Ocean County Veteran's Story Airing At Kevin Smith's Film Festival

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — A Jersey Shore World War II veteran's story will be among the films highlighted this weekend at the inaugural SModcastle Film Festival in Atlantic Highlands.

"Frank Parese, A Jersey Shore Veteran Story" is scheduled for a 3 p.m. showing Saturday at the Smodcastle Cinemas, formerly the Atlantic Movie House, in Atlantic Highlands, according to Jen Suwak of Roaming Dingo Productions.

The Smodcastle Film Festival was created by Kevin Smith, who made the movie "Clerks" not far from the Atlantic Movie House.

Parese's story is one of about 100 films chosen from more than 1,000 film entries submitted from around the world, including short films, features, animation and documentaries, Suwak said.

Parese's story is part of Roaming Dingo's Jersey Shore Veteran Film Series, which "highlights the wisdom, humor and personal stories of our local veterans," Suwak said.

The series began with several World War II veterans, including Parese, and looks at many more stories of local veterans, "including the brilliant and funny Navy Lakehurst Historical Society Aircraft Restoration volunteers," she said.

Suwak is a Jersey Shore native with a deep love of history, particularly that of Lakehurst Naval Air Station and the history of the lighter-than-air vehicles, including the Hindenberg. She is a professor at Kutztown University but also teaches a summer filmmaking program through the Ocean County Artists Guild in Island Heights.

Veterans have been a particular focus, and Suwak, who is the executive director at Roaming Dingo, said the next project in the Jersey Shore Veterans Stories series is "Hangar 1 — F14 Tomcat," which is currently in production.

"It showcases the restoration process of an old F14 into a beautiful piece of aviation history, and the team of vets that bring it to life," said Suwak, who also is senior vice president of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. The film "also reveals the amazing history and historical restorations happening in Ocean County."

Roaming Dingo, which is a joint effort of Suwak and Steve Abruzzese, received the Audience Award at the Southside Film Festival in 2021 for Parese's story.

Their ultimate goal is to "make personal films that reflect not only the service that each of our subjects have performed for this country, but very importantly — the person that is before us. Their journey through life and their viewpoint on life’s journey — challenges and lessons and commentary on deeper issues that we can all relate to, such as sacrifice, love, identity, valor and strength," the Roaming Dingo website says.

"Ultimately, we plan to create a Jersey Shore vets database," they said, which will allow for snippets or whole films in the series to be shown in a variety of venues, preserving the history and teaching future generations.

Those interested in supporting the Jersey Shore Veterans Stories series can learn more on the Roaming Dingo website.

Tickets for the Smodcastle Film Festival and more information on it can be found on the Smodcastle Cinema website.

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