Lighthouse International Film Festival Returns To LBI For Seventh Year

The Lighthouse International Film Festival (LIFF) has announced the complete lineup for its seventh annual event, which will take place June 4-7, 2015 on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

The festival will open with “Finders Keepers, directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel,” a fascinating and hilarious documentary that follows the ownership battle over one man’s severed leg that was accidentally bought at a storage locker auction.

“I think Bryan and Clay have made a terrific, memorable film that will be talked about among our festival audience for years and Finders Keepers is a perfect way to begin our seventh year of championing independent filmmakers,” said Eric Johnson, executive directior of LIFF

“Finders Keepers“ will open LIFF at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 4 at the Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, 120 Long Beach Boulevard, Loveladies, with a filmmaker Q&A following the screening.

LIFF will again present two Centerpiece Films in 2015, with the East Coast premiere of Onur Tukel’s hilarious, creative-partnership-on-the-skids comedy “Abby Singer, Songwriter” screening as the narrative centerpiece on at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 5, with director Tukel and lead actor Jamie Block on hand and Block providing a live music show following the screening.

The documentary centerpiece is the rousing, touching ping-pong documentary “Top Spin” which follows the quest of three teenagers to make the U.S. Olympic table tennis team and will debut at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 6 with co-director Sara Newens in attendance. It will be followed by an exhibition with some of the world’s top ping-pong players.

LIFF’s last offering starts at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 7, with “Applesauce,” director Onur Tukel’s second feature film in the festival. The film, a satirical comedy/drama that premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, follows two couples through spiraling hilarity and marital unrest after they begin to ask one another what is the worst thing each of them has ever done.

All of these screenings will also be at the Foundation, but throughout the weekend there will be films being shown in Beach Haven at the LBI Historical Museum, 129 Engleside Ave. and the Island Baptist Church at 215 Third St.

Inspired by the historic Barnegat Lighthouse, which has beckoned travelers to LBI since 1859, LIFF has emerged as New Jersey’s leading international film festival. The festival will feature award-winning films from countries around the world, as well as nightly parties and panel discussions.

For full schedule and ticket information on the 2015 festival, visit www.lighthousefilmfestival.org.