Mark your calendars and buy your tickets for CUT International Film Festival on Saturday, October 22, at the Levoy Theatre! Selected and Award-Winning Films will be shown from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. There will be an awards ceremony between 7 and 8 p.m. Your All-Day Pass for general seating is $25.

Storytelling is an art form as old as time. Even before people painted pictures on walls of caves, people sat around the campfire and told stories. Filmmaking is an advanced form of storytelling where you take sight and sound, and project a world that doesn’t exist anymore onto a screen. The short film is a glimpse into the world and not the entire telling, but a mere slice of it.

CUT International Short Film Festival is destined to become the premier festival in New Jersey for short films. Glasstown Arts District and the Levoy Theatre are the perfect venues for this art form.

CUT was founded to celebrate storytelling in the medium of motion pictures but limited to short stories. The short film, like the documentary, has become a great way for a larger group of people to tell their stories. Not reliant on huge budgets or massive crews, a small group of talented creative people craft a tale of resonance and authenticity. The goal of CUT is to celebrate those stories and give them a venue to shine. Tickets levoy.net/event/cutinternationalsff/ or 856-327-6400.

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Halloween Fun for the Family at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, 22 N. High Street will feature ghosts and ghouls and creatures of fright. Join the art center on October 14 and 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for this 1st Annual Haunted RRCA. A variety of Halloween activities and light refreshments will be available on both nights. There will be a costume contest on the second night.

Included will be a haunted maze, Halloween arts and crafts, and goodie bags. Along with the costume contest on Saturday, there will a face painter. This is a free event for families. Contact the RRCA at 856-327-4500 with questions.

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Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River (CU) is hosting a Family-Friendly Jersey Devil Hunt on October 21 at 6 p.m. Russell Juelg gets spooky at this Halloween favorite in the Pinelands. Campfire, s’mores, eerie folklore, original Piney songs, and a nighttime hunt for the Jersey Devil in the deep dark woods! Meet at the end of Barth Road in Millville at the entrance to the Manumuskin River Preserve. Free for members and $25 for non-members or sign up for annual membership of $30 per family. This is a WaitList app. More information and registration at CUMauriceRiver.org

The next day, October 22, CU will conduct three events: 9 a.m. Waltman Park Walk; 2 p.m. Fall Foliage Paddle; and 6 p.m. Potluck & Campfire. Check the CUMauriceRiver.org website.

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There are many events throughout the month of October. I’ve pointed out family-fun events for the autumn season and our very first Small Film Festival. Enjoy!