Jeff Saxon holding his award. *photo submitted

Project Filmed Entirely In Perth Amboy, Emerges With Best Rock Music Video Honors

WASHINGTON D.C. — Singer-songwriter and Perth Amboy resident, Jeff Saxon, took home the Best Rock Music Video award at The World Music And Independent Film Festival, recently held in Washington, D.C. The international music and film festival presented the honor for Saxon’s moody and politically-pertinent anthem, “High Time For A Hero”. The winners were announced August 25th at a black–tie luncheon held in the Presidential Ballroom of the Capital Hilton Hotel, capping off a week of screenings, panels and events. Saxon also performed an acoustic guitar and vocal rendition of the song shortly after receiving his trophy at the ceremony. “I’m incredibly thankful, honored and excited just to have been nominated for this award, but winning was truly the icing on the cake.”, Saxon stated. The 3rd annual music and film festival drew hundreds of film and video submissions from 32 countries.

The video, directed by Christina Eliopoulos, was filmed entirely in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, during a two day shoot in the spring of 2011, offers a symbolic look at a slice of America in the form of a small to medium size urban city; in this case, Perth Amboy. Eliopoulos explains: “The video sets out to capture the hopeful spirits that live in a town where help is obviously needed…where struggles beset us, but hope keeps people looking ahead and moving forward.” This was Eliopoulos’s first music video project, but the NJ-based director also won the New Jersey Film Festival’s Best Documentary honors in 2009 for “Greetings From Asbury Park: The Movie”. Eliopoulos and director of photography, Edouard Nammour, implemented some astute and powerful symbolism to get the hope-over-despair message in across. Several young ballet dancers from The Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey ballet troupes are featured in the video.

“High Time For A Hero” was also nominated for Best Music Video honors at The Toronto Independent Film Festival, which takes place this month.

The audio single, “High Time For A Hero”, is available on iTunes and the video can be viewed on You Tube.

News Release