By Darian Scalamoni
For this ArtZine, we sat down with Nancy Sabino, former co-owner of The Showroom Cinema in Asbury Park and the Executive Director of the AP’N3 Film Challenge, which highlights the city of Asbury Park in three-minute-long short films. Nancy runs the festival with her partner, Michael Sodano, the Asbury Park Arts Council Board President. We chatted about how the challenge came to be, the importance of creating local cinema in Monmouth County, and her enthusiasm for the filmmaking community. The AP'N3 Film Challenge runs from August 5 to August 26, and the films screen at an event on November 3.
For the people who may be unaware, please let us know a little bit about the AP’N3 film challenge.
It started back in 2022 and is based on a film challenge that we [Michael and Nancy] did when we ran the Showroom Cinema. You have three weeks to shoot a three-minute film that's shot entirely in Asbury Park. You can't start early because you first have to get four requirements into the film, so everybody's playing on a level field. We give you a theme, a line of dialogue, a prop, and a location. Then you're on your own to shoot what you think, how you think it. You can use any genre you like. Last year, we had animation, live action, and music videos. It's always surprising to us how many different ways people choose to use what we give them to create something original.
How did you and Mike come up with the concept for AP’N3?
We were looking to get more filmmaking in Asbury Park. There are a lot of film festivals that go on, but there's really no filmmaker platform. We thought there was a lot of opportunity for this kind of art to appear in Asbury Park. And we thought this was a good way to encourage young people. It would bring people to the streets for filming, which is always so exciting, and then have a platform where everyone can see the films on a big screen because we choose 10 finalists. Our team picks the top three, and the audience chooses the Audience Award winner. It's a great opportunity, and you're seeing your film with a group of your peers and other filmmakers.
Why did you decide on a three-minute short film as the template for submission?
We thought that three minutes gives everybody a really good opportunity to show a short, concise story. There are a lot of film festivals. Even short films can run as long as 25 minutes. But 25 minutes is a long time, and you can't really get in a lot of different choices or different entries. We thought the shorter, the better. If you could do it in 25 minutes, you should be able to do it in three minutes. We wanted to keep it short and sweet.
How does this film challenge help local filmmakers?
There isn't much of an opportunity for people who are looking to make a film to get that first foot in the door. Film festivals are very challenging. Making a film is overwhelming. We thought a short film with a very low bar and a low threshold for entering would be a good opportunity for anyone to try it out. It's $25 to enter and it's three weeks of your time. It's a very short commitment. Everyone who's taken the challenge really feels that it helps them get that first film done.
This will be your third annual AP’N3 film challenge. What’s different about this year?
Every year, we tweak it a little bit to make it more responsive or reactive to what we hear from the audience. We are always looking to expand the view of the theme and the locations and the props so that we get a broader sense of the town. The first year we did the festival we got a lot of "boardwalk." We're looking to make it a little deeper in terms of what people can try their hand at so that we don't end up with the same material every year.
This year we're also looking to have a VIP party so everyone can talk to each other - it's an opportunity for networking. Everyone wants to talk to each other about what kind of camera they use and how did they get that one particular shot. So, it's a great opportunity to bring the film community together so that people learn from each other, and then they have a bigger community of people to connect with when they're looking for more work.
In your eyes, what makes Asbury Park so special that it deserves a light shined on it by filmmakers in this challenge?
Asbury Park is both a city and a shore town. You have diversity here. You have the challenges that come with the city. You have growth. It has a vibe to it and name recognition, thanks to Bruce Springsteen. Looking at Asbury Park in different ways, I think, is good for perception. Whether you have a good perception of Asbury or a bad perception or an artistic perception, there's so many facets that our film challenge allows people to see through new eyes.
In your two years of running AP’N3, what have been your biggest takeaways?
I don't think we realized how happy it makes people to put a film together and collaborate with friends and families and to really run it themselves. Everyone comes away with more confidence than they started with. We know that people have taken these films and entered them into other competitions and have placed. So that means the film was not only good enough for our challenge, but it was a standalone piece that could go other places. Three minutes is a great calling card for a filmmaker. Anybody can take three minutes to watch your film.
Finally, what advice would you give to someone who is on the fence about doing the challenge?
Take the plunge! Nobody's going to know what you had planned, or that what you came out with is something different. Only you know where you failed and where you succeeded. So, try it out. The biggest thing when it comes to production is you have to go through with it. You have to be able to adapt when a situation goes awry. As a director, as a producer, as a writer, as an actor, you have to roll with the punches. And I think just taking the plunge and trying it out for the first time is a good experience for anyone.
"The Sounds of Summer," directed and edited by Chloe Evangelista, 2023 AP'N3 First Place Award Winner. Video and all photos courtesy of Asbury Park Arts Council.
Where can people find out more about AP'N3? Website, Instagram, Facebook?
Instagram: @asburyartscouncil
Facebook: Asbury Park Arts Council
Interested in becoming a nonprofit member like the Asbury Park Arts Council? Join Monmouth Arts today!
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