By Al Nigrin
originally published: 10/05/2021

Here is the New Jersey Film Festival Fall 2021 Video Q+A with Lion on the Mat Director Asali Echols and Festival Director Al Nigrin:

Screening will be available Video on Demand on Friday, October 8, 2021 for 24 hours!

Go here to buy tickets.

Lion on the Mat – Asali Echols (El Cerrito, California) This short documentary follows Mai Nguyen, a 29 year-old Vietnamese-American martial artist, as she trains for an upcoming Jiu Jitsu match. We witness her training process, and learn how she mentally, as well as physically, prepares. We also see her balance the demands of regular life — job, being a single mother — with training. We meet her four-year-old son Benji, and understand more of the stakes in her decision to keep fighting. Gradually, we learn more about her childhood in Vietnam, her experience immigrating and assimilating to the US, and her return to martial arts as a way to recover from the trauma of her abusive childhood and ex-husband. 2020; 17 min.

The Fall 2021 New Jersey Film Festival -- which will be taking place on the Fridays and Sundays between September 10 and October 10 will be presenting the Festival online. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. Ticket buyers will also have special access to Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.  To buy tickets go here: https://watch.eventive.org/newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2021

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Albert Gabriel Nigrin is an award-winning experimental media artist whose work has been screened throughout the world. He is also a Cinema Studies Lecturer at Rutgers University, and the Executive Director/Curator of the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, Inc.

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