By Al Nigrin
originally published: 09/30/2025

Here is the line up Best of the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival Program #2:

I Was There – Kamila Kuc (London, England) I Was There is a haunting exploration of familial bonds, intergenerational memory, and the enduring impact of shared narratives. Filmmaker Kamila Kuc steps into the emotional stream of inherited family history as the lines between documentary, testimony, and fiction blur. She performs acts of bearing witness not just for herself but also on behalf of her grandmother. Together, they testify to their experiences and the reverberations these stories have over time. I Was There is a palimpsest - a layered tapestry where past and present intertwine in the intimate process of activating memory and vulnerability as forms of resistance. I Was There honors the testimonial object inherited from ancestors and the living connection that binds generations in the shared pursuit of justice and healing. 2024; 12 min.

WRESTLE-OFF – Sabatino Ciatti, Jr. (Warren, New Jersey) Tenacious high school wrestler Alex battles with the grief of her father’s passing and the hostility of her teammates as she fiercely competes for a varsity spot on an all-male wrestling team. 2025; 19 min.

Freeing Juanita – Sebastian Lasaosa Rogers (Brooklyn, New York) Juanita has been unjustly detained in Reynosa, Mexico for over seven years, accused of a crime she didn’t commit and forced to confess in a language she didn’t understand. This intimate portrait follows Ana and Pedro, Juanita’s aunt and uncle, on their thousand-mile journey from the highlands of Guatemala. With the help of their Maya Chuj community and a network of Maya interpreters, they fight for Juanita’s freedom and demand justice from the Mexican authorities, a cause that became internationally recognized for its defense of migrants’ rights and language justice. In Spanish, subtitled. 2024; 75 min. 

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These NJIFF films will be screening on Saturday, October 4. They will be Online for 24 Hours on this show date beginning at Midnight. 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. 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 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. 

For more info go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2025.eventive.org/welcome

 

 

 

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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.

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