Garden State Film Festival To Show Short Created By Manalapan Pro

MANALAPAN, NJ — If you plan to attend any screenings at this year's 22nd Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park, make sure to take in the short movie by Manalapan resident Anthony Marinelli.

"Why I Had To Kill You While You Slept" is written, directed and edited by Marinelli, whose day job is as a film editor for TV commercials.

But he said that 15 years ago he made a promise to himself to work on projects just for his own creative satisfaction - art for arts sake.

"I wanted to do at least one non-advertising project a year," Marinelli said.

The film is 16 minutes long, so don't miss it when it screens on Saturday, March 23, at 2:30 p.m. at Asbury Hall in the Asbury Hotel. It's part of block TA10 for the festival. The festival runs March 21 to March 24.

"Why I Had To Kill You While You Slept" was inspired by stories from Marinelli's niece and her friend about a range of husbandly transgressions. He wrote a screenplay based on their stories - and has credited the two as well in the film.

The film is a dark comedy about a not-so-desperate housewife who decides to kill her terrible husband and enlists her best friend for moral support, the film blurb explains. You can check out the official trailer here.

This is the film's New Jersey premier, but it has been shown in New York. And he also created the short film "Acoustic Space" in 2016 - that was 15 minutes long.

"That's all I have the time for," Marinelli joked about his two quarter-hour films.

An artistic bent seems to run in the family. Anthony and his wife, Alice-Ann, moved to Manalapan 23 years ago from Brooklyn where they met in a high school art class. She is a teacher.

One son, Nick Marinelli, is a drummer for local band Via Ripa and composed the original theme music. Another son, Justin, has a high school film entered in the festival and his daughter Angelica is studying for a master's in art therapy.

The film also features performances by New Jersey residents Joseph Cassese, Jackie Kuczinski, Peter Argento, Michael Yadvish and Denise Reed, and co-stars Texas resident Amanda Greer, who traveled to Jersey for the seven-day shoot, says Lauren Concar Sheehy, the festival’s executive director.

"We hope you come out to cheer on our hometown heroes who have put so much time and talent into these productions," she added.

Marinelli also just completed a three-week run of an original play "Dancing Mad" by another New Jersey resident, Matthew Edward Gustavsen, for Center Players in Freehold, where he is a board member.

The entire program of this year’s selections will be presented in multiple venues in the Asbury Park area, with special events and screenings each night.

In fact, at one event - the Rising Star Award - actress Sophia Lucia Parola will be honored, said Sheehy. Also a Manalapan resident, she is appearing in a film there, the thriller "Last Known Location" by Danny Donnelly (Saturday, 9 p.m.), said Sheehy.

She graduated from Brookdale Community College with a degree in Journalism, and Monmouth University with a B.A in Radio and Television Communications, her bio says. During her studies, she trained as an actor and performed in plays, local films, and as a host for Brookdale TV. You can see her in, among other performances, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," Sheehy said.

You can check the full schedule for the festival at www.gsff.org for showtimes and to see which films are screening at which venue.

The Garden State Film Festival offers a variety of ticket packages. For tickets and more information about films and other programs, visit www.gsff.org.

In all, 200 films from over 14 countries over four days in eight venues, along with hosting parties, professional panels, events and special honors are planned, Sheehy said.

And she noted the The Garden State Film Festival is a nonprofit organization, created to promote the art of filmmaking on all levels and also provides creative arts education programs and a forum where local and international independent filmmakers can exhibit their work.

Its outreach programs also support the U.S. Military, seniors, children and the underserved. It is held in Asbury Park and surrounding area as well as Cranford. A full day of screenings will also be presented at The Cranford Theater in Cranford on March 23 starting at noon with the last screening ending at 10:15 p.m., she said.