New film festival being readied for Bridgeport
At one point in time, Bridgeport was home to 20 movie theaters. Sadly, the city”™s last commercial big screen venue, Showcase Cinemas, shut down in February 2020. And while the Bijou Theatre and Klein Memorial Auditorium have film projection capabilities, those venues only occasionally hosted screenings for festivals or special events.
However, movies are returning to Bridgeport this summer with the inaugural edition of the Bridgeport Film Festival. Jason A. Coombs, a New York City-based actor/filmmaker, is the festival”™s artistic director and he views the event as a means to reimagine his Park City hometown.
“I”™m from Bridgeport and originally grew up here,” Coombs said. “My family still lives here and I”™m back here because of the pandemic. And Bridgeport has a negative reputation for all sorts of reasons, but that doesn”™t translate to the Bridgeport that I know.”
In considering ways to give back to his community, Coombs recognized that film was an underrepresented segment of the arts community, especially in terms of arts education. Coombs connected with Christina Smith, president and CEO of Groundwork Bridgeport, a nonprofit focused on socioeconomic regeneration, who shared his enthusiasm for cinema. Coombs joined the Groundwork Bridgeport Board of Directors.
“I was interested in doing a film fest as a social revitalization activity to provide a sense of community and activities,” Smith said. “And then I met Jason, by happenstance, two years ago, when he was planning a film academy for students connected with him. And we came back to revisiting this idea of doing a film fest, given all of his experience in the film industry.”
The new festival is being produced under the Groundwork Bridgeport auspices. Coombs began planning an event that offered diversity in subjects and filmmaking talent.
“We”™re taking submissions from a lot of different categories,” Coombs said. “We”™re doing narrative, documentary, environmental films, music videos ”” and we have a cool idea by Christina to have lockdown diaries ”” films made during the quarantine.”
Coombs posted an invitation for submissions on the online FilmFreeway.com platform that has brought in submissions from filmmakers across the U.S., plus overseas inquiries from the U.K., Iran and Iraq. He is seeking to keep the festival slate to short films with a maximum of 25 minutes of running time, which would enable a wider schedule of viewing choices.
However, there is also the question of Covid-19”™s impact on this endeavor ”” long-established film festivals have pivoted to virtual presentations since the health crisis took root. While Coombs is planning an online aspect for the festival, he is eager to have an in-person event.
“Right now, the date is tentatively July 23-25,” he said. “It”™s kind of a penciled-in date, just because of the pandemic ”” we”™re still trying to figure out what that”™s going to look like in four or five months.”
For a venue, the festival is being planned for The Knowlton, an artists”™ studio complex in Bridgeport.
“In order to make it as safe and accessible as possible, we”™re thinking we should maybe do an outdoor event,” Coombs said. “We”™re trying to figure out if we”™re going to maybe do a drive-in or have an outdoor set-up with tables and chairs.”
Even with the uncertainty of the pandemic, the festival is already creating a buzz in the film community ”” Coombs has received roughly 200 submissions that he is reviewing, and he expects more through the April deadline for entries.
As for the Groundwork Bridgeport mission of economic development, Smith envisioned the festival as a vehicle to bring people back to Bridgeport.
“There are people who are reluctant to come into the city,” she said. “But if we can do more things like the film festival and other events, the goal is to attract people here that would patronize stores and other venues and activities in the city. That would result in a level of economic development for local businesses and supporting foot traffic.”