Film Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Is the West End of Long Beach evolving into the new TriBeCa?

On Sunday, the Cabana on West Beech Street will open its restaurant and parking lot to the fourth annual George Ennis Film Festival. Ennis, who organizes the short film festival that bears his name, originated the event as a mock of his acting career in similar independent films, yet it continues to grow with new ideas and in popularity.

“The event has evolved from a silly spoof of my ‘film career’ that was held inside the Cabana to a large outdoor festival,” Ennis said. “It has grown in attendance from 75 people to several hundred.”

The inaugural festival had films that only featured Ennis. Since then, he has introduced a format change to encourage other short filmmakers to submit their work, as well as an emcee, judges, limo arrivals and “celebrities.”

This year he has assembled several judges, including Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, Long Beach City Council President Tom Sofield Jr.,and former NFL and NBA players who Ennis befriended through his connections as a bartender at the Cabana, a Mexican-American establishment owned by Bob and Tracy Johnson. 

“I got them to be part of the panel just by asking them,” Ennis said.

The judges will be given the tough task of choosing the best among 10 short films by movie-makers from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Brittan.

“This year we have also gotten our largest geographic cross section of movie entries including our first international entry," Ennis said.

For the first time since the first festival, Ennis will show his own film with the working title “Trixxi’s Excellent Bar Crawl Adventure.” This year’s event will also include a short film titled “Ali N. vs. The Predator,” by Adam Taylor, winner of the best picture at the second festival.

The festivities get started when “celebrities” show up in a white limo to walk the red carpet rolled out in the parking lot. Some plan to dress as Prince William and Kate, Pippa, Oprah, Charlie Sheen and Dean Martin. They and an orange tuxedo-clad Ennis typically appear after a champaign party at his California Street home.

For Ennis, though, the most important change to the festival is one he made last year. Then, film-enthusiasts were charged $10 at the door, a donation that went directly to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, turning the night of film into a charitable event.

Ennis’ 17 year-old son, Patrick, has diabetes, and last year his parents’ efforts raised more than $3,000 at the festival to donate to the foundation. Ennis figured with more people turning out each year, he and his wife, Maureen, could raise money for a cause.

On Sunday, they'll charge each festival-goer $40, with the goal to exceed $10,000 in donations.  

Said Ennis: “It doesn’t take much to get the great people of Long Beach to help in any way for a cause, and, of course, having a great time on top of it doesn’t hurt.”