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DIANE RAVER, Founder, Garden State Film Festival Oct 12 2020 @GSFF

www.gsff.org

Diane Raver

Founder

Garden State Film Festival

Biography

In 2002 Diane Raver co-founded The Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) with actor Robert Pastorelli. In the spring of 2003 the First Annual Garden State Film Festival was held in Asbury Park, New Jersey and was a huge success hosting 3000 attendees. Since its inception, the attendance has exceeded 30,000 per event and such notable celebrities as Glenn Close, Robert Pastorelli, Frank Vincent, Paul Sorvino, Budd Schulberg, Kurtwood Smith, James Gandolfini, Celeste Holm and Clarence Clemons among others have attended.

She has continued as Executive Director of the non-profit since that time. In 2014 the festival relocated to Atlantic City where it enjoys great support by local politicians and businesses and is coveted by the DOAC campaign as an international non-gaming tourist attraction.

Ms. Raver was awarded the Alice Guy Blache Award in 2011 for her work in promoting filmmaking in the State of New Jersey. She garnered the New Jersey Moviemakers Network Award for Excellence in 2003 for her support to New Jersey Filmmakers in Movies and TV. She was also awarded the Mt. Ida College Distinguished Alumni Award in Spring of 2005.

Ms. Raver has enjoyed a long history in the realm of film and television production. Having begun her career in New York City in 1980, she segued into television by way of sales, serving as sales representative for Eye View Films and Knightsbridge Productions, both located in New York City, where she continued to build her career for over a decade.

Within a short time at Knightsbridge, she became an executive producer, overseeing international production in addition to those domestic projects sold.

In 1987, she joined Cherry Mellon Ibbettson, a new production company representing an all-Australian talent list which included Peter Cherry, David Deneen, Wayne Maule, and John Ashenhurst whose projects were shot in the U.S., the UK, Japan and Australia.

Later, in 1987, Ms. Raver became the first woman president of a commercial production company in New York City when she founded The Madison Group as President, Head of Sales, and Executive Producer on all commercial production. There, she built a directorial staff to a total of nine, in addition to strengthening the domestic sales organization with representatives in Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, and Los Angeles. She also created a worldwide sales organization with representation in Hong Kong, Sydney, and Paris.

Recently Ms. Raver directed her first film a short documentary about the history of the Classic Longboard Surf Contest based in Manasquan, NJ.

Ms. Raver was a founding member of the Board of Directors of The Arts Coalition of Asbury Park where she spearheaded an effort to save and restore an abandoned theater and provide an arts hub in Asbury Park, NJ.

Ms. Raver holds a B.S. degree from the Philadelphia University and also attended the University of Pittsburgh. She also earned an A.A. in Fine Arts from Mt. Ida College.

Ms. Raver was married to the late M. Carroll Raver, Jr., an award-winning cinematographer they have three children. In addition, she is the stepmother to her husband\u2019s previous four children one of which is the award-wining actress Kim Raver (Third Watch-Kim Zambrano & \u201c24\u201d \u2013Audrey Raines, Night at the Museum and Lipstick Jungle-Nico and more recently \u201cTeddy\u201d on Gray\u2019s Anatomy). When not reviewing film entries for her film festival, Ms. Raver enjoys yoga swimming and is a gourmet cook. She also has a love of fine art and painting, and has created a number of paintings and murals.