There is much negative press about Philadelphia right now. However, there is someone who is becoming a bright light for the city and giving it some great press. Actor Chance Harlem Jr, who grew up in both North and West Philadelphia, is living proof that a person can chase his or her dreams. What we have is a young black man who is making a name for himself, becoming a role model for children in the city to look up. He’s someone that the kids can aspire to be like who is not a rapper or portraying a negative image. He does not idealize drugs or crime; rather, he is the epitome of persistence and hard work for chasing your dreams.

Chance has also just been named the spokesperson for the “Trailblazers Freedom Traveling Trunk Program” for the African American Museum in Philadelphia. This is an outreach program that brings the museum to the kids by visiting their classrooms. It is a series of pieces that guide today’s youth through important facts of our history that many social studies’ books miss.

Asbury Park, which is a town located in Central Jersey’s shore region, has a cast of actors from New York plus one actor from Philadelphia – Chance Harlem Jr. The film is about redemption and forgiveness from both a man’s family and the people in his town.

What’s important is that the film shows that people make mistakes, that bad things sometimes happen. However, it is more important what a person does in the aftermath that can show the type of person that he or she is or wants to become. This is something that’s important for the people of Philadelphia right now, since many of its children are being led in the wrong direction, but they too have a chance at redemption and controlling the rest of their lives.

Philadelphia-based screen writer and film critic David Greenberg gave the film a very positive review on IndieTalk.com, where he rated the film 5 out of 5 stars. There was also a feature article of Asbury Park in the TriCity News, an online and print newspaper, written by Craig Dowd. Asbury Park also was the Cover Story for SALT Magazine, an entertainment/lifestyle magazine in New Jersey.

This film was the Grad School final project for director Robert Andersen, and it shows what beautiful work can be done with putting time, efforts and thought into a school project.

At the Garden State Film Festival, Asbury Park was highlighted as one of 8 films “working looking into” out of more than 130 films in the festival. Also at this festival, Asbury Park was the first film in its 8 year history to ever sell out prior to the screening. The festival had to add an emergency additional screening to accommodate for all those that did not have tickets for the original screening.

To date, Asbury Park has been accepted and screened in 16 film festivals in state across the country, including the Atlanta Film Festival – which is one of 50 film festivals in the entire world granted the distinction of an Academy Award Qualifying Festival. The film screened to very warm reception at Atlanta’s festival. There have been some amazing write ups about the film since the festival. The most recent acceptance was from the Official Selection Asbury Park received for Philadelphia’s Urban Suburban Film Festival, which is from June 17-19. There are still more festivals that Asbury Park is expecting to screen at.
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