Dean Kavanaugh’s Hole in the Head
(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, will present the Fall 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Fridays and Sundays from September 8 to October 8, 2023. This marks the festival's 42nd anniversary.
The Festival will be a hybrid one as they will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All 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. The in-person screenings 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. For more information, to buy tickets and to see the Festival Line-up, go here.
All the works that we are screening are part of the New Jersey International Film Festival were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students, and academics. These judges selected the 19 finalists which will be publicly screened at our Festival. The finalists were selected from over 402 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 our social media sites after the screenings on June 12, 2023.
Film Premieres: 19 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: the world premiere of John Evans and Ani Javian’s Breaking The Surface – an experimental dance film about climate change; Fandango, portrait of an opera workshop – a documentary by Manno Lanssens/Joy Bechtler; Dean Kavanaugh’s Hole in the Head – is an independent feature film from Ireland where the protagonist re-stages his family’s home movies in order to recall a traumatic event; Bill Basquin’s From Inside of Here which is a non-fiction feature that unfolds slowly to explore vulnerability and interconnection through the lens of an ecosystem and through the body of the filmmaker.
#LookAtMe
Dawn Mikkelson’s Minnesota Mean – a documentary feature about roller derby and powerful, self-sufficient women; Ken Kwek’s #LookAtMe – a feature from Singapore that focuses on restrictive public expression; Takashi Hiroe’s ghost film from Japan entitled The Last Passenger; Emily Goodchild’s To Understand An Anemone – a lovely experimental film from England; an array of amazing short and experimental films by Joshua Kauffman (Things That Didn’t Happen), Martin Gerick (Night Ride From LA), Trevor Hemblin (Method), Katherine Myers (San Miguel), Lauren Adams (Animal), Kay Qiao (The Sacred Bees), Gabriel Rodriguez-Fuller (This is the Rill Speaking), Lauren Stevens (June), Evan Bode (Out of Frame), Charles Underwood (Pictures Only) and many others.
Special Guest Appearances by Directors, Artists, and Actors: This spring they are pleased to announce many in-person special guest appearances by film directors, producers, and actors to the New Jersey Film Festival! Some of these include: New Jersey filmmakers John Evans and Ani Javian (Breaking The Surface) and Joy Bechtler (Fandango, portrait of an opera workshop); as well as Tamika Miller (Honor Student); Evan Bode (Out of Frame); many others to be announced. There will also be many virtual Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.
Special Musical Performance with Film Projections: Solo Musical Performance by Tim Motzer on Friday, September 15, 2023 at 7:00pm. After two decades of world touring, 12 solo guitar soundscape albums, and a multitude of stunning collaborations including over 100 albums of credits, Tim Motzer continues to “traverse manifold territories in music” (Guitar Player magazine).
Tim is a sonic pioneer and widely known for his distinct textural acoustic-electro guitar voice utilizing looping, bowing, electronics, and prepared techniques. He has collaborated with numerous musical luminaries including David Sylvian, Burnt Friedman, Jaki Liebezeit, poet Ursula Rucker, Vernon Reid, David Torn, Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto, and Percy Jones, among others. His film/TV credits include the hit HBO series True Blood as well as Miami Vice, a major motion picture directed by Michael Mann, and recently, the motion picture, Hustle, by Adam Sandler.
For the past 23 years, Tim has brought his dynamic, eclectic array of musical projects together under his own 1k Recordings imprint, which has over 60 releases and counting. He composes, records, and produces his own solo and collaborative work, along with projects for other artists.
This performance will also include accompanying projections of experimental films by Al Nigrin.
Best of the 2023 New Jersey International Film Festival: They will also be screening many of the prize-winning films of this past June’s 2023 New Jersey International Film Festival on October 1, 6, 8. These will be screening online on their show dates for 24 hours. Films include: Theodore Drusba’s Gutter (Best Short), Evan Bode’s A Spot For Frog (Best Animation), Farnoosh Abedi’s The Sprayer (Best Animation), Chris Beatty’s Bibi (Best Feature), Tonatiuh García’s Black Moon (Best Feature), Michel Negroponte’s Herd (Best Documentary), and Alessia Cecchet’s Baelena (Best Experimental).
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; 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.
