By Al Nigrin

originally published: 06/09/2025

The Competition component of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival has just concluded! Overall, we had a very good festival this year and I want to thank the hundreds of people who viewed the terrific films we screened in-person and online. I also want to thank all of the filmmakers, cast and crew who came to the in-person screenings to talk about their films with our audiences.

All the works screened at the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students, and academics. These judges selected the 33 finalists which were publicly screened at our Festival. The finalists were selected from over 700 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges chose the Prize Winners in conjunction with the Festival Director. Here below are the winners of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival.

2025 New Jersey International Film Festival Prize Winners

Winner Best Animated Film

Becoming an Oyster – Elizabeth Schneider, Michael Covello (Kutztown, New York)

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Winner Best Documentary Film

Freeing Juanita – Sebastian Lasaosa Rogers (Brooklyn, New York)

Winner Best Experimental Film

I Was There – Kamila Kuc (Seattle, Washington)

Winner Best Feature Film

Elisa in Wonderland – Clea van der Grijn (Sligo, Ireland)

Winner Best Short Film

WRESTLE-OFF – Sabatino Ciatti, Jr. (Warren, New Jersey)

Honorable Mention Winners

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman – Kerry Ann Enright (New York, New York)

The Creative Process – Nick Zweig (Bernardsville, New Jersey)

Supporting Actresses - Arturo Dueñas (Valladolid, Spain)

Broken Pieces – Justin Ho (Old Bridge, New Jersey)

Faces of Agata – Malgorzata Kozera (Warszawa, Poland)

Soft Wind Shells - Bo Verpoten, Jeff Sermon, Tesse Baardman (Bruxelles, Belgium)

The Sandy Mack Experience – Henry Donohue Frost, Sarah Ann McCuiston (Asbury Park, New Jersey)

Harlem to Harvard – Zuzelin Martin (North Bergen, New Jersey)

Child No. 182 – Camilla Roos (Helsinki, Finland)

Festival Director’s Citations

Performances:

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman - Tina Benko

Elisa in Wonderland - Nora Ní Anluain Fay

Broken Pieces - Elisha Jachetti and Sylvie Pratt

WRESTLE-OFF - Jillian Rezen

Direction:

Elisa in Wonderland - Clea van der Grijn

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman - Kerry Ann Enright

Broken Pieces - Justin Ho

Cinematography:

Elisa in Wonderland - Ciaran Carty

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman – Joel Froome

Broken Pieces - Justin Ho

Editing:

Elisa in Wonderland - Clea van der Grijn

Broken Pieces - Justin Ho

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman - Fernando Epstein and Manuel Rilla

Screenplay:

Elisa in Wonderland - Clea van der Grijn

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman - Kerry Ann Enright

Broken Pieces - Justin Ho

Production Design:

Elisa in Wonderland - Clea van der Grijn

WRESTLE-OFF – Suzy Schofield

Music:

Becoming an Oyster - Christophe Preissing

Broken Pieces - Lee Armbrust and Andrija Lazarevic

Nobody Wants to Shoot A Woman - Billy Martin aka illy B

WRESTLE-OFF - Ethan Harbour

Sponsors: The New Jersey International 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 Tribune, 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.

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.