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)
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.
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