Kevin Smith’s fifth annual SModcastle Film Festival brings independent films from around the world to Atlantic Highlands Nov. 5-8. The four-day event at SModcastle Cinemas features full-length films, shorts, animation, and documentaries, along with filmmaker gatherings, panels, and an awards ceremony.
Festival selections include Hamilton House, making its New Jersey premiere Saturday, Nov. 7. The comedy follows struggling actors who turn their Harlem apartment into a haunted house to attract a filmmaker’s attention. On Sunday, Nov. 8, at noon, Directors’ Commentary follows a discouraged screenwriter who summons fictional versions of filmmaking heroes from his television.
Among its selections is a story rooted in Holmdel. VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel returns to New Jersey for its third public screening, joining the festival’s Block 22 on Sunday, Nov. 8, beginning at 12:30 pm. Its previous New Jersey screenings were at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park and the Monmouth Film Festival in Holmdel.
Directed by Marko Albrecht, the approximately 20-minute documentary follows Dr. Denise Wunderler and her husband, Dr. Michael Savino, after the sudden, unexplained death of their daughter, Vienna Carly Savino, at their Holmdel home in 2017. Her death was categorized as Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood, or SUDC.
Through family footage, interviews, and insights from researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, the film follows her parents’ search for answers and their work to raise awareness. Wunderler founded Team Vienna 4 SUDC Awareness, an all-volunteer nonprofit devoted to education, advocacy, research, and honoring her daughter’s life. She also produced the documentary.
“We didn’t want Vienna’s story to end with her death,” Wunderler said. “We wanted her life to ignite change, to bring awareness to SUDC, and to help other families avoid the pain we now cope with every day.”
The film has earned six festival awards, most recently Best Documentary Short Film at Barcelona’s Love & Hope International Film Festival. Earlier honors came from the Garden State, Long Island, New Hope, Monmouth, and Shawna Shea Memorial film festivals. Following its New Jersey screening, VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel heads to Alaska in December for its western premiere at the Anchorage International Film Festival.
Tickets for the block featuring VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel are available through SModcastle Cinemas. (More)