Film Fest

Wildwood by the Sea Film Fest planned for fall
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007

WILDWOOD — Never made it to a Hollywood premiere?
Well, not to worry. Organizers of the Wildwood by the Sea Film Fest hope to bring a little bit of Tinseltown to the shore.

“We're going to join Wildwood and Hollywood. We’ll call it Wollywood,” joked Paul Russo, co-director of the festival.

The festival, being presented by the Greater Wildwood Hotel Motel Association, is designed to combine music and movies for what organizers describe as “a world premiere event.”

Russo said a number of films will debut at the festival, which will run for from Sept. 27 to Sept. 30 at the Wildwoods Convention Center.

Russo said film director Shawn Swords asked why the island didn't host a film festival, and the festival grew from there.
Swords was one of three directors who helped announce the festival Friday inside the new Doo Wop Experience, the city's Ocean Avenue museum devoted to the culture of the 1950s and 1960s.

Near the podium was an artist's rendering of a red-carpet gala complete with limousine outside the entrance to the convention hall.

Russo said about 100 films will be shown during the festival, with cast and crew coming from as far away as Tokyo.

Bruce Smith, president of the hotel motel association, introduced three directors who will be premiering their latest ventures in Wildwood.

They included George Manney, director of “Pipes of Peace,” Carolyn Travis, director of “Airplay,” and Swords, director of “Philly Music Scene.”

Each of the films is related to the music industry and features some of the acts who also made a name for themselves in Wildwood during its musical heyday.

Travis said she couldn't think of a better place to debut her film, which focuses on the rebel DJs who made music available to audiences who might otherwise not have heard it.

Manney focused on the life of Rufus Harley, who was billed as the world's first jazz bagpiper, while Swords film takes a look back at the Philadelphia music scene between 1952 and 1963 with the aid of performers like Chubby Checker.

Swords promised a “couple of Hollywood people” would be among the crowd when the film debuts here in September.

While Friday's event was to introduce the festival, organizers also recognized doo-wop supporters and the musicians who made the era so memorable.

The owners of the Caribbean Motel, George Miller and Carolyn Emigh, received an award marking the motel's 50th anniversary.

“They made an investment in what we believe in,” said Dan MacElrevey, president of the Doo Wop Preservation League.

Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, was also on hand to present several proclamations to the motel owners and musicians Dee Dee Sharp and members of The Orlons and The Dovells.

Van Drew credited the island with finding ways to create economic opportunity and move the community forward while appreciating its history.

“Celebrate the past and look to a better and brighter vision of the future,” Van Drew said.


To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com