Rock and a Heart Place: A Documentary by Nancy Sabino and Mike Sodano


ROCK and a HEART PLACE won the Emanuel Berlingo award for 2006 Best Feature Documentary at the 4th Annual Garden State Film Festival. Manny Berlingo was the first person to win the Best Feature Documentary award at the GSFF. He died tragically from a heart condition on his fourth wedding anniversary, two weeks before he was to present the award at the second GSFF. The Best Feature Documentary Award is given in his honor. According to Diane Raver, Executive Director of the GSFF, "Each year when we present the Manny Award, I am touched very deeply by the subject of the documentary that wins and know that Manny would be so happy to be associated with such wonderful films as well as the causes they are associated with. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful film with us."
SOME FESTIVAL INSIGHTS: We've screened ROCK and a HEART PLACE in a number of different venues, but never have we had to show it in a bowling alley! Since there were numerous films shown at the GSFF, one of the venues selected to hold screenings was . . . . Asbury Lanes.We were very curious how a film was going to be shown in a bowling alley, and let's face it, Asbury Lanes has seen better days.

Entering the Asbury Lanes kind of takes your breath away as you step back in time to around 1960. Environmentally, not the kind of place you'd invite the public to see films in competition. Located way down lane six hung a drop cloth that acted as the screen. In the middle of the lane was the video projector, DVD player and our projectionist Jen. Jen manages Asbury Lanes and assured us that they show films all the time behind the bands that play at the Lanes in the evening - right around the makeshift stage in Lane Six. Jen was great about tweaking the projector and the sound to our liking. And that helped, because the sound was exceptional. Quite honestly, once the lights went down and the movie began, no one much paid attention to the fact that they were sitting on plastic chairs in a bowling alley. Asbury Lanes became an intimate setting to watch a film - something we had our doubts about earlier on. The audience totally got into it.
Nancy and I agreed that it was one of the best "public" audiences we've ever had. A number of our previous screenings had been with family, friends and Holiday Express. This audience was wonderfully attentive, appreciative and had a lot of questions for the filmmakers in a lively discussion after the screening. Even the bowling alley staff stopped their work long enough to watch the film and comment how much they liked it. Of course, everyone wants to know where the film will be shown again so they can tell others. At the moment, we're actively shopping it around to distributors and screening it for our outreach audiences within the community. These screenings are ongoing with the goal of getting people to talk about the film as well as to empower select audiences to identify their level of civic responsibility.
Based on the audience reaction, and our newly received award, we're positive ROCK and a HEART PLACE will find a special place among the film-going public.
Special thanks to all those who attended the screening - you were a wonderful audience. Thanks also goes out to Diane Raver and her volunteer staff of the Garden State Film Festival for not only putting on a wonderful weekend of films, but for treating us like family. Last but not least, none of this would be possible were it not for the hundreds of volunteers who tirelessly work at Holiday Express and kindly allowed us to document their lives.