By Mary Ann Bourbeau

RED BANK – This year’s Monmouth Film Festival features more than 100 films along with expert panels, celebrity guests, Q&A sessions, workshops, live music and a red carpet reception. It’s a unique atmosphere where filmmakers of all levels can interact with their audiences and others in the industry.

The festival kicks off Thursday, Aug. 8 with singer Michael Martocci and an 18-piece orchestra performing the “Sounds of Sinatra,” hosted by comedian Jeff Norris. Friday, Aug. 9 features “A Celebrity Talk with Sinbad,” a digital film expo and screenings of feature and short films, including “The Amazing Johnathan Documentary,” which follows the final tour of a dying magician.

Friday also showcases “The Follower,” a 12-minute feature by director Stephanie Szerlip. In “The Follower,” a teen dreams of escaping her dreary suburban life and begins an exchange with her internet stalker. The film stars Logan Polish and Jack Kilmer, son of actor Val Kilmer.

“I’m so excited to be screening my short in Red Bank, where my first impressions and goals of filmmaking were established as a teenager,” said Szerlip.

The story is based on the 1966 story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, which Szerlip remembers reading in high school.

“That story sat with me for a long time, that feeling of terror you experience when the power dynamic between two people is unbalanced,” she said. “It really freaked me out. A short film is the perfect medium to focus on this type of interaction.”

Growing up in Rumson, Szerlip lived within walking distance of a video store and spent all her allowance money there. She would write plays with her friends and record them on the family’s camcorder. In high school, she studied drama in the performing arts department of Red Bank Regional High School under the late Joe Russo, who she considers a mentor.

Stephanie Szerlip, who grew up in Rumson, directed “The Follower,” a film featured in this year’s Monmouth Film Festival. Photo courtesy Monmouth Film Festival

“The arts were treated as a potential career path, and I believe it’s the launching pad for how I came to pursue this strange passion of storytelling,” she said.

Szerlip is the co-founder of Smudge Films, whose most recent production, “Clara’s Ghost,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. She has directed commercials for Maybelline, Vice and Marc Jacobs and is also a creative producer for Women and Film. The company recently established a Female Filmmakers Festival in Los Angeles, where she now lives. Szerlip is currently in development on a feature film based on the 1992 nor’easter that swept through New Jersey in and around Sea Bright.

The screenings continue Saturday, Aug. 10 with several New Jersey premieres, including “Olympic Dreams,” a romantic comedy starring Nick Kroll and Alexi Pappas. The documentary “17 Blocks” uses two decades of intimate home video to tell the story of a Washington D.C. family’s struggles with addiction and gun violence. “Low Tide” is a thriller set on the Jersey Shore, directed by Holmdel native Kevin McMullen and starring Boardwalk Empire’s Shea Whigham.

Other Saturday events include a film industry discussion featuring panelists Nancy Liedersdorff of Nickelodeon; Greg Mourino of Blue Sky Studios; NBC producer Gail Barringer and Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Tor Johansen.

Sunday, Aug. 11 includes “The Field Afar: The Life of Father Vincent Capodanno,” a documentary about a Catholic priest who received the Medal of Honor for his valor as chaplain in some of the most harrowing battles of the Vietnam War. There will also be a screening of “Vietnam Aftermath,” a documentary produced in partnership with the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial, directed by Holmdel native Tom Phillips.

Other short films with a New Jersey connection include “Come Here Often?” directed by Michael Boylan of Atlantic Highlands, and “ROCKS! The Musical,” a pun-filled animated musical about a lonely rock that learns not to take his life for granite (pun intended). “Still Plays with Trains” is a documentary by Academy Award-winning director and cinematographer Ross Kauffman, who recreates his 10th birthday by building a 3,000-square-foot replica of the old Lackawanna Railroad in his basement.

Sunday also includes the New Jersey High School Filmmaker Showcase and New York Film Academy workshops on pitching a film, producing and auditioning techniques. The festival concludes with the annual awards ceremony and closing night reception.

Tickets start at $65 and are available at monmouthfilmfestival.org.

Arts and entertainment reporter Mary Ann Bourbeau can be reached at mbourbeau@tworivertimes.com.