If there is a bright side of the pandemic, it might be the way it forced the arts to take a look at offering events virtually. There are many challenges to doing this (costs, royalties, licensing issues, etc.) but many advantages as well. Virtual programming expands the reach of an arts event far beyond its local area, potentially opening up new markets; it offers a night out without the need to hire a babysitter; and it is wonderful for adding to the accessibility of the arts.
We often fail to consider every aspect of accessibility unless it applies to us directly. When a person thinks about accessibility, the tendency is to think of it being offered at the venue - everything from accessible bathrooms to elevators and special seating areas.
But what if the main issue is simply getting to the venue itself? Maybe they are no longer able to drive?
What if a person struggles to stay in a seated position for minutes at a time? Or has any number of health issues that make being in a venue difficult?
Offering arts programming that can be viewed at home has a value that many arts organizations are just now beginning to realize. It can offer someone the opportunity to enjoy an arts event they may not have been able to see otherwise. It’s also something that some arts organizations have continued to offer long after reopening their venues.
The New Jersey Film Festival is a great example. The Spring 2024 edition of the festival runs weekends from January 26 through February 18, 2024. Films are screened inside their beautiful movie theater on the Rutgers University New Brunswick campus and also available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on the screening date. Each general admission ticket or festival pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings.
Attending a film festival is more than just seeing a movie on the big screen, although that’s a part of the experience. For me, film festivals are special because you often get to see and hear from people involved in the film (actors, directors, etc.) in Q&A sessions. While you can’t get the experience of a live Q&A from home, the New Jersey Film Festival offers video Q&As for the majority of films at the festival. And being about to watch the films at home - at a time that is convenient for you and without the need to go anywhere - can also be nice.
Albert Nigrin is the Executive Director/Curator of the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, Inc. and a Cinema Studies Lecturer at Rutgers University. Nigrin said the New Jersey Film Festival did not consider offering movies via Video on Demand prior to the pandemic, but once COVID shut everything down he spoke with a number of other film festival directors and decided that Video on Demand screenings were the way to go.
“Seeing a film with a lot of people in a movie theatre with a large screen and nice sound system truly is a different and, in my view, mostly better experience,” stated Nigrin. “But, to be honest, there is a positive side to screening films virtually, as now someone in Texas or someone in France can now be a part of our festival. It opens us up to a new audience.”
Nigrin noted that many people with disabilities (as well as those without) have mentioned they enjoy the virtual screenings. Some patrons will watch a film screening at home during the day and then attend the in-person screening at night to watch it again on the big screen and interact with the visiting filmmaker.
According to Nigrin, the New Jersey Film Festival was 100% watched online during the first two years of COVID (2020-21). In 2021, the festival began screening films in-person again while continuing to offer them online as well. The ratio that year was 20% in-person and 80% online. In 2022, the ratio was 25% in-person and 75% online.
“Then in 2023, average attendance per show was 94 viewers!” said Nigrin. “The Hybrid Festivals included select in-person and online screenings. We kept the Festivals as Hybrids because during the previous three COVID years we developed new audiences that helped us greatly from a financial and practical standpoint.”
“We are glad we were able to screen films with a live audience again but our live screenings still only generated about 35% of our total attendance this past year,” continued Nigrin. “This is 10% better than the previous year so we were moving in the right direction. The positive side to screening films virtually is that now someone in North Jersey, Oklahoma or someone in Japan can now be a part of our festival and these patrons have helped us maintain and even grow our programs.”
Nigrin does not see the festival dropping the Video on Demand offerings anytime soon as the amount of viewers has kept the festival in good shape financially. The festival has received funds from the Arts Institute of Middlesex County and the National Endowment for the Arts exclusively for the Video on Demand.
Over 40 films will have their New Jersey or Area Premiere (Middlesex County) screenings as part of the New Jersey Film Festival and the United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival. Some of these include: Augusta Palmer’s terrific documentary on the 1960s Memphis Blues community entitled - The Blues Society, Buddy Farmer’s documentary Jailhouse to Milhouse which focuses on the courageous journey of Pamela Hayden, who is the voice of Milhouse on The Simpsons; Acclaimed Irish artist and filmmaker Cléa Elisa van der Grijn’s magical feature film reworking of Alice in Wonderland entitled The Disembodied Adventures of Alice.
Here is a video Q&A with Cléa van der Grijn, the director of The Disembodied Adventures of Alice Q+A.
Other highlights include Jeff Mertz’s short documentary Muckville which examines the ongoing mental health and suicide epidemic on American farms; 5 amazing animation films by Amelie Magdalena Loy (Irina); Martin Gerigk (Demi-Goddesses); Maggie May Brummer (Bear Hugs), Adrienne Fowler (Boobee Cheet Sheetz), Daria Kashcheeva (Electra); and Jennifer Cooney’s feature film Wild Fire which explores love, lust, and loyalty through the lens of seven acquaintances.
Here is a video Q&A with Wild Fire Director Jennifer Cooney
The are five beautiful and thought provoking experimental dance films by Charlotte Griffin (Walls Running & All of Us), Charly Wenzel (Rooted), Jessy Dong (Unspooling Wind), Mersolis Schöne (Sign Action Space), and New Jersey filmmakers Charly and Eriel Santagado (Conjoined); plus a wide array of short films from all over the world some of which include Sara Crow’s Bluebird, Zafar Mehdi’s No More Love; Amanda Prager’s Seeing Other People; Tan Ce Ding’s Please Hold The Line; as well as the 12 films being screened as part of United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival.
Here is a video Q&A with several directors of films in the 2024 United States Super 8 Film + DV Festival including Danny Plotnick, Phil Docken, David Thomas Dibble, Jack E.K. Collier, and Brook Pruitt.
You can learn more about the films being screened at the festival each week by following the stories and interviews published each day in the New Jersey Stage film section. We are proud to support this festival and encourage movie fans to attend the screenings - whether in-person or at home. The festival does a wonderful job choosing the films each year and we are glad they continue to offer Video on Demand screenings. The more people to be able to experience the arts, the better.
For more video Q&As from the film festival, follow Nigrin's YouTube Channel.
