Exhilarating feature Wild Fire screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, February 3!

by Anran Li - published 2024-01-28
How do you exhilarate your audience’s spirits while triggering their thoughts for the most pungently realistic questions? Well, that’s a problem Wild Fire beautifully solved.

Cléa Elisa van der Grijn’s Fever Dream Feature The Disembodied Adventures of Alice screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Friday, February 2

by Evelyn Reese - published 2024-01-27
Adapting a story from one already familiar to most and twisting it into a creation completely unique is a mark of a true creator. The Disembodied Adventures of Alice by Cléa Elisa van der Grijn is an experience unlike the original fairytale. The dissociative nature of the protagonist coupled with the ambiguous and evasive motives of the interacting characters takes the viewer down an equally comforting and eerie descent.

New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2024 The Blues Society Video Interview with Director Augusta Palmer

by Vic Fern - published 2024-01-26
Here is the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival The Blues Society Video Interview with Director Augusta Palmer and Festival Director Al Nigrin:

Amelie Magdalena Loy’s beautiful stop motion animation screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 27!

by Al Nigrin - published 2024-01-25
Austrian Filmmaker Amelie Magdalena Loy was kind enough to respond to my queries via email. Here is our conversation about her animated film Irina:

Can't make it out? You can watch the New Jersey Film Festival films at home

by Gary Wien - published 2024-01-24
If there is a bright side of the pandemic, it might be the way it forced the arts to take a look at offering events virtually. There are many challenges to doing this (costs, royalties, licensing issues, etc.) but many advantages as well. Virtual programming expands the reach of an arts event far beyond its local area, potentially opening up new markets; it offers a night out without the need to hire a babysitter; and it is wonderful for adding to the accessibility of the arts.

Moving Documentary about American Farmers screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 27!

by Al Nigrin - published 2024-01-24
​​​​​​Muckville examines the ongoing mental health and suicide epidemic on American farms through the eyes of a 4th-generation onion farmer in New York’s Black Dirt region. Director Jeff Mertz responded to my questions about his important film Muckville via email. Here is my interview with him:

Excellent Documentary The Blues Society opens the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Friday, January 26

by Yazan Mohammad - published 2024-01-23
Augusta Palmer’s The Blues Society offers a vibrant look into an oddly beautiful moment in Memphis’ ugly history of race. Blending archival footage, colorful animation, and interviews, Palmer’s film makes excellent use of footage from the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival.

Triumphant tale Jailhouse to Milhouse screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival

by Patrick Osborne - published 2024-01-22
Jailhouse to Milhouse follows the heartbreaking and triumphant tale of Pamela Hayden as she recounts her journey from being trapped in a juvenile detention center as a child to her eventually escaping that abusive life and finding success in voicing the character Milhouse in The Simpsons. The documentary strikes the perfect balance of being fun and silly but also mature and somber when it needs to be, which it achieves without having tonal whiplash because the transitions between these moments are so smooth. In a way, its use of mixing comedy and seriousness is reflective of how The Simpsons handles its messaging. Hayden herself is a very skilled public speaker and she knows how to utilize an audience’s engagement to convey a gripping tale.

Stunning Animation Electra screens at the Spring 2024 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 27

by Anita LaBelle - published 2024-01-21
A brave exploration of psychoanalysis and the medium of film, Electra is a textual kaleidoscope investigating adolescent memories' impact on adult lives through stimulating techniques such as animation.