Gold Bracelet Kicks Off Connecticut Film Fest

Next week, independent film lovers throughout Connecticut will welcome the debut of the first statewide film festival. The Connecticut Film Festival kicks off October 3 at the Garden Cinema in Norwalk with the feature The Gold Bracelet, and continues through October 8.

The Gold Bracelet, a film by director Kavi Raz, chronicles how the events of 9/11 disrupt the happy wedding times of an Indian family living in Los Angeles. The film has inspired audiences and filmmakers alike at numerous top film festivals including Method Fest, The Newport Beach Film Festival, and Cinequest.

“We’re thrilled to open the festival with The Gold Bracelet,” said Tom Carruthers, founder of the Connecticut Film Festival. “The caliber of independent films we’re showing during the week sets the bar for this brand-new, statewide festival. We’re looking forward to our debut, and getting feedback from attendees to make next year’s bigger and better.”

More than 70 independent feature films, short films, student films and documentaries will screen at various venues in Bethel, New Haven, New Milford, Litchfield, Norwalk, Westport, Waterbury and Stamford. In addition, the festival features workshops, panels and parties.

The festival’s Artistic Director, Jean Tait, announced this week that the slate of films includes the world premiere of Holes in My Shoes, a 90-minute feature documentary about Connecticut resident Jack Beers.

Beers is almost 100 years old, and the film takes viewers back to his poverty-stricken Lower East Side boyhood as “New York City’s Strongest Boy” performing to packed audiences, to the present time where he’s now riding a stationary bike 3 miles per day, driving, pruning trees, performing feats of strength, and more.

“Holes in My Shoes is a magical film by David Wachs, and audiences will absolutely fall in love with its subject,” said Tait. “The fact that he’s almost 100 is an accomplishment in itself, yet the way he has done it is so colorful and amazing – from his strongman days, to working as an ironworker who erected the famous Radio City Music Hall marquee, to specifically helping to shorten World War II at the Manhattan Project, to erecting the famous Empire State Building spire.”

Both the director and subject of the film, Jack Beers, now 96, will be at the film’s premiere, to be held on Saturday, October 7 at 5 p.m. at The Saugatuck Elementary School at 70 Riverside Avenue in Westport, with a Q&A session, and a wine reception following with Klezmer music.

Screenings, events, prices and events vary; please visit www.CTfilmfest.com for updates and details.

Making its debut in October 2006, the Connecticut Film Festival was established to create a lasting cultural tradition for the state by celebrating the art of filmmaking by bringing independent and international film to the area.