2024 New Jersey International Film Festival Winners Announced!

By Al Nigrin

originally published: 06/10/2024

The Competition component of the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival has just concluded! Here below are the Award Winning films and the Festival Director's Citations. 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 34 finalists which were publicly screened at our Festival. The finalists were selected from over 702 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges choose the Prize Winners in conjunction with the Festival Director. Congratulations to all the winners and the official selections!

2024 New Jersey International Film Festival Winners

Winner Best Feature Film The Featherweight – Robert Kolodny (Brooklyn, New York)

Winner Best Documentary Film FILM IS DEAD. LONG LIVE FILM! – Peter Flynn (Wakefield, Massachusetts)

Winner Best Short Film INFINITY! – Benjamin To (Chino Hills, California)

Winner Best Animated Film Tennis, Oranges – Sean Pecknold (Los Angeles, California)

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Winner Best Experimental Film The Miracle of You – Peter Spruyt (Hollywood, California)

Honorable Mention Winners

Shame on You – Jeffrey Himpele (Princeton, New Jersey)

Altona – The Affolter Brothers (New Westminster, BC, Canada)

Judy’s Garden – Evie Metz (Richmond, Virginia)

Brain Freeze – Kelsey Comeau (Brooklyn, New York)

Along The Rail – Jonathan Harkel (New Jersey)

I Want to Live on Mars – Mariya Somova (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Game Interrupted – Ilayda Iseri (Istanbul, Turkey)

Fencing for the Edge – Holly Buechel (South Orange, New Jersey)

Cowgirls and Synthesizers – Joe Wallace (Springfield, Illinois)

STAKES IS HIGH – Jean-Pierre Caner (Los Angeles, California)

Good Girl – Jenny Kleiman (Elmhurst, New York)

Crossing The River – Allan Novak (New York, New York)

Festival Director’s Citations

Performances:

James Maddio - The Featherweight

Ruby Maxine Wolf - The Featherweight

Claire Haller - I Want to Live on Mars

Bethany Stollar - I Want to Live on Mars

Rahad Coulter-Stevenson - Stakes is High

Olivia Cordell - INFINITY!

Direction:

Robert Kolodny - The Featherweight

Benjamin To - INFINITY!

Peter Flynn - FILM IS DEAD. LONG LIVE FILM!

Mariya Somova - I Want to Live on Mars

Kelsey Comeau - Brain Freeze

Sean Pecknold - Tennis, Oranges

Cinematography:

Adam Kolodny - The Featherweight

Akanksha Shyam - INFINITY!

Adam Nimyo - I Want to Live on Mars

Sklyer Bocciolatt - Stakes is High

Editing:

Robert Greene - The Featherweight

Jenna A. Bush - Fencing for the Edge

Sean Pecknold and Aaron Beckum - Tennis, Oranges

Jean-Pierre Caner - Stakes is High

Screenplay:

Steve Loff - The Featherweight

Peter Flynn - FILM IS DEAD. LONG LIVE FILM!

Jean-Pierre Caner - Stakes is High

Production Design:

Sonia Foltarz - The Featherweight

Evie Metz - Judy’s Garden

Adi Goodrich - Tennis, Oranges

Music:

Samuel Jones - Stakes is High

Nick Daly - Judy’s Garden

Joe Cyrus and Shine Delphi - I Want to Live on Mars

About the author:

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.