The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program In Cinema Studies, presents the New Jersey Film Festival Fall 2016 -- the 35th Anniversary of the festival. Showcasing new international films, American independent features, experimental and short subjects, classic revivals, and cutting-edge documentaries. All films screened at Voorhees Hall unless otherwise noted.
This preview takes a look at the films being screened in October. For September screenings click here.
Sunday, October 2 - 7:00pm
You’re Just Projecting - Marinah Janello (Boston, MA) In this experimental film, which intentionally fragments the female body, popular images of women from the 1950’s-60’s are juxtaposed with contemporary images, to alter and to satirize the male gaze. 2016; 2 min. Introduction and Q+A session with the director.
A Ticking Time Bomb - Tamara and Thomas Balsamides (Montvale, NJ) This timely and informative documentary introduces us to individuals who contracted Lyme disease, and were then confronted by doctors, insurance companies, and the medical establishment as a whole, that did not recognize, acknowledge, or offer effective treatments, to alleviate the debilitating and prolonged effects of this disease. 2016; 54 min. Introduction and Q+A session with Director Tamara and Thomas Balsamides.
Sunday, October 2 - 7:00pm
Racing The Sunrise - Amy Russo (Los Angeles, CA) In this touching film based on true events, a resourceful and resilient young girl takes care of her dysfunctional mother, and her two younger sisters, who live with their chins just above the water. We follow her through one day, the hardest day of her life. 2016; 17 min. Introduction and Q+A session with lead actress Josephine Cooper.
C.I.T.- Cara Consilvio (Cranford, NJ) Sarah and Lizzie are best friends. They live for their summers at Blackhawk Farm. After ten years as campers, this summer, 18-year-old Lizzie will be a counselor, while 17-year-old Sarah is a C.I.T. (Counselor in Training). Sarah would love to be a counselor, but her late summer birthday seals her fate as a C.I.T. Everything changes when Sarah is told a secret that will change Lizzie’s life forever. 2016; 19 min. With an introduction and Q+A session with Director Cara Consilvio.
Tenderness - Emilia Zielonka (Gydnia, Poland) An intense psychological drama about a teenage couple, Irka and Milosz, who lock themselves in a hotel room for a single night. It seems they have a perfectly prepared plan and there is just one thought guiding them: our love is unique and everlasting. That night they spend together at the hotel will change everything between them 2015; 25 min.
Friday, October 7 - 7:00pm
Solo - Thomas Emmet Ashton (Woodside, NY) A 30-year old man living with his overbearing mother decides to take a stand and join his local church choir, much to the dismay of his mother, who begins a plot of her own. 2016; 15 min. With an introduction and Q+A session with Director Thomas Emmet Ashton.
Il Nostro Ultimo (Our Last) - Ludovico Di Martino (Rome, Italy) The story of two brothers who satisfy their ill mother’s wish to go on one last family trip to the beach in Sicily. One day, after the brothers get into one more argument, their mother unexpectedly passes away. They start their journey towards the South anyway, with their mother’s coffin tied to an old car’s rack. During their journey, they discover a way to repair their relationship and start their lives anew. In Italian, subtitled. 2016; 92 min.
Thursday, October 13 - 6:00pm
American Experimental Films – Part 1 - Discover a wide array of American experimental films from the 1940s through the 1960s. Tonight’s program will feature films by Sidney Peterson, Storm de Hirsch, Marie Menken, Andy Warhol, and others. 80 min.
NOTE: This screening takes place in Ruth Adams #001.
Friday, October 14 - 7:00pm
Flowers of War - Zhang Yimou - A modern masterpiece from acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, Flowers of War is both visually breathtaking and searing in its depiction of the horrors that unfolded in Nanking, China, in l937, when the city was invaded and occupied by the Japanese. An American, by the name of John Miller, seeks sanctuary in a Nanking cathedral, and becomes a witness to the appalling crimes against humanity that are unfolding outside, at the hands of Japanese Imperial forces. Trapped inside this sanctuary, alongside Miller, are frightened schoolgirls and women, and together they try to survive. Starring Christian Bale. In Cantonese, subtitled. 2011; 142 min.
Saturday, October 15 - 7:00pm
The Suitor – Alvaro Congosto (Woodside, NY) A thrilling romance set during the night that Orson Welles broadcast The War of the Worlds in 1938, and announced that Martians had landed in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, causing mass panic. 2016; 12 min.
Psychedelia – Pat Murphy (Brooklyn, NY) . Blending archival footage, artistic images, and interviews with leading experts in the field of psychedelic research, Psychedelia reveals a fascinating and little-known history, that culminates with stories from participants in current research studies, whose experiences have transformed the way that they look at their inner lives and the outside world. 2015; 60 min. Introduction and Q&A with the Director Pat Murphy.
Sunday, October 23 - 7:00pm
A is for Aye-Aye: An Abecedarian Adventure – Augusta Palmer (Brooklyn, NY) Iris, a curious, precocious and somewhat jaded nine-year-old New Yorker, is on a quest to find a space to exercise her imagination in the real world. 2016; 14 min. With an introduction and Q+A session with Director Augusta Palmer.
The Other Kids – Chris Brown (San Francisco, CA) - Impending graduation and adulthood brings six 17-year-olds to the edge of an emotional precipice. When safety nets prove illusory, it’s up to each of them to find a way to save themselves – and each other. A unique and moving film, which is a hybrid mix of documentary and fiction, 2016; 95 min.
Friday, October 28 - 7:00pm
A World Without Thieves - Xiaogang Feng. A con-team couple (Andy Lau & Rene Liu) head west after taking a city businessman for his BMW. But an encounter with a naive young carpenter travelling home with his life savings challenges their fate as thieves. In Cantonese, subtitled. 2004; 100 min.
SCREENING LOCATIONS
Ruth Adams Bldg. #001 (Near the corner of Jones Street and George Street), 131 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ
Voorhees Hall #105 (Near the corner of George Street and Hamilton Street), 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ