Unusual cast defies gravity at film fest

The award-winning indie film “Defying Gravity” will screen at the Wildwood By the Sea Film Festival at the Wildwood Convention Center, 3 p.m. Friday Sept. 26.
As the East Coast premiere of the movie, this is a rare opportunity to see the movie on the big screen before its worldwide release in February 2009.
‘Defying Gravity’ is a quirky dramedy about a runaway girl who lives in a Jewish cemetery. She is befriended by the cemetery caretaker (an illegal alien), a transvestite waitress, and a homeless young man haunted by mathematical and religious delusions.
The movie has previously screened at the Digital Video & High Def Festival in Beverly Hills (where it won Best Story/Writing), the Riverside Interna-tional Film Festival, the Fallbrook Film Festival (Director’s Choice Award), the AOF (Action on Film) International Film Festival (Best LGBT Project) in Pasadena, and the Feel Good Film Festival in Hol-lywood.
The movie has been described as “…a funny, poignant, and always interesting little film, built on well-designed characters and a fine story.” (Dan Bennett, North County Times Newspaper).
An article about the making of Defying Gravity is featured in the “Reel Life Adventures” section of the March/April issue of Indie Slate magazine: “Defying the Odds: How a Middle-Aged Math Teacher Became an Indie Producer.”
The Wildwood By The Sea Film Festival runs Sept. 25-28 and features film exhibitions from filmmakers across the globe. Daily parties, gala award ceremo-nies, and workshops will make for an exciting event.
Special achievement awards will be presented to filmmaker/author Kevin Smith, and legendary actors Tony Curtis and Martin Landau.
This year’s after party entertainers include a beach party tribute to Jimmy Buffet with “Jimmy and the Parrots” and a 60s musical tribute to the Beatles featuring ‘ Beatlemania Again.”
More information about the film festi-val can be found at wildwoodbythe-seafilmfest.com.