more family oriented. So I think that makes it more unique, whereas, like I said, with Manhattan, it wasn't that there weren't families involved. There were. But when you're doing a comparison, you're looking at larger corporate sponsors, whereas here it's family.
LN: How does that affect the event? It seems like it would make it a little more of a challenge. It would be great if you could just call up Chase bank and have the bulk of your event paid for in five minutes, but then you haven't really talked to anybody but Chase bank.
JM: You do have to look at what the market is. For Staten Island, for the demographics, for the population compared to the city, we're obviously not going to raise as much as Manhattan, but we were fortunate to have Richmond County Savings Foundation, just to name one organization, as a sponsor at that time. So the events were successful.
What the families tended to do was have third party events to raise money. They were successful in that as well.
LN: The island doesn't raise as much dollar per dollar, but a member of the amateur radio group I just mentioned told me that Staten Island's version of the MS Walk, for example, raises the most per capita. In other words, there's a lot of money out there if you do it right.
JM: Yeah. Like I said, for the population and the demographics, people do come together and are able to raise a lot of money.
LN: Knowing that, did that influence your planning for the film festival? Do you have any third party events to help get the word out?
JM: No, no. That was a separate thing for the walkathon. This isn't a case where our goal is to raise money. It's more to raise cultural awareness and bring the community together. We've also got the automatic backing of the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. and the three other organizations I mentioned -- the Building Association, the J.C.C. and the Staten Island Board of Realtors . We';ve been working out of the S.I. EDC, planning and promoting it and we've got huge, huge sponsorship. I haven't seen dollars like this when I was fund-raising. The backing for this festival has been enormous: Richmond County Savings Foundation is the presenting sponsor. Keyspan is our venue sponsor. We have the borough president behind it, Time Warner Cable, Staten Island Advance, Pro Show Productions, Staten Island Bank and Trust.
In order to do a festival like this you need that backing. And because we're not fund-raising to find a cure, we're not relying so much on family.
LN: And Kamillah, how did you come into this?
KH: After I did Ferry Tales, I stayed very much in the independent filmmaker-circuit, doing publicity for Penelope Pictures and other production houses. When I heard -- actually I read in the Advance -- that they were doing a film festival on Staten Island, I basically begged [laughs] to be a part of it in any capacity, because I am so proud to be a Staten Islander. I was born and raised on Staten Island: born in Park Hill, I live in Stapleton Heights, my four children go to school in Staten Island. I go to the College of Staten Island.
I just feel that often the island gets a bum rap and I think that everyone is really going to enjoy this. It couldn't have come at a better time. I wanted to be a part of it, and they graciously [laughs] allowed me to help get the word out.
LN: So you were in Ferry Tales?
KH: I was one...I mean, it's a very bizarre, weird story, because the director and the producer of Ferry Tales, they're all German. So they were filming a video, and one of the sound people helping them film on the ferry was like, "The weirdest thing is on that ferry boat, in the bathroom."
So Katja [Esson], she was like, "Really?" She went on to shoot other documentaries, but she eventually walked in one day, and we were like, "Who are you?" [mimes skeptical look]. She goes, "Well, I'm from HBO." And we thought [eyes brightening up], "We're gonna all be movie stars!"
It was the most bizarre, little-engine-that-could film that ever, I mean, from there, she finished it. Sept. 11th happened one month into the filming, and the Staten Island Ferry basically was like, "You can't do it anymore," but we managed to get back in there.
To make a long story short, that was actually the point of the film: Sept. 11th really brought us together, because it was a crazy mix of females.
From there, we just started promoting it. I asked [Katja] if I could do the p.r. for it. I did and we just kept going and going and going. And lo and behold they called and said, "You're on the short list for Oscar." And that was like, OK, [mimes dazed look] really? [laughs]
LN: [laughing]
KH: Most documentaries that make it to the Oscars, people cry. They're very heart-wrenching...Ferry Tales was really funny, upbeat. A lot of people think of Staten Island as very segregated and very non-cultural. It was really about different cultures of women coming together in this one place and that we didn't care if one was from Annadale, one was from Park Hill, one lived in the projects. It didn't matter. So I think that touched home to a lot of working mothers.
LN: So what did that tell you about -- again, we're talking about making a new generation of filmmakers on Staten Island -- it seems like it was a good introduction to the hustle that goes into the filmmaking process?
KH: Yeah. It was complete and utter street marketing, letting people know that Staten Island isn't all about the dump. It's not about Nascar. It's really about the people. I can't tell you how many Staten Islanders have come in [to the EDC offices] and say, "We want to volunteer" and have given help to Jeannine and S.I. EDC, begging to be a part of this.
Staten Island has been bitten by the film bug. Even if it's just here, if no one else can understand [the festival], I think Staten Islanders will appreciate it.
LN: Jeannine, I forgot to ask...are you from Staten Island?
JM: IÕm from Staten Island. I grew up here. I actually live in St. George, absolutely love it there. So this is a nice mix for me. I feel this is a nice mix for me and it's easy for me to execute something that I'm familiar with.
LN: What attracted you to St. George?
JM: It was the up-and-coming area, and the timing happened to be right. I looked at it and fell in love with the apartment. It's right by the stadium, among one of the lower floors [laughs] so I don't have the best view, but I do have water views, which is nice. I love the water, so to walk out of the building to see the water -- and the skyline of the city -- is very relaxing to me.
LN: If your wildest dreams are met with this festival, what do you see it doing to a neighborhood like St. George? Because that's the first neighborhood everybody sees.
JM: I think it's just one component that will be helping to build it up. So much has changed in that neighborhood. Even without the festival, it has changed drastically, and I think the ball park had a lot to do with that. Following that, you just saw those changes, and I think [the festival[ is only going to enhance it. Our banners are all over Richmond Terrace. You've got the St. George Theatre and Snug Harbor all in that north shore. What I try to tell people -- sometimes people from the city think, "Oh, Staten Island is so far away -- the ferry is right there. You just jump on the ferry and get off and within a couple of blocks you can go to a beautiful, beautiful theater -- the St. George Theatre.
There's a lot of opportunity, I think, for it to continue to develop, because people just don't know what's here.
LN: There are film festivals all over the place nowadays. It seems like the two models are Sundance and the Tribeca Film Festival. Sundance is kind of like where the industry gets together and talks about what's going to be the hot film, whereas Tribeca is an attempt to draw attention to a neighborhood that still wants to associate itself with artists and filmmakers. It seems like this festival is closer to the Tribeca model. Do you take inspiration from what they've done over there?
JM: Um, I wasn't there in the initial planning stages to say, but I do believe that other festivals were looked at and researched. But I can tell you that you're absolutely right with the difference between Sundance and Tribeca. This is more like a Tribeca film festival -- to promote an area, to promote Staten Island, to bring the community together and to put Staten Island on the map. Because, like I said, I think people just aren't aware. This will help us a lot.
LN: [Tribeca Film Festival co-founder] Robert DeNiro has been a big advocate for bringing more film production into New York City. I know that the whole Stapleton Studios effort didn't pan out, but do you see a chance to bring in more production?
JM: That would be nice. Should this be successful, which I think it will be, it will be interesting to see what happens. I mean there may be other things that come of it that may surprise us.
LN: What challenges need to be overcome to get more production?
JM: It's hard to say. I don't know much about film permits, so I can't speak on that end. But I think maybe having people taking Staten Island seriously as a location for production [to Kamillah]. Do you want to add on that?
KH: As quiet as it's kept, a lot of films have been done on Staten Island. School of Rock was done on Staten Island. In fact, they used my old apartment building on Bay St., which was hilarious.
It's good and it's bad, because we're the best kept secret. Production location people do look at Staten Island often, and the mayor's office wants all five boroughs showing up on film. Whatever germinates or comes from the success of this festival can be all good. But Jeannine and I have no political idea of how things work as far as bringing production houses and things.
But it's not just film. There are a lot of small, cultural things popping up in Staten Island on the north shore. Culture has to grow. It has to breed. It has to come from one place. I think the festival is a really great thing that happened and the corporate community is saying, "Yes, we agree with you."
JM: That's good [laughs].
KH: It's awesome. I've never in my life, to Jeannine's point, seen such support. These guys should absolutely be applauded. I've been to film festivals all over America with Ferry Tales and they are all about ticket sales, the need to stay alive.
LN: The short term.
KH: Exactly. With this festival, it's all about...the corporations sponsoring just want you to come and enjoy what they've done for Staten Island. It's very rare. Very rare.
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