A night of film-forward entertainment is coming to Southold to support a great cause.
The 45th Annual Asbury Short Film Concert at CAST’s Treiber Gathering Hall (52930 Main Road, Southold) will be held on June 13 at 7 p.m.
“Guests will not only experience incredible creativity and storytelling, but also help provide vital resources and support to local individuals and families facing challenging times,” says Erica Steiner, CAST executive director.
Hosted by 15-time Emmy Award winner, former WABS Eyewitness News chief meteorologist and current programming director for WLNG Radio 92.1 FM Bill Evans, the two-hour event will showcase 10 to 12 short films from over the years in various categories.
Doug LeClaire, founder of the Asbury Short Film Concert, graduated from New York Institute of Technology in 1977 where student films would be shown at the end of each semester.
He and his friends in the film business decided to continue the tradition on a larger scale post-graduation and created an annual event in Westchester, and later Manhattan, where they’d show college-produced films from Hofstra, Adelphi and New York Technology.
“It grew each year and eventually became an annual exhibition of award-winning films from all over the world,” says LeClaire.
About 25 years ago, the business started touring with events from Berlin to Los Angeles with many stops in between. LeClaire and his team decided to depart from the film festival world, creating a different product from the other festivals. What sets Asbury apart is the showing of films from all different time periods with no constraints for when they were made to be submitted. They do not do question-and-answer sessions; instead, the event follows more of a concert format with two acts and an intermission.
“We’re an entertainment event and our audiences seem to be made up of folks [who] don’t go to film festivals, so they rely on us to come to their town once a year with 10 or 12 great short films,” says LeClaire.
While they don’t release the full list until show night, LeClaire says two of the featured films include Night Session, directed by Ballard C. Boyd, which is a comedy featuring Broadway, off-Broadway and television star Richard Kind; and Quality of Mercy, directed by Stephen Marro and starring Emmy Award-winning actress Mary Louise Parker.
This is the third year the event has partnered with CAST, with all ticket proceeds benefitting the organization.
This isn’t Evans’ first rodeo either, bringing his enthusiastic energy to the Asbury stage. “He has a wonderful upbeat, congenial personality,” says LeClaire.
To buy tickets and see event updates click here.
