Film Fest: Full Slate Set for Saturday

Now in full swing, the Gold Coast International Film Festival will feature a number of films Saturday at several locations throughout Long Island. 

This weekend's event calendar features a full day of events planned in Manhasset, Great Neck, Port Washington, Roslyn and New Hyde Park.

The seven-day annaul event is sponsored by the Great Neck Arts Center and brings area residents, visitors, members of the business and film communities, public officials, students and academics together to celebrate the art and influence of cinema in the charming and historic towns and villages of Long Island’s Gold Coast. The festival ends Sunday.

For more information visit the 2012 Gold Coast International Film Festival website or the Great Neck Arts Center, 113 Middle Neck Rd. in Great Neck.

Here's five Patch picks for Saturday:

1. The Mark Of Zorro: See Douglas Fairbanks, as Don Diego Vega, a young Spanish nobleman who watches with horror as the rich landowners mistreat their peons. To right these wrongs he poses as a cowardly fop during the day but at night, he battles evil as the masked avenger. The showing features a live musical accompaniment by Bernie Anderson on Chaminade High School's historic 1920s-era theater organ. The Mark of Zorro will be preceeded by a screening of Charlie Chaplin's film, The Immigrant. Details/Tickets

2. The Saphires: Based on a popular stage play by the same name, Wayne Blair's debut feature follows the journey of four Aboriginal girls who leave their mission in Australia to entertain U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. After getting tossed out of a local saloon for being black, the three Aboriginal Australian sisters, Gail, Julie and Cynthia (minus cousin Kaye), are "discovered" by drunkard ex-cruise ship entertainer Dave (Chris O'Dowd), who, upon running out of petrol, realizes the girls are his one-way ticket to fortune. It is 1968; and the sisters are sexy, black, young and talented — and they’ve never set foot outside Australia. Until they are plucked from the obscurity of a remote Aboriginal mission, branded as Australia’s answer to The Supremes and dropped into the jungles of Vietnam to entertain the troops. Showtime: 8 p.m. at the Clearview Cinema in Great Neck. Details/Tickets

3. Quartet: Multiple nominee and two-time Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman steps behind the camera for the first time with this charming adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s eponymous play. Quartet tells the story of retired opera singers and lifelong chums who, together with their former colleague, reside in a retirement home that is host to an entirely musical clientele, from orchestra members to operatic luminaries. Each year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents arrange a concert to raise funds for their home. It is usually a smooth-running, perfectly pleasant event, evoking warm memories of old times and grand traditions. Enter stage right the fourth, most famous member of the former quartet. Having recently fallen on hard times, the aged diva checks in, and it’s not long until long-buried grievances rise to the surface, rivalries resume, and plans begin to fall apart. Showtime: 1 p.m. at the Port Washington Clearview Cinema. Details/Tickets

4. A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære): This historical drama chronicles the scandalous love triangle between a queen, her German doctor and the mad King of Denmark. The film centers on the king's  personal doctor, a staunch proponent of the Enlightenment’s reformist principles, who finds a match in the king’s physically and intellectually captivating queen. Eager to use his influence to advance the cause of social reform, the doctor and the queen convince the king to embark on an aggressive campaign of reforms. But the two kindred spirits fail to notice the conspiracies taking shape around them. What unfolds is a tale of high-flown idealism undone by the blind passion of love. Showtime: 3:30 p.m. at the Clearview Cinema in Port Washington. Details/Tickets

5. Great Short Films: A series of short films run the gamut from romance to thriller; comedy to drama; sci fi to documentary in Great Neck Saturday at the Clearview Cinema beginning at 4 p.m. The films showcase the talents of emerging filmmakers and provide entertainment, illumination, and a great movie going experience. chosen by Alexandra Gil. Details/Tickets