Monmouth Arts

In 2022, the Asbury Park Arts Council posed a bold challenge to local residents: write, shoot, edit, and score a three-minute movie over the course of three weeks. The result was AP’N3, the newest cinematic tradition within the community. This year marked the third installment of the film festival, with enthusiasm for it at an all-time high.

Ocean Grove’s Jersey Shore Arts Center was packed on Nov. 3 for the AP’N3’s Premiere Screening, with viewers of the 11 films (typically, there were 10 films shown, but two of them this year had the same numerical score in the rankings) that made the finals. Proceeds from AP’N3’s screening went to further support the arts in Asbury Park, as well as funding programming for Asbury Park High School’s students’ access to the audio and visual field.

The AP Arts Council describes AP’N3 as “a storytelling activity for filmmakers to engage with the community in a positive light, and use imagination, teamwork, and video technology. The timed aspect of the format creates a production that leans on spirit and enthusiasm for a participatory reflection of the uniqueness of our small town.”

Short films ranged from comedies to documentaries, dramas to black-and-white silent films, and all of them celebrated Asbury Park. With contestants receiving a phrase that must be included in the film–this year’s being “What a treasure!”– an item (a map) to be used in the shoot, and a location in mind – St. John’s Island – filmmakers got to work. The best of the best were showcased at the premiere, and awards were given to first, second and third place winners, as well as an audience favorite.

The films featured were, “A Hidden Gem,” “Curse of Hidden Gem,” “What a Treasure,” “Oddities of What When Why How Where,” “Hunt,” “What a Treasure,” “Lure of Asbury Park,” “The Mud Hole,” “What a Treasure,” “Listen!,” and “Residential Treasure.” The films all did an excellent job of truly demonstrating what makes Asbury Park so unique. Listen! highlighted the elderly community of the town, while others featured locations like the Paranormal Bookstore, the boardwalk and beach, and the town’s unofficial mascot, Tillie.

Nicholas Wolf, Director of “Residential Treasure,” won First Place overall as well as the Audience Favorite award.

“I was not expecting to get ‘Audience Favorite,’ and was thoroughly excited to win that. There were great films all around,” he said. “I’ve never won first place for anything before.”

Carrie Turner, Executive Director of the Asbury Park Arts Council, said: “The fun and excitement of Premiere Night is unbeatable! The AP’N3 allows us to celebrate storytelling from diverse perspectives and it is always touching to hear the filmmakers introduce their work, adding a deeper dimension to the story the audience sees on screen. We are so appreciative that the community continues to show up for the AP’N3, both those who make the films and those who come out on Premiere Night to watch them. This year we were particularly honored to have the principal of Asbury Park High School attend and speak on connecting students to the arts and film in particular. APAC is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration to support this vision for Asbury Park students.”

The Asbury Park Arts Council is especially excited to showcase the filmmaking talent of Asbury Park. While the town is famous for its music scene ever since artists like Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny helped usher The Stone Pony and the Jersey Shore sound overall into the limelight, denizens of New Jersey might not be aware of the other artistic aspects of the town. While visual arts projects like Wooden Walls might captivate tourists and locals alike, community events like AP’N3 demonstrate yet another medium that its residents excel in.

Mike Sodano, President of the Asbury Park Arts Council, said, “The turnout really blew us away. The best part is that it’s local. The space is great. It’s just a great night at the movies. Everyone who came supports movies. That’s really important. We’re doing our best to elevate filmmaking in Asbury Park. We want to tell everyone, ‘Film is here, too. We have such a great talent pool in Asbury Park and in Monmouth County.”

Asbury Park has long offered a plethora of opportunities for artists. The AP Arts Council seeks to ensure that the arts can thrive both in town and beyond. This nonprofit rightfully believes that the local arts are integral to Asbury Park’s identity and aims to preserve that aspect of the town. The nonprofit offers other events and programs other than AP’N3. These include Film Maker Meet Ups, the Spring 2024 Mural Project, For Artists’ Sake Lecture Series, Wooden Walls, and more.

The Council, its staff and the community are excited for 2025 and beyond for both the town and future yearly celebrations of AP’N3. Judge of this year’s films and previous winner of AP’N3, Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce Director Matthew Whelan, said, “The Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce was thrilled to be a partner in the AP’N3 again this year. As a judge and a past winner of the challenge, I was very impressed with the caliber of films we received this year. Kudos to all the filmmakers. I’m also impressed with how the event continues to grow year after year, which is a true testament to the hard work of Mike Sodano and the Asbury Park Arts Council. Congratulations to the winners, and I can’t wait to see what the 2025 AP’N3 will bring!”

To learn more about AP’N3, the Asbury Park Arts Council, and how to support local artists, head to asburypartartscouncil.org

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.