LONG BEACH ISLAND It was a week of firsts. It was the first time several movies were shown to the public, and it was the first time that the Lighthouse International Film Festival was a drive-in. In fact, the local event was the first and only international film festival that was a drive-in.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings, the organizers of the festival were left brainstorming ways to still get fiction, documentary, and other films to the public while protecting theater-goers and staff. Fortunately, one of the outdoor activities that was approved by the governor was drive-ins.
Pop-up drive-in venues were set up in Beach Haven, Loveladies, and Stafford. Cars lined up to watch films on the big screens for five days.
The Festival opened on Tuesday, June 16 with the war drama The Outpost and ended with the comedy The Last Shift. There were 31 unreleased films in between. Some of them were world premieres or films that showed at Sundance or SXSW.
The festival showed films as they were meant to be seen on the big screen while keeping the health and safety of its attendees its top priority, Spokesperson Christine Rooney had said about the festival. Like all responsible New Jersey businesses and non-profits LIFF has come to realize that business as usual is no longer an option, at this unique point in time, and that the Festival cannot be presented in its usual format this year.
There is a huge shortage of cultural and entertainment events due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and festival organizers hoped to fill that void.
While COVID-19 put our daily lives on hold, it also shut down the window to the alternative universe of imagination, creation, and art that is cinema. Lighthouse International Film Festival is here to reopen this window on the big screen, as part of LBIs rejuvenation, said LIFF executive director Amir Bogen.
As with schools, sometimes the best way to reach people was online. The virtual component of the event had scores of short films, episodic projects, surf films and other features. It was also the way that the winners of the festival were announced.
Films were awarded in several categories. The award for Best Narrative Feature went to The Subject, by Lanie Zipoy. It is about a documentarian who caught the murder of an African American teen on tape, and now someone is videotaping his every move.
The award for Best Feature-Length Documentary went to Feels Good Man by Arthur Jones. This chronicles how indie comic character Pepe the Frog became the icon of hate groups, and the artists attempt to regain control of the character.
The Best Short Narrative Film was White Eye by Tomer Shushan, about a man who finds his stolen bicycle and his struggles with himself.
The Best Short Documentary was Ashes To Ashes by Taylor Rees & co-director Renan Ozturk, which follows the story of Winfred Rembert, the only living survivor of a lynching. It also won an award for Social Impact.
The Best Episodic Project was Lost In Traplanta, by Mathieu Rochet.
The Jennifer Snyder Bryceland award is a $3,500 prize to a feature-length documentary that displays artistic excellence, incorporates (social) environmental themes (local, regional or global), and inspires optimism in audiences. It was awarded to Why Is We Americans? by Udi Aloni & co-director Ayana Stafford-Morris, about the Baraka family and their relationship with Newark.
The Best High School Student Film was Empty by Vic Pater, an animated journey using metaphors to have the audience understand mental illness.
Excerpt from:
Drive-In Film Fest Has Debut - Micromedia Publications
- What Pepe The Frog's Death Can Teach Us About ... - NPR.org - February 11th, 2018 [February 11th, 2018]
- The Truth About Pepe The Frog And The Cult Of Kek - March 16th, 2018 [March 16th, 2018]
- Heat Street Apologizes for Saying Pepe the Frog Isn't Anti ... - March 16th, 2018 [March 16th, 2018]
- Pep Le Pew - Wikipedia - September 28th, 2018 [September 28th, 2018]
- Amazon.com: Pepe Scream: Appstore for Android - February 20th, 2019 [February 20th, 2019]
- Zara Loses Its Skirt Over Pepe the Frog - The New York Times - February 25th, 2019 [February 25th, 2019]
- An Obituary For The Painfully Misunderstood Pepe The Frog ... - March 29th, 2019 [March 29th, 2019]
- Pepe the Frog - Wikipedia - March 29th, 2019 [March 29th, 2019]
- I 'stormed' Area 51 and it was even weirder than I imagined - The Guardian - September 28th, 2019 [September 28th, 2019]
- What the uncanceling of Pepe the Frog just for HK protests, though tells us about US media - RT - September 28th, 2019 [September 28th, 2019]
- How the alt-right co-opted the OK hand sign to fool the media - The Guardian - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- The 'OK' Hand Gesture Is Now Listed As A Symbol Of Hate - NPR - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Pepe the protest frog? Hong Kong kids aren't alt-right - FRANCE 24 - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Why Joker is unlikely to inspire real-world violence - Vox.com - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- How Area 51 memes enticed a generation to Naruto run at a military base - The Independent - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- Theater Review: The Slow Launch and Rapid Rise of Dr. Rides American Beach House - Vulture - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- Inside the extreme right-wings plan to take over campus conservatism - Raw Story - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- Hong Kong and Cartoons: Art and Its Influence in the Pro-Democracy Protests - The Bagpipe - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- How Donald Trump Jr. Landed Smack in the Middle of a Right-Wing Civil War - The Daily Beast - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- Trump, Israel and anti-Semitism: How white nationalists are rattling the American right - Haaretz - December 2nd, 2019 [December 2nd, 2019]
- Hong Kongers mark half year protest anniversary with huge rally - Capital FM Kenya - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Our Top 5 Fav Memes From The Decade - 5Why - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Worst tweet of the decade was the Vita Coco urine tweet - Business Insider - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Overwhelming illustrations put the internet in your eyeballs - Fast Company - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Decade list: Top trends and memes - UNR The Nevada Sagebrush - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- White Power Hand Signal Used During Army-Navy Game - West Point, Annapolis Investigating - Jim Heath TV - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Alexander the Bot: The Twitter War for the Macedonian Soul - Balkan Insight - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Ive Been Reporting From the Front Lines of the Hong Kong Protests. Heres What It Taught Me About the Power of Art - artnet News - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- From sexting to politics: How emoji evolved this decade - The Next Web - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- The memes that defined the 2010s - Vox.com - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- When the O.K. Sign Is No Longer O.K. - The New York Times - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- The hope of Chanukah - The Spectator USA - December 26th, 2019 [December 26th, 2019]
- The Top 10 Memes That Defined the Decade - Highsnobiety - December 26th, 2019 [December 26th, 2019]
- We wish we'd written that: STAT staffers share their favorite stories of 2019 - STAT - December 26th, 2019 [December 26th, 2019]
- Hide the Pain Harold is the meme of the decade (according to Imgur) - The Next Web - January 16th, 2020 [January 16th, 2020]
- Sorry Racist Friend, That MLK Quote You Posted Yesterday Meant Nothing Coming From You - Moms - January 25th, 2020 [January 25th, 2020]
- Hong Kong rings in Chinese New Year with protest-themed gifts - Quartz - January 25th, 2020 [January 25th, 2020]
- Big premieres in the Big Sky: 149 films at Big Sky Film Fest - Montana Kaimin - February 13th, 2020 [February 13th, 2020]
- Sundance: Feels Good Man charts a path of redemption for Pepe - TechCrunch - February 13th, 2020 [February 13th, 2020]
- Pepe the Frog - adl.org - February 13th, 2020 [February 13th, 2020]
- The 1975s New Meme-Heavy Video Will Make You Feel 1,000 Years Old - Vulture - February 24th, 2020 [February 24th, 2020]
- What is the 'boogaloo'? How online calls for a violent uprising are hitting the mainstream - NBC News - February 24th, 2020 [February 24th, 2020]
- Civil war talk takes on a life of its own as far-right extremists coalesce around the Boogaloo - AlterNet - February 29th, 2020 [February 29th, 2020]
- SXSW Review: 'Feels Good Man' documents the rise of Pepe the Frog - Vanyaland - March 24th, 2020 [March 24th, 2020]
- Meme of The Decade - The Banner Newspaper - March 24th, 2020 [March 24th, 2020]
- 10 ways to spot online misinformation - The Conversation US - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- AFLW star Tayla Harris and the kick that ignited the trolls - then punted them to the sidelines - The Age - April 26th, 2020 [April 26th, 2020]
- How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt ... - April 27th, 2020 [April 27th, 2020]
- What Does Pepe the Frog Mean? | Memes by Dictionary.com - April 27th, 2020 [April 27th, 2020]
- Boogaloo Extremists, Banned From Facebook, and the Hawaiian Shirt - The New York Times - July 7th, 2020 [July 7th, 2020]
- Incels: Alienated Men And Violence In The Digital Age - Rantt Media - July 7th, 2020 [July 7th, 2020]
- Qiana Di Bari, Owner of Sale Pepe in Lahaina, On Racism in the Food Business and Why She Feels At Home On Maui - HONOLULU Magazine - July 7th, 2020 [July 7th, 2020]
- Inside 'Boogaloo' movement 'armed to the teeth' and calling for overthrow of US - Daily Star - July 11th, 2020 [July 11th, 2020]
- What is frog TikTok, and why does it so often cross over with lesbian TikTok? - Metro.co.uk - July 14th, 2020 [July 14th, 2020]
- The Rundown: July 16, 2020 - Multiversity Comics - July 17th, 2020 [July 17th, 2020]
- There's a documentary on the way about Pepe the Frog - entertainment.ie - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- Most Googled things by US states over past 10 years including Kim Kardashian, Baby Shark and Fortnite - The Sun - July 22nd, 2020 [July 22nd, 2020]
- Disney Plus "Muppets Now" Zoom Video Call With Kermit the Frog And Friends - We Are Movie Geeks - July 22nd, 2020 [July 22nd, 2020]
- Pepe the Frog Creator Tries to Reclaim Meme in Feels Good Man Doc Trailer - Rolling Stone - July 22nd, 2020 [July 22nd, 2020]
- 'Feels Good Man' Will Try To Save Pepe The Frog, The Innocent Cartoon That Became A Hate Symbol - esquire.com - July 22nd, 2020 [July 22nd, 2020]
- What Does The "Pepe The Frog" Meme Mean? | YourTango - July 25th, 2020 [July 25th, 2020]
- Trailer for Award-Winning Doc FEELS GOOD MAN Takes Viewers on an Artist's Journey to Reclaim His Creation 'Pepe the Frog' - GeekTyrant - July 27th, 2020 [July 27th, 2020]
- How 'Pepe the Frog' went from harmless to hate symbol ... - July 27th, 2020 [July 27th, 2020]
- Pepe the Frog - Dictionary.com - July 27th, 2020 [July 27th, 2020]
- Muppets, murderers and a new 'Star Trek' are among 10 things to watch on TV - Salt Lake Tribune - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Young Men, Alienation and Violence in the Digital Age - Fair Observer - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Muppets Now: Together Again, With a Touch of Amnesia - Rolling Stone - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Former Overwatch Pro Silkthread Reveals Blizzard Tried To Fine Him $1000 For Pepe The Frog Tweet - Bounding Into Comics - August 5th, 2020 [August 5th, 2020]
- How White Nationalists Weaponize Motherhood - The Cut - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- The Hate-Fueled Rise of r/The_Donaldand Its Epic Takedown - WIRED - August 9th, 2020 [August 9th, 2020]
- Donald Trump Jr. has a long history of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories online - Insider - INSIDER - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Open Air Cinema and Streaming Series Continue at The Loft - Tucson Weekly - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- How Pepe the Frog's Creator Rescued Him From the Alt-Right - Daily Beast - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- You Can't DM People on 4chan: Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini on Pepe the Frog Documentary Feels Good Man - Filmmaker Magazine - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- Pepe the Frog Mutates from a Far Right Meme Into a Lovable, Far Gone Figure in Feels Good Man - The Texas Observer - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- An Artist Tries to Save Pepe the Frog From Fascists - Hyperallergic - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- Movie review: New doc chronicles chilling tale of Pepe the Frog - Online Athens - September 12th, 2020 [September 12th, 2020]
- Documentary details how Pepe the Frog became the mascot of white supremacy - The State Press - October 8th, 2020 [October 8th, 2020]
- Pepe the Frog finds redemption in the Amazon documentary 'Feels Good Man' - Idaho State Journal - October 8th, 2020 [October 8th, 2020]
- Ladbrokes Casino bonus: how good is the 2020 welcome offer? - Telegraph.co.uk - October 10th, 2020 [October 10th, 2020]