The 3rd annual Monmouth Film Festival comes to the Jersey Shore this weekend. WBGO’s Ang Santos with more.

The Monmouth Film Festival brings over 50 short and feature length films to Red Bank.

“This is an experience. These are movies before they get onto Netflix or before they go to the Oscars,” said Nick Marchese, founder and president, Monmouth Film Festival. “You get to talk to people. I’m sure there’s times you go to a movie and say, ‘I wonder why they did that or maybe they should have done this.’ You get to talk to that filmmaker on the red carpet and basically break down the barriers between you and the storyteller.”

Over three days there are also several free panels on producing, acting, directing, and other insights into the movie biz.

“There’s different networking events. There are free workshops presented by the New York Film Academy on August 11 [for] acting, producing, directing. Our motto is 'inspire, experience.' You get to experience the greatest films from across the world, talk to the people who make them, and even learn to do some of that yourself,” Marchese said.

One of the headlining feature films at the 2018 Monmouth Film Festival is a local story about a high school wrestler in Monmouth County. Marchese says it will be an exciting premier.

“Opening night, Friday August 10, there’s a film called ‘A Shot in the Dark.’ If you’re from New Jersey, especially the central area, there’s a school called St. John Vianney. It’s an amazing story about a blind wrestler who wanted to go to the state championship. That’s a really important film for New Jersey.”

The Monmouth Film Festival kicks off at Two River Theater in Red Bank this Friday.