HILLSBOROUGH – Tom Baldinger and his township-based production company, 624 Productions, have a lot to be happy about these days.
Last week, Baldinger and his crew at 624 Productions found out that two of their recent projects were not just accepted into this year’s International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM), but also each earned nominations for awards given out by the IFFM committee.
The full service production company’s feature film “Who’s Jenna…?,” and its music video for the song “Scoundrel” by the Hillsborough-based heavy metal band Nuse, both received IFFM nominations in their respective categories.
“Who’s Jenna…?” received three nominations in the categories of Best Feature, Best Ensemble Cast and Best Director, while “Scoundrel” is up for Best Music Video.
The winners will be announced at the IFFM awards ceremony that will take place on Oct. 13 at the Kalayaan Hall Philippine Center in New York City.
“First off, being a part of a film festival is awesome. Being selected is an honor in itself and being nominated for an award is even better,” Baldinger said on the IFFM award nominations. “It shows the quality of work that we are doing here at 624 Productions.”
In addition to the award ceremony, Baldinger and 624 Productions will get the chance to showcase both of their projects at a special screening that will be held the night of Oct. 16 at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in New York City.
IFFM has been honoring independent filmmakers for 12 years and gives out over 35 awards each year. The event is run by Festival Director Luis Pedron.
“(IFFM) is a great festival that offers independent filmmakers from around the world to showcase their world class films,” Baldinger said. “It’s a great place to network and talk to other people that are great filmmakers. (624 Productions) is really happy to be a part of it.”
Baldinger and 624 Productions just wrapped up filming a short film this summer called “American Boy,” which was written by Hillsborough resident Salman Jaffri and is based on his life growing up as a first-generation child of Pakistani immigrants in the United States.
624 Productions is now currently working on a new TV series that will be shown on TikTok and will begin shooting in parts of New Jersey in the next month, said Baldinger.
Both “Who’s Jenna…?” and “Scoundrel” were also shot in different locations of New Jersey.
Baldinger is very proud of the work 624 Productions has done over the past few years and adds that winning any of the awards at the IFFM will be a great representation of the hard work everyone has done at the production company.
“It’s a real team effort (at 624 Productions),” Baldinger said. “Everyone deserves credit for our nominations.”
