Here is the New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2026 Video Animation Panel with Ball Lightning Director Catriona Trina Baker, Come Home Director Katelyn Park and Festival Director Al Nigrin.

Here is the screening info for these two films:

Friday, February 6, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours on this show date and In-Person at 7PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

Shorts Program #1

Come Home – Katelyn Park (Montvale, New Jersey) While fighting on the phone with her dad, a Korean American daughter named Della gets sucked into an ocean of memories. While watching her younger self, Della feels the pain of the past, but gains the courage to swim, and find closeness with her father again in the present. In English, Korean, subtitled. 2025; 5 min. Buy tickets and get more info here.

Friday, February 13, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours on this show date and In-Person at 7PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.  

Shorts Program #2

Ball Lightning – Catriona Trina Baker (Sudbury, Massachusetts) Ball Lightning follows the story of Gusta, a refugee who fled the personal and social effects of Soviet run East Germany after the end of WWII and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of the surrogate daughter that she raised after she was forced to give away her own infant daughter as the iron curtain rose. Gusta serves as an example of survival, kindness and the fortitude of human resilience. The film is dedicated to her lost daughter, Esther, a reminder that the children separated from families because of war are never forgotten by those who love them. 2025; 12 min. Buy tickets and get more info here.

The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 23-February 22, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Most of 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. 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. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. For more info on the Film festival go here: FESTIVAL WEBSITE