(RED BANK | APRIL 18, 2022) The Count Basie Center Teen + College Film Fest has announced its 2022 finalists, all of which will be screened this weekend at Basie Center Cinemas, 36 White Street in Red Bank.

Tickets, priced at just $5, are on sale now at www.basiecentercinemas.org. Screenings will take place at 7PM this Friday, April 22, on Saturday, April 23 at 4PM and at noon on Sunday, April 24. An opportunity to view finalists online will be announced at a later date.

Winners of this year’s festival will be announced next Wednesday, April 27, following an online panel and Q&A between the filmmakers and various industry leaders, including Sony Pictures Classics Co-Founder and Co-President Tom Bernard, who has taken an active role in the festival and competition since its inception.

“Every year, we watch films submitted to the Count Basie Center Teen + College Film festival, and I always come away feeling that this could be the platform that launches New Jersey’s next great young filmmaker,” said Sony Pictures Classics’ Bernard, who is also a member of the nonprofit Basie Center’s Board of Trustees. “I’m excited for this year’s festival and the opportunity to speak with these creators about the industry and how they can find their way moving forward.”

Now in its 7^th year, the annual Count Basie Center Teen + College Film festival receives dozens of entries from middle school, high school and college-aged filmmakers based in New Jersey. Collegiate students studying in other states may also participate.  The Count Basie Center Teen + College Film Fest is presented by Bank of America.

Finalists in the 2022 Count Basie Center Teen + College Film Fest:

Middle School:

• A Dog’s Day: Featuring Luna (Directed by Pilar Jacobs, Grover Cleveland Middle School, Caldwell)
• Sibling Superpowers (Directed by Emma Marie Tourian, Grover Cleveland Middle School, Caldwell)

High School:

• Isla Nena (Directed by Maya Zeidman, East Brunswick Tech-School of the Arts)
• Submergent Sound – A Guy Named Pete (Directed by Grace Wilson, Maura Collins, Jay Fielding, Erika Ridgeway, Isabella Campion, Kirsten Prefer, Alicia Aponte, Stephen Sassano, Joseph Costa, Gigi Maiorana, Middletown High School South)
• The STARS Program (Directed by Arielle Vidalina Borges, Holmdel High School)
• A Bounty (Directed by Daniel Scharf, Bridgewater Raritan High School)
• A Fistful of Pasta (Directed by Joseph Guzzone, Tyrone Shields and Tom Hernandez, Middletown High School South)
• Body, Forgive Me (Directed by Amanda Katz, Howell High School)
• Dear Judges (Directed by Rachel Thornton, Hopewell Valley Central High School)
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (Directed by Amanda Katz, Howell High School)
• Hunter (Directed by Michelle J Tang, Metuchen High School)
• In Mind (Directed by Yuhyeon Byun, Ridgewood High School)
• It’s Only the End of the World (Directed by Brooks Wieszczek, Northern Burlington High School)
• Kick and Flip (Directed by George Parker, Point Pleasant Boro High School)
• MM61A (Directed by Maura Collins, Zoey Ness and Isabella Campion, Middletown HS South)
• Ode to the Women on Long Island (Directed by Blake Alcide, Howell High School)
• Senseless (Directed by Nathaniel Wenker, Cape May County Technical High School)
• Short (Directed by Sam Chuck, Mahwah High School)
• Sonata (Directed by Sam Chuck, Mahwah High School)
• The Love That Remains (Directed by Maura Collins and Darla Matches, Middletown High School South

College:

• Left-Handed (Directed by Jon Sorokin, Franklin & Marshall College (Graduate of Cherry Hill High School)
• Out of Body (Directed by Sophia Rosa Montano, Montclair State University)
• Skulldive (Directed Peter Di Prospero, Montclair State University)
• Solo (Directed by Alice Almiron, Rutgers University)
• The Movie (Directed by Vaughn Battista, Mason Gross School of the Arts (graduate of Communications High School)
• The Smile (Directed by Isaiah Gomez, Montclair State University)

This year’s online Q&A will provide student filmmakers with the opportunity to speak with industry professionals as well as college film program professors. Guests include Bernard, producer Kim Allen (The Departed), film marketing executive Scott Feinstein of 42West, visual effects artist Sorya Sean Serei (Industrial Light & Magic, Black Panther, Spider Man: Homecoming), Martha Pinson (Script consultant w/ Martin Scorsese), college professors Derrick Cameron (Montclair University) and Chad Anderson (Brookdale Community College) and others.