Sylvia
(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- 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 New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2025 which marks its 43rd Anniversary. The Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 24-February 21, 2025. The Festival will once again be a hybrid one as they will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University.
All of 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. In addition, acclaimed singer-songwriter Renee Maskin will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, October 18 at 7:00pm!
Film Premieres: 44 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: Emil Minasyan’s post-apocalypse feature Dead Community Society which stars Taylor Norman, Karen Colin and Eric Roberts; Robbie C. Williamson’s God Teeth is a wildly original and fantastical found footage odyssey about four recently deceased souls who find themselves on an abandoned ship at sea.
God Teeth
Stuart Ginsberg’s IT’S A to Z: The ART OF ARLEEN SCHLOSS is a feature-length documentary about Arleen Schloss, an underground artist, director, and curator who became an influential figure in the downtown New York art scene from the 1970s through the 1990s; Anthony Wonke’s feature documentary The Accidental Spy -- a story of how one man became tangled in a complex geo-political web; Mark Nistico’s documentary No Somos Maquinas: We Are Not Machines which focuses on the New Jersey Latino workforce that feels they have no voice.
No Somos Maquinas: We Are Not Machines
Jody Small’s The Storm & The Boats -- a compelling documentary about the first year of the pandemic where New Jersey residents shared their raw emotions and personal stories; Markku Hakala and Mari Kaki’s feature film Giant’s Kettle -- a journey into the unconscious, a love story without love, an epic tragicomedy of the mundane, and a mystery in a world emptied of mystery.
Giant’s Kettle
There's also an amazing array of short films from around the world by Liat Kisos, Alexander S. White, Cynthia White. Joy Waldinger, Michelle Beck, Timur Guseynov, Hedvig Trollop, Steve Weinzierl, Maura Garnett, Stephen Joseph Craig, Martin Gerigk, John Osment, Jordan Campbell, Deniz Büyükkırlı, Salvatore Zeppi Rubinetti, Samuel Edelsack, Hannah Zippermen, Ezekiel Goodman, Madeline Hettrick, Erika Totoro and many others.
In addition, the Rutgers Film Co-op/NJMAC will present the 37th anniversary of the United States Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival -- the longest running, nationally recognized, juried 8mm Film/Video Festival in North and South America. Each of the two days (February 15+16) will feature two different programs of films culled from the 18 Official Selections from throughout the USA, Canada, and the world. Filmmakers that are screening their films at the Super 8 Festival include: Emma Hammel, William Pierce, Sarah Dutton, Annabelle Vine, Brandon Scullion, M-Alain Bertoni, Zona Gilreath, Vasilios Papaioannu, Alan Halls, Jeremiah Carter, James P. Gannon, Matt Ferrin, Broderick Rule, Todd Verow, Josh Weissbach, Kevin Obsatz, Aaron Gibson, Misja Pekel, and Jeni Thornley. Filmmakers are competing for many Best of Prizes. Prize winners are announced on the last night of the Festival. The Super 8 Festival is open to works predominantly shot on either Super 8/8mm film, Hi8/8mm video and/or Digital Video. This program is being co-sponsored by Pro 8mm.
Special Guest Appearances by Directors, Artists, and Actors: This spring has many in-person special guest appearances by film directors, producers, and actors to the New Jersey Film Festival. Some of these include: Stuart Ginsberg (IT’S A to Z: The ART OF ARLEEN SCHLOSS) Mark Nistico (No Somos Maquinas); Jody Small (The Storm & The Boats); Salvatore Zeppi Rubinetti (The Performance); Joy Waldinger (Embryo); Hannah Zippermen and Ezekiel Goodman (Sylvia), Samuel Edelsack (You Still Can); Madeline Hettrick (His New Girl) and many others to be announced. There will also be many virtual Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.
The Storm & The Boats
Special Renee Maskin AV Concert: Two years ago, the festival started a new concert series with a moving image component as part of their 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 they 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. On February 21, 2025, acclaimed singer-songwriter Renee Maskin will also be doing an audio-visual concert. Festival Director Al Nigrin said: “We are inviting musicians whose work I really admire and whose work I think is also very cinematic.”
Known for her distinctive voice, literally and artistically, Renee Maskin is a staple of the thriving music scene in Asbury Park, NJ. With three solo LPs released in three years, her prolific output pulls from a deep well of influence, from country, to garage, to modern indie-rock. Maskin has notably opened for a wide range of acts, including Jon Langford (Mekons), William Tyler, Del Amitri, Tyler Ramsey, and notably toured with her former group, Lowlight, in support of The Pretenders. Maskin was named “Songwriter of the Year 2023” by New Jersey Stage Magazine. Her most recent LP, Shimmer, was named one of 2023’s National Top Albums by The Aquarian.
Ascension From the Disco Inferno by Anita La Belle and Albert Gabriel Nigrin will screen prior to the concert. It is an experimental film that focuses on climate change. A match sets the film in motion as two women descend to an infernal disco looking for an escape from the catastrophes facing the modern world. The only way out is up! 2025; 12 min.
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 5:00pm or 7:00pm 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.
All of the works being screened are part of the New Jersey Film Festival and United States Super 8 Film and DV Festival Competitions and were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students, and academics. These judges selected the 44 finalists which will be publicly screened at the Festival. The finalists were selected from over 677 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges will choose the Prize Winners in conjunction with the Festival Director. Prize winners will be announced via their social media sites after the screenings on February 16, 2025.
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.
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