Al Nigrin, Executive Director and Curator of the New Jersey Film Festival, sits down with Samuel Freeman, director and writer of the Don't Look in the Dark, for a filmmaker interview. Don't Look in the Dark will be screened on January 31, 2026.
Don’t Look in the Dark screens with a bunch of shorts at the New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 31, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours on this date and In-Person at 7PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901! Don’t Look in the Dark Director Sam Freeman will be doing a Q+A with the audience at the in-person screening. Get more info and buy tickets here.
Here is more info on the films that will be shown at this screenings.
An InterView – Yutong Cheng (Jersey City, New Jersey) This comedic animation follows a ghost who must pass a test similar to a job interview to decide if she can be reincarnated as a human. Through witty conversations, the film uses light humor to explore deep, existential questions. 2025; 4 min.
Dilemma – Trevan Jay Hiatt (New York, New York) Dilemma is a tense psychological thriller that delves into the consequences of a single, reckless decision. When high school friends find themselves trapped in a situation they can’t escape, panic sets in, and their once-close bond begins to fray. With each choice they make, the weight of their actions grows heavier, and the line between right and wrong blurs. 2025; 14 min.
12th House (Ilona Laboy and Israel Laboy (New York, New York). 12th House is a surreal meditation on grief, identity, and spiritual transformation. After losing her husband, a woman descends into a liminal dreamworld where memory fragments and archetypes guide her inward. Haunted by illusion and tethered to love, she confronts her shadow through symbolic rituals of self-loss and rebirth. Blending myth, psychology, and visual poetry, 12th House explores the sacred undoing required to become whole—and the alchemy of carrying love beyond death. 2025; 13 min.
Self-Portrait – Samuel DeFrank (West Hollywood, California). An aspiring young model visits a famous photographer's cabin and discovers she is part of a ritual that transforms her into a human camera, sucking the soul out of her body and restoring the youth of the photographer. 2025; 14 min.
Don’t Look in The Dark – Samuel Freeman (Montclair, New Jersey) When a couple's phones begin recording on their own during a camping trip, what they capture isn't just darkness. It's something that wants to be seen. 2025; 71 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
