Anima Magia © 2025 Albert Gabriel Nigrin featuring Yazmin Omana
(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival take place between September 5 - October 10, 2025. The Festival will continue to be a hybrid with films available online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Twenty films will have their New Jersey or Area Premiere (Middlesex County) during the festival. In addition to the screenings, the festival will also be offering three filmmaking workshops and continues its run of audio-visual concerts with a performance by Cold Weather Company.
All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person shows when both are offered. All events will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University (71 Hamilton Street) in New Brunswick, New Jersey beginning at 1:00pm, 5:00pm or 7:00pm on their show date.
Tickets for all screenings are available for purchase online. General Admission Tickets are $15 Per Program; A Festival All Access Pass is available for $120; and In-Person Only Student Tickets are $10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email them at njmac12@gmail.com
Film Premieres: 20 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: Canadian filmmaker Alexander (Sandy) Carson’s feature film Alberta Number One which is a contemporary revisionist Western.
Ricardo de Montreuil’s culinary adventure feature film Mistura; Zara Jian’s feature documentary homage to Armenian director Sergei Paradjanov “I Will Revenge This World With Love” S. Paradjanov; Henrik Larsso and Jakob Arevärn terrific phone love story from Sweden Pierre West; and Ryan Halasz’s quintessential Jersey feature film The Muscle.
Joey Cruz Manalang’s sexy journey of self-discovery in the feature film Tokyo Nights; two amazing documentary feature films about married couples Cathy & Harry by Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff as well as Bob & Hazel by Lara Firestone; and Yehuda Sharim’s illuminating documentary on prison life entitled Where’s My Coffee Cup?
Noe Benifla’s crazy travelogue feature Welcome to Japan; plus an amazing array of short films, animated films, experimental films by Martin Gerigk, Alexander Vorobyyev, Vanezza Shah, Morgan Klambach, Francosco Zayas, Anastasiya Gruba, Madleine O’Leary and others; and Safoi Babana-Hampton’s memory quest documentary Choeurs Atlantiques / Tales from the Atlantic Beyond.
Special Guest Appearances by Directors, Artists, and Actors - One of the best aspects of any film festival are the appearances by film directors, producers, and actors. Some of the people scheduled to attend the Fall Festival include: Alexander (Sandy) Carson, Alexander Vorobyev/Elissa Jachetti, Vaneeza Shah, Morgan Kalmbach, Francisco Zayas/Vivia Font, Zara Jian, Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff, Lara Firestone, Ryan Halasz and many others to be announced. There will also be many virtual Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.
Cold Weather Company Audio-Visual Concert - The festival continues its unique concert series with the hope of reawakening the mostly dormant New Brunswick Music Scene. Previous festivals have featured performances by guitar virtuoso Tim Motzer (2023), acclaimed singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler and Noise-Ambient musician Jim Haynes (2024), and acclaimed singer-songwriter Renee Maskin and Mike Kovacs (2025). The series continues on Friday, October 10 with New Jersey's own Cold Weather Company.
Cold Weather Company blends the influences and experiences of three singer-songwriters (Steve Shimchick, Jeff Petescia, and Brian Curry) into a cinematic, storytelling soundscape. On “In Time”—CWC’s fifth full-length album—the trio expands their distinctive alternative-folk foundation across 15 songs inspired by their collective and individual journeys. Love and respect for their craft, supplemented by a desire to contribute to the dynamic world of music, propels CWC as they prepare for their 12th anniversary. Since forming while students at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, the band has released over 70 original songs, earned more than 12 million digital streams, and performed across the US and UK.
Free Filmmaking Workshops - Three FREE workshops will be offered. They are open to the public, but they have limited seating and require advance registration. To register for one or all three of these email us at njmac12@gmail.com. Registration is first come first served. These Workshops will take place on Sunday, September 14, 21, and 28 at 1:00pm in Voorhees Hall #015. They include: 9/14 Intro to Filmmaking (Nigrin/Kalmbach); 9/21 Getting Control of Your Audio Recording Methods & Gear, 9/28 The Film Business: Basic Legal and Business Aspects of Motion Picture Production and Distribution (Schechter). For more on the workshops, click here.
Best of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival Screenings - They will be offering screenings of the winners of this past Summer’s 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival as well. These screenings will be online only for 24 hours on their show date. Saturday, September 27 screens the Best Animation Film Winner Becoming an Oyster by Elizabeth Schneider, Michael Covello and Best Feature Film Winner by Clea van der Grijn. Saturday, October 4 screens the Best Experimental Film Winner I Was There by Kamila Kuc, Best Short Film Winner Wrestle-Off by Sabatino Ciatti, Jr., and Best Documentary Film Winner Freeing Juanita by Sebastian Lasarosa Rogers.
All the works being screened 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 finalists which will be publicly screened at the Festival. The finalists were selected from over 300 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 following the screening on October 5, 2025.
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; 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.
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