The Indie Street Film Festival is set to start in Red Bank today.

The inaugural event featuring the screenings of more than 75 different independent feature and short films will be shown at various locations throughout the borough’s downtown through July 10.

“Growing up in the area, the question was never if we should launch our film festival in Red Bank,” Indie Street founder Jay Webb said. “It’s a gorgeous arts-driven town with all the infrastructure, venues and passionate people that are all key to the success of an event like this. Indie Street is all about cooperation and we have felt that energy from the Count Basie Theatre, local businesses, the town council, and all the individuals who have helped make this festival a reality.”

Among them will be a showing of local iconic filmmaker Kevin Smith’s latest, Yoga Hosers. Comedian a performance by comedian Lisa Lampanelli will also be performing at the Count Basie Theatre on Friday.

Festival passes and tickets to individual screenings are on sale now via Indiestreetfilmfestival.org and theBASIE.org.

The Lampanelli performance, Yoga Hosers screening and an opening night screening of director Chad Hartigan’s Sundance hit Morris from America, starring Craig Robinson (of The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine) will each take place at the Basie, the festival’s lead sponsor.

The Lampanelli performance will follow a screening of Can We Take A Joke, a documentary on the collision of comedy and political correctness which features Lampanelli and fellow comics Adam Carolla, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Norton and more.

Additional screenings will take place at Two River Theater, Bowtie Cinemas and Red Bank Middle School, while festivalgoers will also enjoy a bevy of pre-and post-screening after-parties at Red Bank spots, such as Jamian’s, The Downtown, Gotham, The Belmonte and 10th Avenue Burrito.

A public screening, presented by Sony Pictures Classics and its co-founder/co-president and area resident Tom Bernard, will take place on July 7 outside the Molly Pitcher hotel.

Fans can visit http://www.facebook.com/IndieStreetFilmFestival to cast their vote amongst several Sony Pictures Classics titles, including Welcome To The Dollhouse, SLC Punk, The Wackness, Moon, and Junebug. Indie Under The Stars, as the screening at the Molly has been dubbed, is also made possible by ShoreFlicks, Flying Fish Brewing Company and popchips.

Indie Street’s feature competition will include the world premiere of Auld Lang Syne, by director Johanna McKeon, an associate director of Hedwig And The Angry Inch and American Idiot on Broadway.

New Jersey premieres of Diverge, by James Morrison, Mexican filmmaker Juan Pablo Arroyo Abraham’s DIA6EIS (Day Six), Michael Covino’s Keep In Touch and Ingrid Jungermann’s Women Who Kill will be featured, along with winning films from the Basie’s PROJECT FX statewide student film festival.

After Sandy, the post-superstorm film from Tinton Falls filmmaker Joe Minnella, will be one of several documentary features.

Documentarians Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee’s Hotel Dallas, detailing the adventures of a Romanian woman who travels to the U.S. under the influence of the early 80s television hit Dallas, will also be screened. Beatrice Alda’s Legs: A Big Issue in a Small Town, Adam Irving’s Off the Rails and Jason Zeldes’ Romeo is Bleeding will also compete in the documentary category.

Also featured will be 57 short films from over a dozen countries in seven competitive programs, including shorts by directors Danny DeVito and Matthew Modine.

Shorts will be broken down into: seven categories of three narratives, two documentary sets, a set of animation shorts and a special Jersey Shorts screening featuring narrative and documentary shorts by local filmmakers.

Winning films will be selected by a jury consisting of industry gurus, including Emmy-winning producer/director Sylvia Caminer, movie critic and Q104.3 radio host Shelli Sonstein, and John Columbus, founder and director emeritus of Jersey City’s Black Maria Film Festival.

Award winners will be honored onstage at the Count Basie Theatre, the anchor presenting sponsor, prior to the festival-closer Little Men. Encore screenings of all the winning films will take place on Sunday, July 10.

For a complete schedule of events and to purchase tickets, click here.  Passes can be purchased by visiting the festival website or through the Count Basie Theatre box office, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank.

“The mission of the Count Basie Theatre has always centered on showcasing and nurturing the arts,” Count Basie Theatre President/CEO Adam Philipson said. “In that way, Indie Street’s mission to create visibility for independent filmmakers is aligned with what we do best. We’re very much looking forward to growing this festival into an annual event for Red Bank and the region.”

ISFF Festival passes range in price from $149 to $849 and include opening and closing night, a minimum of six additional film tickets, access to a variety of social events, panels and workshops, and discounts at local Red Bank businesses.

About Indie Street

Indie Street, the world’s first co-op distribution brand — a VOD platform that unites the most talented self-distributing filmmakers to share audiences, resources, and company profits — is home to award-winning members who hold honors from Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca film festivals. ISFF aims to discover the most innovative and resourceful storytellers, while also presenting special screenings that celebrate the best in Independent cinema, past, present and future.

Since ISFF is more geared toward cooperation than competition, the makers of all feature films screening at the festival will be awarded the opportunity to join Indie Street as a partner filmmaker and be promoted through its VOD platform.

Winners from each feature film category will qualify for a minimum one-week theatrical release in New York City. Short film winners from each category will be considered for co-­op inclusion and will be presented and promoted through the IndieStreet platform.