By Al Nigrin

originally published: 06/08/2024

Shorts Program #2, which features an amazing array of films, screens at the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival TODAY. They include:

Good Girl – Jenny Kleiman (Elmhurst, New York) After ending a six-year relationship, a well-behaved, Jewish, OBGYN decides to turn her brain off and her body on by exploring BDSM; instances of which are popping up in the most unusual places. 2023; 12 min.

INFINITY! – Benjamin To (Chino Hills, California) A famous Japanese-American ballroom dance duo must choose between their passion or their lives as WWII concentration camps begin to rise in the U.S. 2023; 12 min.

Game Interrupted - Ilayda Iseri (Istanbul, Turkey) 1979, Turkey: While the mood on the streets of capital Ankara is charged with tension shortly before the military coup, a young sister and brother find their way out of boredom by switching from one game to another during their winter break. Their mother is at work all day and their grandmother is sleeping on the couch as usual. However, something goes wrong that day. While trying to figure out what happened, they notice a strange intruder at the door, who resembles Khomeini or Darth Vader. They must fix the course of events before their mother returns home. In Turkish, subtitled. 2023; 15 min.

National Pride – Rod Ibsen (Silkeborg, Denmark) During a national match, the football stadium is packed with cheering fans in football jerseys and beers in their hands. However, a completely different battle is taking place in the stands; a battle between two groups of friends with Julius and Robert on the front line. A collision between a brutal cancel culture and a male-dominated football culture evokes a relationship between the two boys that is far from simple. In Danish, subtitled. 2023; 17 min.

Gary – Irina Arnaut (Jackson Heights, New York) Gary is a dark comedy about an early-career artist couple who make ends meet by moonlighting as contract killers. I like to describe it as a Bonnie and Clyde tale, but if Bonnie and Clyde were a couple of artists from NYC who don't have the means to pay off their student loans. 2023; 18 min.

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Shorts Program #2 will be available for screening online for 24 hours TODAY- Saturday, June 8and will then be shown in-person at 5:00 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ as part of the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival. Tickets are available for purchase here.

INFINITY! Director Benjamin To and Gary Director Irina Arnaut will be on hand to do a Q+A after the In-Person screening!

The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, presents the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival which marks its 29th Anniversary. The NJIFF competition will be taking place on the Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between May 31 - June 9, 2024 and will be a hybrid one with online as well as 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 screenings. The in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date.

Plus, The NJIFF is very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler will be in concert on Saturday, June 15 in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ at 7PM. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.; General Admission Marissa Nadler Concert Ticket=$25.

For more info go here: https://2024newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.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.

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