New Jersey at heart of independent film
'Greetings From the Shore' with Paul Sorvino to be released Sept. 12
BY ANDREW DAVISON Staff Writer
Every year, summer brings with it thousands of tourists battling higher gas prices, sunburn, Garden State Parkway bottlenecks and each other for a piece of that sandy strip of paradise known as the Jersey Shore.

"Greetings From the Shore," a film shot in New Jersey and starring Kim Shaw, Paul Sorvino and David Fumero, will be released Sept. 12. Filmmaker Gabrielle Berberich drew upon her own experiences at the New Jersey Shore when she created the movie.

Filmmaker Gabrielle Berberich has drawn upon many of her own experiences and captured the allure of the shore in her new film "Greetings From the Shore" due to hit theaters Sept. 12.

"Greetings From the Shore" follows Jenny (Kim Shaw) during her final summer at Lavallette before she heads to college, hopefully at Columbia.

Shortly after arriving in Lavallette, Jenny barely gets her socks off before sprinting past the dunes to the surf. Here Jenny and the viewer are treated to one of many impressive landscapes of the Garden State's coast.

While the timeless beauty of the beach is as she remembers it, little else from Jenny's childhood playground is so comfortingly static: her expected place of employment and summer residence is unexpectedly sold and marked for demolition and her car erupts into a fit of smoking and hissing.

Add these to the concerns over the recent death of her father and the pricey tuition of Columbia, and Jenny's summer appears to be going downhill very quickly.

Fortunately, Jenny is not alone; an old friend of her father's, Catch (Paul Sorvino), becomes an adopted guardian, and the enigmatic and kind, if undocumented, Benicio (David Fumero) steals her heart.

One only needs to speak to co-writer Gabrielle Berberich, who continues to vacation in Lavallette herself, for a moment to understand how personal and emotional creating this film was.

Prior to filming, Berberich and cowriter/ director Greg Chwerchak rented a house in Lavallette where they penned the script.

"Writing on the scene really helped to bring me back to the place of the events. I could say, 'This is where the walk was, and that talk happened over there,' " Berberich said.

A year later Berberich and Chwerchak returned with a crew to begin filming on location.

The cast, handpicked by Berberich, is a mix of freshness and experience.

In her first feature production, Shaw is likable and fits comfortably in the lead role.

Sorvino, remembered for his role as Paul Cicero in "Goodfellas" among dozens of other movies and television appearances, plays Jenny's mentor, Catch, with a warm paternal demeanor.

The film also features Fumero, from ABC-TV's "One Life to Live."

The independent film-making process was new and exciting for Berberich, who has worked mainly with large studios throughout her career.

"There's no chance we could have made the same movie with a studio," said Berberich, "Kim would have been too new, and filming in New Jersey not cost-effective enough. L.A. would have been cheaper."

Filming anywhere other than New Jersey was simply not an option. A primary goal for Berberich was to reveal the beauty of New Jersey to the hordes of naysayers.

The scenery showcased in "Greetings From the Shore" is indeed New Jersey at its best, which has actually led many viewers to question the film's location.

After a showing in Los Angeles, a woman asked Berberich where "Greetings From the Shore" was filmed. Berberich replied "New Jersey," but the woman insisted Berberich had misheard the question, saying, "I know where it is set, but where was it filmed?"

The movie has challenged many notions of New Jersey and placed Berberich and her crew in the position of "unofficial ambassadors" of the unknown beauty of the Garden State.

As summer winds down, "Greetings From the Shore" reminds viewers just what brings so many visitors out to the boardwalks and barrier islands each year.

For many, it may be the only thing to get them through another winter until the days become long and lazy once again.