An entrancing watch, Anima Magia by Albert Gabriel Nigrin has an opinion. Its rhythms of animal and fatal urges tell a tale of two witches coming into their own, transforming their power and pain into magical will. Images flicking and transferring to other images create a determinant effect of time’s unstoppable movement.
The two witches, played by Evelyn Reese and Yazmin Omana, draw in the viewer with piercing gazes, unusual movement, and their distinct beauty. The relationship between the two women is curious. They complement and oppose each other, forces of nature. The world around them seems to be crumbling, swallowing them whole, decorated by the whisperings of Sylvia Plath’s “Witch Burning”.
This world is one of projections and hallucinations, melting and re-emerging in a cyclic pulse. The witches are part of it all, beyond and part of the moving scene. The weather is changing, like their internal frequency. They are coming alive from dormancy.
The sound mixing is a pleasant and eerie listen, drawing us into their spell.
Equating the witches with natural phenomena and animals, director Nigrin positions them as unreachable, dangerous—like smoke, fire, a tiger, a crow. The shifting layers of light and sound lull one into a trance. The viewer is initiated into the witches’ dreams, as they wander into each other. Striking dimensions are unveiled in this short and powerful piece.
Anima Magia will be screening at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 7 as part of a Shorts Program. The film will be Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets are available for purchase here.
The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 5-October 10, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. 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 screenings. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed band Cold Weather Company will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, October 10 at 7PM. Lastly, we will be offering three FREE Filmmaking Workshops! The in-person screenings and the Cold Weather Company concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 1PM, 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email us at [email protected]
For more info go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2025.eventive.org/welcome
