The Spring 2025 New Jersey Film Festival begins today! Get more info at this link:
https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2025.eventive.org/welcome
Here is the Festival line-up for this weekend. Almost all the directors will be present for the in-person screening on Friday and they will be doing a Q+A with the audience.
Friday, January 24, 2025 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
Shorts Program
Annabel Lee – Liat Kisos (Tel Aviv, Israel) A visual response to Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee"; the last complete poem he composed. 2024; 3 min.
Le Charade – Erika Totoro (Dobbs Ferry, New York) A psychological comedy set in a run-down 1950s diner. Le Charade follows the final performance of a lonely mime and the psychotic episode that ensues after his imaginary friend breaks up with him and he is forced to re-enter society. 2024; 3 min.
His New Girl – Madeline Hettrick (New Brunswick, New Jersey) A girl gets ready for a date with her boyfriend. 2024; 5 min.
Sylvia – Hannah Zipperman and Ezekiel Goodman (Leonia, New Jersey) A newly divorced woman decides to go after what she's always wanted. 2024; 7 min.
You Still Can – Samuel Edelsack (Westfield, New Jersey) A father talks her daughter out of suicide despite their estranged, bitter relationship. 2023; 9 min.
The Performance! – Salvatore Zeppi Rubinetti (Parsippany, New Jersey) Pierrot longing for Columbine is interrupted by Harlequin until he decides to take things into his own hands. 2024; 10 min.
Chicken Broth Soup – Deniz Büyükkırlı (Istanbul, Turkey) A doctor comes across unusual symptoms at the man said to have died of a heart attack when he examined the corpse. He decides to refer the body to forensic medicine. Thereupon, the mans wife confesses; she said poisoned her husband, who constantly beat her. A big surprise awaits the doctor, who has to make a vital decision for the woman. 2024; 19 min.
Mad Clean – Jordan Campbell (New York, New York) Ebony, a home cleaner, finds herself cleaning the home of Leanne, a unique client in the midst of a manic episode. 2024; 21 min.
Saturday, January 25, 2025 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
Supercritical - John Osment (Brooklyn, New York) In a post-apocalyptic nuclear fallout shelter, a young scientist bothers their team leader with a series of progressively inane HR requests. 2024; 7 min.
Dead Community Guild – Emil Minasyan (Amarillo, Texas) The world has transformed dramatically. Scarcity of resources has driven the remaining population to become increasingly ruthless and barbaric. Mysterious radio broadcasts provide a glimmer of hope, inviting people to join a community that promises a better life. Two sisters, eager to escape the traumas of their past, embark on a journey to find this town and start anew. Yet, what they discover there will irrevocably alter everything they believed. The film is shot on Kodak motion picture film. Starring Taylor Norman, Karen Colin & Eric Roberts. 2024; 66 min.
The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, is proud to present the Spring 2025 New Jersey Film Festival which marks our 43rd Anniversary. The Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 24-February 21, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Renee Maskin will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, October 18 at 7PM! The in-person screenings and the Renee Maskin 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=$100; In-Person Show Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. Ticket buyers will also have special access to Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.
Sponsors: The New Jersey Film Festival is funded and/or sponsored in part by The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center; The Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies/School of Arts and Sciences; Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts - Funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund; Grant funding has also been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners - This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; The Rutgers University Office of Summer and Winter Sessions; OVID/Icarus Films, The Rutgers University American Studies Department; Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program; The Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum; The Rutgers University Writer’s House; Pro 8mm; The Rutgers University Office of Disability Services, WRSU; New Jersey Stage; The Home News, The Asbury Park Press; New Brunswick City Center; The Rutgers University Office of Community Affairs; Design Ideas; Advanced Printing; Steven C. Schechter, Esq.; Share and Harris.
Still from Erika Totoro’s Le Charade
