The 2026 New Jersey Film Festival has screenings this weekend on Friday, January 23, Saturday, January 24 and Sunday January 25. Check out the Festival schedule and more info at this link:
FESTIVAL WEBSITE
Friday, January 23, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
B.F. Skinner Plays Himself – Ted Kennedy (Ann Arbor, Michigan) B. F. Skinner Plays Himself revisits the life and works of B. F. Skinner through never-before-seen footage recovered from a failed educational film project. Skinner–a world famous public intellectual in his lifetime who continues to be ranked among the most important psychologists of any era–is now largely forgotten outside a select academic niche. From Skinner’s early work with rats, to pigeon-guided bombs and air-conditioned baby cribs, to Utopian communes and debating Dennis Hopper, we deconstruct the scientist and reimagine his prescient predictions about the pitfalls and potential of shaping behavior. The failure of the abandoned educational film shows that changing behavior–often criticized for its supposed authoritarian potentials–is both more nuanced and more difficult than his critics imagined. 2025; 75 min. Director Ted Kennedy will be doing a Q+A with the audience after the in-person screening!
Saturday, January 24, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
Short Documentary Program
Arrested at Delaney Hall – Louis Cacchione (Harrison, New Jersey) A standoff at an immigrant detention center in Newark leads to the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka. 2025; 14 min.
A Way to Be Together – Trina Bardusco (Lambertville, New Jersey) In a New Jersey town divided by unseen borders, a Mexican immigrant community steps into the light. Their festival sparks pride and unity—but as fear grows, even joy becomes a radical act of hope. 2025; 18 min.
300 – Liam Abbott (Hoboken, New Jersey) 300 is the story of a man who refused to let grief define him. It’s about chasing a dream, not for accolades, but for meaning. And it’s about how skiing, day after day, turn after turn, can stitch a broken heart back together. 2025; 20 min.
Portrait of a Monastery – John Decker (Asbury Park, New Jersey) A visual mediation on the everyday life of Anglican Benedictine monks living in community together at Holy Cross Monastery in New York. 2025; 40 min. All the Film Directors for this program will be doing a Q+A with the audience after the in-person screening!
Sunday, January 25, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours!
The Game Camera – Emily Railsback (Chicago, Illinois) When a grieving woman installs a night-vision camera in her mini-horse's corral, the specter of a human intruder on her rural Kansas ranch makes her reconsider her husband's death. 2025; 20 min.
ANDA – Jayendra Ganta (Minneapolis, Minnesota) ANDA is a visually haunting and lyrical feature film that blends Nordic folklore with surrealist storytelling and modern themes. The film follows an elderly woman whose mother returns—decades younger than expected. Her search for answers pulls her into a dreamlike realm where myth and reality entwine. As she unearths long-buried secrets, she must carefully navigate the brittle boundary between inheritance and freedom, confronting the cost of power and the illusions of love. Through the intimate lens of a mother-daughter relationship, ANDA explores the longing for youth, desire, and the enduring myths we live by. 2025; 76 min.
The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 23-February 22, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Most of 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 when both are offered. The in-person screenings 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 on the Film festival go here: FESTIVAL WEBSITE
