(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- The Second Annual Bread & Roses Film Festival, Jersey Shore’s only female-centric film festival, is set to return to Asbury Park from October 18-20, 2024. Bread & Roses will showcase 30 films by women, from 9 different countries, featuring narrative and documentary feature and short films, as well as animation, experimental, and music videos.
“Our inaugural year was a success, and we are so excited to be back in Asbury Park for the second year, once again elevating and celebrating women’s voices in film,” said Marci Mazzarotto, founder, and executive director of Bread & Roses. “We learned a lot from our first year, so for 2024, we programmed the festival across three days to showcase a greater variety of films and added some fun events as well.”
To kick things off, an opening reception is taking place at the Parlor Gallery in downtown Asbury Park from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Friday, October 18th, followed by film screenings at the ShowRoom Cinema from 8:00pm-11:00pm.
On Saturday, October 19th from 12:30pm-2:00pm, a Filmmaker Forum (a roundtable panel discussion with filmmakers), which is free and open to the public, is set to take place at the Asbury Park Library.
Screenings continue into the weekend at the ShowRoom, with films being shown on Saturday, October 19th from 3:00pm-9:00pm and Sunday, October 20th from 12:00pm-6:00pm.
All films screenings are ticketed events: an all-access festival pass is $40, daily pass is $20, and a single screening block ticket is $10. Festival passes/tickets are available for purchase online.
The Bread and Roses Film Festival, which is run by an all-female team and is curated by a panel of all- female judges, is proudly supported by Georgian Court University, as well as Precipice Collective, the festival’s non-profit fiscal sponsor.
2024 Bread & Roses Film Festival Schedule
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, October 18 @ Parlor Gallery from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Opening Reception to kick off the second annual Bread & Roses Film Festival. Meet and mingle with fellow filmmakers and film enthusiasts – light refreshments provided.
FRIDAY SCREENINGS
Friday, October 18 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 8:00pm – 11:00pm
ASK AGAIN LATER dir. Chloe Evangelista (United States, animated short, 3:52). What is reality? While there is no true answer, this surrealistic collage of the irrational aims to explore the popular theory that everyday life is indeed the result of a simulation – one that, on occasion, glitches.
HATH NO FURY dir. Kayleigh Keane (United States, narrative short, 13:26). With the help of her spirit guide, Heather confronts the truth about what happened to her.
ONE STORY AT A TIME: CELESTE LECESNE dir. Eva Tenuto, Natalia Iyudin (United States, documentary short, 10:06). Celeste Lecesne candidly shares how he not only escaped the confines of homophobia but combatted it by finding the courage to share his truth with the world. An off-broadway solo- show becomes an Academy Award-winning film that ultimately inspires The Trevor Project, the largest suicide prevention lifeline for LGBTQIA+ youth.
STALLED IN EIGHT ETUDES dir. Kersti Bryan (United States, narrative short, 15:00). Eight lives intersect in a municipal courthouse bathroom and find a surprising humanity.
MY MUM USED TO CALL ME SISTER dir. Sonia Marin (Italy, experimental short, 5:51). Lifelong journey of retracing steps that the women in award-winning photographer and author, Sonia Marin’s life have taken as they ventured from Italy to the United Kingdom and back.
RED ONION dir. Iris Almaraz (United States, narrative short, 10:00). A day in the life of a phone sex operator becomes an exploration of intimacy, death, and human connection.
I CAN’T HEAR YOU dir. Caryn Whitman (United States, narrative short, 3:20). The sounds of summer are brought to life from the perspectives of a father and his children during a day at the beach.
ANALOGUE REVOLUTION dir. Marusya Bociurkiw (Canada, documentary feature, 1:30:00). Canadian feminist storytellers of the 1970s to 1990s took hold of cutting-edge media technology to document everything from violence towards women to how to insert a diaphragm.
Saturday, October 19 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 3:00pm – 5:00pm.
FILMMAKER FORUM
Saturday, October 19 @Asbury Park Library from 12:30pm – 2:00pm. Filmmaker Forum with a roundtable panel discussion lead by industry professional Lizzie Finn.
SCREENING BLOCK A
UP AND DOWN dir. Lexi Aldrich (United States, music video, 3:30). A young woman hoping for love discovers the reality of disillusioned relationships.
TO BUILD A MONUMENT dir. Laissa Alexis (United States, documentary short, 11:20). An exploration of three Black queer people's connection to their ancestors and how they are preparing for their own ancestorhood. Inspired by the legacy of Sakia Gunn.
CROOKEDFINGER dir. Julia Halperin, Jason Cortlund (United States, narrative feature, 1:32:00). After the sudden death of her parents, Maria faces foreclosure of the family home, a brain- injured brother, and a strange hum that only she hears.
Saturday, October 19 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 5:00pm – 7:00pm.
SCREENING BLOCK B
WHAT IS THE CRITERIA? Anessa Khan (United States, narrative short, 10:59). A Pakistani-American woman’s life changes when a pair of magical glasses help her reevaluate what it means to find real love and happiness in her world.
WISHBONE dir. Karen Bird, Kerry Kolbe (United Kingdom, narrative short, 9:58). Chrissie Fox refused to relinquish her dream of being a photographer. This is a 60-year odyssey charting her life in small town Barrow-in-Furness (northern England) from 1960 to the present.
MIMI GOES TO REHAB dir. Asger Folmann (United States, narrative short, 14:59). Mimi, a people-pleasing psychotherapist, is fed up with her hostile work environment, abusive boss, and cheating boyfriend. She poses as a cocaine addict for a free "vacation" at a luxury rehab, but will she get away with her scam?
THE ANTIQUE dir. Hannah Perry Shepard (United States, narrative short, 19:37). Twin sisters cope with the grief of the death of their mother, their complicated relationship and the possibility that they own a valuable family heirloom.
EVA HALLER: A WORK IN PROGRESS dir. Jeanne Meyers (United States, documentary feature, 51:28). Eva Haller, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, has touched the lives of women, children and artists around the world with her commitment to making every day count.
Saturday, October 19 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 7:00pm – 9:00pm
SCREENING BLOCK C
FIRST YOU, THEN I dir. Ashleigh Coffelt (United States, experimental short, 3:00). A woman finds herself caught in a toxic relationship, struggling between fighting for herself or disconnecting from the one she loves.
YEAR 10 dir. V. Leigh (United States, narrative short, 6:18). Every year on a poignant anniversary, Ruth & Ciera reunite outside their old elementary school, sharing memories of what happened on a fateful day.
CHANGING TIDES dir. Kathryn Georghiou (United Kingdom, narrative short, 22:00). Based on a true story centering on end-of-life alcoholism and finding hope in unexpected places.
OUR MOVEMENT STARTS HERE dir. John Rash, Melanie Dang Ho (United States, documentary feature, 01:22:00). The story of a rural community that inspired the international environmental justice movement by fighting the state of North Carolina's toxic landfill.
Sunday, October 20 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 12:00pm – 2:00pm
SCREENING BLOCK D
DEAR DORINE dir. Audra Mariel Taliercio (United States, music video, 6:05). A musical letter to one’s younger self.
DANCING AMID FIRE, RISING ABOVE RUINS dir. Essmat Sophie (Norway, animated short, 6:00) (United States
HIDDEN FLORA dir. Ryan Rox narrative feature, 1:32:56). Roxii, a queer hopeless romantic, just wants to be loved and treated the way boys do girls. A string of boys and men inform Roxii’s view of sex and identity in late aughts in New Mexico.
Sunday, October 20 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm
SCREENING BLOCK E
BEYOND THE RING dir. Mari Geldenhuys, Malcom Rainers (South Africa, documentary short, 29:23). In the South Africa township of Khayelitsha, a young female boxer confronts gender-based violence by immersing herself in the world of boxing.
LORELEI dir. Jaime Nebeker (United States, narrative short, 18:16). Haunted by inner demons, Rose escapes into the wild, only to find they’ve grown much louder.
MUITO AMOR: JEWS AND JUDAISM IN AMAZONIA dir. Malka Shabtay (Israel, documentary feature, 1:01:15). An Israeli Anthropologist travels throughout Amazonia to meet Moroccan Jews and their descendants who immigrated to this region in1810. Together they share their story of existence and persistence, their daily lives today, and their deep feelings towards their Jewish origin.
Sunday, October 20 @ ShowRoom Cinema – Theatre 2 from 4:00pm – 6:00pm
SCREENING BLOCK F
OUT OF WATER dir. Claire Pitot (France, narrative short. 4:23). A young woman with a bipolar disorder, is about to achieve her dream: to become a mermaid.
SPECTRUM OF CONSUMPTION: A CONSERVATION STORY dir. Colleen Kelley (United States, documentary short, 21:00). Follows a group of women hunters in Montana, and their relationship to public land, conservation, and alternatives to the industrial food complex.
BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS dir. Hannah Perry Shepard (United States, narrative short, 15:14). An overwhelmed housewife reflects on her life before giving birth, when her husband was still attracted to her, and life was simpler. This prompts her to make a final ultimate sacrifice in an unlikely setting.
DESPITE dir. Beatriz Balsini Prates (Brazil, documentary feature, 1:22:00). Every child when woken up by a nightmare, wants to sleep in their parents' bed. And what happens if that bed becomes the source of your greatest fear?
Best of the Fest Awards will be announced immediately following the final screening.
WRAP-UP
Sunday, October 20 @Location TBD from 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Casual festival wrap-up offering another chance to meet and mingle filmmakers and celebrate women in film. Drinks and food on your own.
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