The Garden State Film Festival is an annual film festival in the United States held in Asbury Park and Cranford, New Jersey, showcasing more than 200 independent films over four days each spring.
The festival was founded in 2002 in Sea Girt, New Jersey by Diane Raver and Hollywood actor Robert Pastorelli. Pastorelli and Raver mounted the first festival in 2003. As of 2017, the executive director is Lauren Concar Sheehy.
The festival pays tribute to Jersey's legacy as the birthplace of American filmmaking in Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratories, and to Fort Lee, home to America's first motion picture industry. Participants frequently include a New Jersey tie. The festival is one of Asbury Park's major cultural and economic forces.
In 2021, the festival began including screenings at the century-old Cranford movie theater in Cranford, New Jersey.
The festival's 24th annual edition was held March 26–29, 2026, featuring 205 films and film-centered events.
See also
Television and film in New Jersey List of film festivals in New Jersey New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission
References
External links
Festival Winners 2026 Festival Winners 2025 Festival Winners 2024 Festival Winners 2023 Festival Winners 2022 Festival Winners 2021 Festival Winners 2020 Festival Winners 2019 Festival Winners 2018 Festival Winners 2017 Festival Winners 2016 Festival Winners 2015 Festival Winners 2014 Festival Winners 2013 Festival Winners 2012 Festival Winners 2011 Festival Winners 2007 Festival Winners 2006 Festival Winners 2005 Festival Winners 2004 Festival Winners 2003