Del Vecchio, left, and Dwyer, at the future site of the festival
(photo: Orysia Dmetrynko)
GREENWOOD LAKE – The Hoboken International Film Festival (HIFF), which has been held for the last four years in the City of Middletown, has a new home at the Thomas Morahan Waterfront Park in the Village of Greenwood Lake, and Mayor Jesse Dwyer couldn’t be more ecstatic.
Festival founder Kenneth Del Vecchio stood on the shores of Greenwood Lake with Dwyer and Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus to formally make the announcement.
Dwyer is looking forward to the economic benefits the festival will bring.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have the film festival come here to Greenwood Lake for many reasons,” the mayor said. “Number one – the success the film festival has had, not only in Orange County, but in the region. We as a tourist destination like to add components that bring tourism and bring components that support our economy. Having a seven-day film festival in Greenwood Lake is going to drastically improve the economy of Greenwood Lake.”
Dwyer looks forward to the event’s economic benefits.
Del Vecchio said by moving to Greenwood Lake he can still keep his Orange County base, which includes Westchester, Rockland, Ulster and Sullivan counties, but he’s closer to New York City and to Northern New Jersey, which will attract more people.
“It’s just a pure, straight, stunning beauty of this lake,” said Del Vecchio. “You couldn’t have a more picturesque place to hold a film festival and to give people the ability to dine on the water, to watch their movies under the stars on this beautiful lake front property, and to be able to go swimming, boating, sailing, jet skiing. It’s just so exciting!”
Neuhaus said that attracting thousands of people to Greenwood Lake “will have a major impact for a village like this. They have restaurants and businesses that are going to benefit, hotels, B&B’s. They all are going to benefit from this being here.”
A local business owner, Annette Sanchez of Jean-Claude’s Bakery said they are “absolutely thrilled” that the festival will be coming to their village.
The seven-day festival will take place mid- to late- May, when the idyllic village experiences low tourism just prior to the summer season. In order to limit any negative effect on traffic, the village plans to designate parking lots where movie fans will board shuttle buses to the park where they will view what Del Vecchio says will be “cutting edge films, not just from across the United States but from all across the world.”
