The Gold Coast, a historic stretch of beaches and mansions best known as the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," is getting its own film festival, the Gold Coast International Film Festival.
The inaugural festival will take place in June 2011 in the towns of Great Neck, Manhasset, Roslyn and Port Washington. The festival, according to its mission statement, was inspired by the Great Neck Arts Center and will be presented in partnership with the Town of North Hempstead/Nassau County and Clearview Cinemas.
The Gold Coast, which is located on north shore of New York's Nassau County, was home to some of America's richest citizens during the early decades of the 20th Century, and has attracted artists from Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx to Francis Ford Coppola.
GCIFF has not announced any programming decisions, but promises "a roster of bold, dynamic films" and "content with outstanding merit, new, old, long and short." The festival is timed to take place after the Cannes Film Festival and after the New York-based Tribeca Film Festival, but before the fall's New York Film Festival.
The timing, according to GCIFF, is designed "to attract new films with award ambitions."
The festival will be headed by Regina Keller Gil, the founder and executive director of the Great Neck Arts Center. Former Miramax executive Sean McPhillips will serve as senior programmer and festival director.
One obvious choice for a future festival: Australian director Baz Luhrman's new version of "The Great Gatsby," to star Carey Mulligan. Luhrman has yet to begin shooting the film.
