By Al Nigrin
originally published: 06/10/2025
We have started a new concert series with a moving image component as part of our New Jersey Film Festivals with the hope of reawakening the mostly dormant New Brunswick Music Scene. On September 15, 2023, guitar virtuoso Tim Motzer performed to an experimental film. That was the first true audio-visual concert we put on. Acclaimed singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler also did an amazing concert with her own movie projections on June 15, 2024. Noise-Ambient musician Jim Haynes came from California and did a concert on October 18, 2024 with accompanying projections of experimental films by Marjorie Conrad, Anita LaBelle and myself. On February 21, 2025, acclaimed singer-songwriter Renee Maskin did an audio-visual concert to videos created by myself. On June 13, 2025, Mike Kovacs will do an audio-visual concert as well!
Mike Kovacs is a guitarist, composer, teacher, and multimedia artist born, raised, and working in Central New Jersey. His first multimedia work, "sacred/dirty katie" debuted in New Brunswick in the Summer of 1995. His collaboration with New Jersey artist Vladimir Aituganov, "crescendo", debuted at the Ukrainian Institute in NYC in February of 2004. Following the death of dear friend and bandmate, he returned to music and film with a video for his song "Someday beautiful" and the multimedia rock opera, "After the Valentines" which debuted at The George St Playhouse in the summer of 2009 and in NYC at the NYC Poetry Club in late November of 2010. He then formed the spoken word and music ensemble, "The Fractal Ensemble" playing the NYC Poetry Festival two years in a row, as well as a sold-out benefit show with spoken work legend Buddy Wakefield in Jersey City in February of 2015. Presently he is working on another multimedia project and will be debuting a new piece featuring dancer/choreographer Josie Coyoc who spent many years dancing with both the Bill T Jones and Pilobolus dance companies.
The Mike Kovacs Audio/Visual Concert at the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival will take place on Friday, June 13 at 7 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. General Admission is $15. For more info and to buy tickets go here.
The 30th annual New Jersey International Film Festival will be taking place between May 30-June 13, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person when both are offered. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Kovacs will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, June 13 at 7PM! The in-person screenings and the Mike Kovacs concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.
For more info go here: https://2025newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
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.
COLUMNS
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