Entertainment
Kevin Smith’s SModcastle Film Festival Returns to Atlantic Highlands for Four Days of Independent Film
For four days this week, one of Monmouth County’s most unusual movie theaters will turn almost entirely over to independent filmmakers.
The fifth annual SModcastle Film Festival runs Thursday, November 5, through Sunday, November 8, at SModcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, with features, shorts, documentaries and animation screening across the theater’s multiple screens.
The festival opens Thursday night with Serena, a 2026 science-fiction thriller starring Steven Strait and Andi Matichak. The film follows a struggling former rock star who agrees to beta test an advanced chatbot, only to find the relationship becoming much more complicated than expected. The opening-night screening is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
From there, the schedule expands quickly.
Friday evening begins a series of numbered screening blocks, followed by a filmmaker mixer. Saturday becomes the festival’s busiest day, with screenings running from late morning into the evening across several auditoriums. Sunday continues with additional films before the festival closes.
A Film Festival Inside Kevin Smith’s Childhood Theater
The location gives this festival a little more character than the average multiplex event.
Smodcastle Cinemas sits at 82 First Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, in a building that has shown movies for more than a century. Filmmaker Kevin Smith grew up going to the theater and later became one of the partners who took it over in 2022. His longtime friend and Clerks collaborator Ernie O’Donnell is also involved in ownership and operation.
That history matters because Smith’s career began only a short drive away.
The Highlands-raised filmmaker made Clerks at the Quick Stop in Leonardo, building one of New Jersey’s best-known independent-film stories out of borrowed money, local locations and a very small production.
Now independent filmmakers are bringing their own work into the movie theater where Smith spent part of his childhood.
It is a fitting circle.
A New Jersey Premiere With an Especially Appropriate Story
One Sunday selection seems almost made for this particular festival.
Directors’ Commentary, written and directed by Joel David Santner, receives its New Jersey premiere Sunday, November 8, at noon.
The film follows an aspiring screenwriter whose career and marriage are falling apart before fictional versions of the filmmakers who inspired him begin appearing in his life. Those inspirations include Kevin Smith, Edward Burns and George Lucas.
Santner’s own production story carries some of the same independent spirit. According to the filmmakers, the feature was financed on credit cards and shot guerrilla-style with a four-person crew on weekends in Los Angeles.
Bringing that movie to Kevin Smith’s own theater is the kind of coincidence independent film fans will probably appreciate.
More Than One Type of Movie
Smodcastle’s festival is not restricted to a single genre.
Organizers accept feature films, short films, animation and documentaries from filmmakers around the world. A panel selects the work that ultimately makes it onto the theater screens.
That wide range is part of the appeal. Audiences can move between films they may never encounter at a mainstream theater, often with the people who made them sitting only a few rows away.
For filmmakers, that may be even more valuable than the screening itself.
Festivals are one of the few places where someone who spent months or years making an independent movie can finally watch strangers react to it in a dark theater.
And in Atlantic Highlands, that theater happens to belong partly to one of New Jersey’s most famous independent filmmakers.
Event Details
Smodcastle Film Festival
November 5–8, 2026
Smodcastle Cinemas
82 First Avenue
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
The festival’s current schedule and ticket availability are available through Smodcastle Film Festival and Smodcastle Cinemas. Get Tickets HERE.
Some of the most revealing pieces of New Jersey history were never made for theaters.
They were home movies, local news footage, public films, community celebrations and recordings that spent decades sitting in archives.
On Saturday, November 7, some of that material will come out of storage.
The second New Jersey Archival Film Festival is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. inside the Great Hall at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. The event is free and brings together footage held by archives, universities, historical societies and other cultural institutions from around the state.
The festival is presented by the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, the New Jersey Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference and the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
A Very Different Kind of Film Festival
There are no red carpets or studio premieres here.
Instead, the program includes material that might otherwise remain seen mainly by researchers.
One selection looks at the New Jersey Turnpike. Another documents the relocation of a historic Victorian house in Englewood.
There are family home movies connected to Garret A. Hobart Jr., footage from Trenton, old Atlantic City images, scenes from the Wildwoods and a film trip through Vineland.
The morning program even includes Joe Albert’s Fox Hunt and Other Stories from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, presented by the Media Burn Archive.
The result is a moving collection of small pieces of the state rather than one sweeping documentary trying to explain all of New Jersey at once.
Atlantic City Before the Casinos We Know Today
One of the most intriguing entries is Easter on the Boardwalk, presented by the Hagley Museum and Library.
Festival organizers describe featured material that includes footage of a 1950s Easter parade in Atlantic City.
For anyone accustomed to seeing Atlantic City through casino towers and modern Boardwalk tourism, archival footage offers something different.
The buildings change. The clothes change. The cars change.
The Boardwalk remains recognizable.
That is part of the strange appeal of old local film.
A familiar place can suddenly feel foreign.
Monmouth County Gets Its Own Look Back
The afternoon program moves closer to home.
“Talking 250,” presented by the MonmouthNJ 250 Committee, will connect the program to New Jersey’s role in the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Monmouth County Archives will also present Monmouth County Then and Now.
Other selections cover subjects including Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood, Rutgers’ first graduating class in Puerto Rican Studies and a performance by jazz musician Joe Wilder preserved by the Institute of Jazz Studies.
There is even campus footage of a snowy day at what was then New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton.
None of it sounds like blockbuster cinema.
That is exactly the point.
Why Old Film Matters
Historic buildings can be restored. Documents can be scanned. Photographs preserve a fraction of a second. Film does something else. It shows people moving through a place.
A car turns a corner. A family walks along the Boardwalk. A crowd gathers. Someone looks toward a camera without any idea that another audience may be watching decades later.
The New Jersey Archival Film Festival is built around preserving and sharing those moments.
It is also a reminder that history does not only belong to presidents, governors and famous names.
Sometimes history is an Easter parade.
Sometimes it is a family picnic.
Sometimes it is a home movie nobody expected anyone outside the family to see.
And sometimes those ordinary pieces of film become the clearest window we have into what New Jersey once looked like.
Event Details
New Jersey Archival Film Festival
Saturday, November 7, 2026
9 a.m.–1 p.m.
The Great Hall, Monmouth University
400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch
* Admission is free. The organizers encourage advance registration but do not list it as mandatory.
Jon Bon Jovi has spent more than four decades becoming one of New Jersey’s most recognizable exports.
Lately, though, the story has been less about looking back and more about what comes next.
After returning to major touring this year following vocal-cord surgery and a lengthy recovery, Bon Jovi has already announced another round of stadium shows for 2027, including a home-state date at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on July 15. The band announced the new dates October 19 after completing a 2026 run that included nine shows at Madison Square Garden, three at Wembley Stadium and additional performances in Edinburgh and Dublin.
For a singer whose ability to tour was in serious doubt only a few years ago, that is a significant turnaround.
Getting His Voice Back
Bon Jovi underwent medialization surgery in 2022 after suffering problems with one of his vocal cords. What followed was not a quick return.
He spent roughly two years rebuilding his voice before returning to full-scale touring.
In an October 26 interview with Good Morning America, Bon Jovi spoke openly about that recovery and the work required to get back onstage. The 2026 Forever Tour marked his first major touring run since the surgery.
That makes the newly announced 2027 stadium schedule more than another tour announcement.
It is evidence that a comeback that once seemed uncertain has become a working reality.
The next phase begins March 4 in Melbourne, followed by Sydney and London before Bon Jovi returns to New Jersey for the MetLife Stadium show in July. Chicago, Foxborough and Toronto are also on the announced North American schedule.
He Is Also Literally on a Jersey Lottery Ticket
Only Jon Bon Jovi could recover from vocal surgery, return to stadium touring and somehow end up on a New Jersey scratch-off ticket in the same year.
The New Jersey Lottery launched its $5 “Jersey Legend” game this fall featuring Bon Jovi on three ticket designs.
The game began September 30 and carries a top prize of $200,000. More than $12.9 million in prizes were built into the original game, according to the New Jersey Lottery.
The partnership was formally celebrated October 6 at JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, where Bon Jovi appeared with state and lottery officials.
There is a charitable connection behind the celebrity branding as well.
Bon Jovi said he is donating his compensation from the lottery partnership to the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, with the money intended to help expand the nonprofit’s community restaurant work in Monmouth County.
One of the game’s $200,000 top-prize tickets was sold shortly after launch at a supermarket in Trenton. The New Jersey Lottery currently lists two top prizes remaining.
The Red Bank Connection Never Really Left
For all the international touring and celebrity attention, Bon Jovi has maintained an unusually visible connection to Monmouth County.
Jon and his wife, Dorothea, opened the first JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank in 2011.
The restaurant operates differently from a traditional celebrity-owned business. Its pay-it-forward model allows customers who can afford a meal to contribute toward meals for others, while people facing food insecurity can volunteer in exchange for dining.
The foundation later expanded the Soul Kitchen concept to Toms River and Rutgers-Newark. The Red Bank and Toms River restaurants passed the milestone of 200,000 meals served in 2025.
That makes Red Bank a natural place for something like the lottery announcement.
It is not simply where Bon Jovi showed up for a press event. It is a community where his charitable work has operated for more than a decade.
Still a Jersey Guy
There are plenty of celebrities who were born in New Jersey.
Fewer remain so closely identified with the state after becoming globally famous.
Bon Jovi has never really separated the two.
The music, the charity work, the Red Bank presence and now even a lottery ticket all keep circling back home.
And next summer, so will the tour.
After playing stadiums around the world, Bon Jovi is scheduled to walk onto the stage at MetLife Stadium on July 15, 2027.
For a singer who spent years wondering whether he would be able to tour again, that New Jersey date may carry a little more weight than most.
The comeback is already underway.
This time, it comes with a Jersey address.
Singer Chris Ruggiero returned to the Avenel Performing Arts Center on October 10 for two performances built around the music he has made the center of his young career: the rock, pop and vocal classics of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
Ruggiero presented his “Songs You Know & Love” concert at 2 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m., backed by a full live band with brass. The Avenel Performing Arts Center promoted the program as an all-new show featuring familiar standards, songs from Ruggiero’s recordings and new additions to his repertoire.
The concert included songs closely associated with Ruggiero’s live performances, including “Unchained Melody” and “This Magic Moment.” Tickets were priced at $49.50 plus applicable fees
An Unusual Connection to an Earlier Generation
Ruggiero has built his career around music written decades before he was born.
His interest in the era began when he was young. In a 2021 interview with New Jersey Stage, Ruggiero recalled hearing oldies in his grandfather’s car when he was 12 and becoming fascinated with the harmonies, melodies and singers of the period. He cited groups such as The Platters and The Flamingos among his early favorites and described singer Jerry Vale as a particular influence.
Rather than treating those songs as museum pieces, Ruggiero has made them the foundation of a touring stage show.
The result is a concert style that leans deliberately toward an earlier form of American entertainment. A microphone, a live band and recognizable songs do most of the work.
His Avenel appearance continued that approach with a band that included brass, something increasingly uncommon in smaller touring pop productions. The venue also credited the show’s arrangements to musicians with professional ties to performers including Frankie Valli, Barry Manilow, Julio Iglesias, Tony Orlando, Neil Diamond and Laura Nyro.
His National Break Started in Asbury Park
Ruggiero’s career also has an interesting New Jersey connection.
At 18, he was selected to perform in the 2018 PBS special “Doo Wop Generations,” filmed at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park.
The nationally distributed PBS production brought veteran doo-wop performers together with younger singers carrying the music forward. Ruggiero appeared with The Duprees on “You Belong to Me.”
Years later, he appeared in the PBS follow-up “Doo Wop, Pop and Soul Generations.” That program featured Ruggiero performing “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and “Unchained Melody,” along with “Red Rubber Ball” beside The Cyrkle.
Those PBS appearances helped introduce him to a national audience while connecting a performer from a younger generation directly with artists and songs from the early years of rock and roll.
Ruggiero has since appeared on “Good Morning America,” including a holiday television appearance with Darlene Love.
Four Albums and a Growing Touring Schedule
Ruggiero’s recorded catalog includes four albums currently listed by Apple Music: “Time Was,” “I Am Chris Ruggiero” and “Quiet Nights,” all released in 2021, followed by “Christmas with Chris Ruggiero” in 2022.
His touring schedule has expanded well beyond the Northeast. Current promotional material from Ruggiero and presenting venues says his live performances have reached more than 100 towns and cities across the country. Upcoming dates after Avenel included performances in California and Texas, followed by a December schedule with stops in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Las Vegas.
William Paterson University also brought Ruggiero to Wayne earlier this year for its WP Presents! series, where he performed a program drawing from artists ranging from The Drifters and Frankie Valli to Lionel Richie and Bruno Mars.
That mix gives a better picture of what Ruggiero is doing than simply calling him an oldies singer. His foundation is the music of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, but his shows are built to connect those songs with audiences who may have discovered them long after their original release.
Keeping the Songs in Circulation
There is a practical reason performers like Ruggiero matter to this music.
Many of the original artists who defined early rock and roll, doo-wop and vocal pop are gone or no longer touring. The songs survive on recordings, radio, streaming services and movie soundtracks, but hearing them performed by a live band is becoming a different kind of experience.
Ruggiero has chosen to make that experience his career.
His return to Avenel offered New Jersey audiences another chance to hear songs such as “Unchained Melody” and “This Magic Moment” performed in the format they came from: a singer standing in front of a real band, with brass behind him and an audience in the room.
For music that has already survived six or seven decades, finding another generation willing to keep singing it may be the most important encore of all.
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