Scott Rosenfelt To Receive Lifesaver Award

Downbeach Film Festival presents the 2011 Atlantic City Cinefest, October 14 to 16 in The Screening Room at Resorts Casino Hotel. As in the prior three years, the festival will screen a selection of more than 30 features, shorts and documentaries, as well as honor cinematic success stories, such as Scott Rosenfelt, who will receive the Lifesaver Award Saturday night.

Rosenfelt has produced such Hollywood hits as Home Alone, Mystic Pizza, Teen Wolf and Smoke Signals. He will be honored with a retrospective following the screening of a documentary he produced and directed, Standing Silent. The powerful film, a recipient of a Sundance Documentary Filmmaker Grant, exposes the issue of child abuse among orthodox rabbis in Baltimore. “Making this film has changed the way I look at the world and the work that I do,” says Rosenfelt. “I believe this kind of film is what a documentary should really be – illuminating a relatively unheard of subject, exposing it, and giving people hope that while they won’t get over what happened, they can at least feel a little bit less despair.”

A narrative filmmaker, Rosenfelt hadn’t considered a documentary until he met Phil Jacobs, a Baltimore journalist who led a crusade to tell the stories of survivors of sexual molestation at the hands of Orthodox rabbis.

“I met Phil through my brother, Bob. They are both Orthodox Jews, longtime residents in Baltimore and part of the community. What I didn't know was that Phil had been raped as a young boy by someone in his congregation. Phil then introduced me to a survivor that he was doing a story on. I met this man, shook his hand, and felt years of pain, loss, anger...every negative emotion. After he left, I turned to Phil and said, `I don't know how, but I'm going to get the funding and we're going to do a documentary about your work and the survivors' stories.' “

Among the other highlights of this year’s festival is the opening night screening of Deconstructing Dad, another documentary on the life of iconic musician, Raymond Scott, who produced the music for Warner Brother’s classic cartoons, directed the orchestra for TV’s “Your Hit Parade,” and developed the use of technology in music. The festival will close with the 25th Anniversary screening of “Wise Guys” with co-star Joe Piscopo doing a Q & A.

If you would like to schedule an interview with Mr. Rosenfelt, please contact William Sokolic. Log onto www.downbeachfilmfestival.org for festival updates, including a complete list of films, the schedule and ticket prices.