Here is the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Video Animation Panel featuring Festival Director Al Nigrin and Filmmakers Owen Andrejco, Myra Sito Velasquez, Evan Bode, and Heidi Kumao.
Miracle Under 34th Street - Owen Andrejco (Jersey City, New Jersey) Deep in depths under 34th Street Herald Square subway station, two meager rats spark an explosion of joy, warmth and material goodness. Miracle Under 34th Street is a hand-drawn with pencil on paper, created while I was living in Astoria, Queens. During my daily commute, I would sometimes bring my drawings to animate while on the W Train, the MTA line that plays a starring role in this short animation. 2025; 2 min.
Godzilla’s Day Off - Myra Sito Velasquez (New York, New York) Even monsters need to chillax! 2025; 3 min.
Prison and Time – Evan Bode (Syracuse, New York) Filmmaker Evan Bode animates excerpts of an essay by writer & activist Marvin Wade, who speaks personally about his 25 years of incarceration—and the growth he achieved in spite of, not because of, the inhumane prison system around him. This collaboration was produced by Project Mend, an organization in Central New York which celebrates the lives and creative work of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people as well as other individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. 2025; 7 min.
35 Days – Heidi Kumao (Ann Arbor, Michigan) 35 Days is an experimental, stop motion animation about what happens when a coalition of strangers answers the call to locate a missing cat during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. Created frame-by-frame using fabric cutouts and thread. 2025; 7 min.
These terrific, animated films will screen at the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival as part of Shorts Program #1 on Saturday, May 30, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5PM! Get tickets and more info here.
The 31st Annual New Jersey International Film Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between May 29-June 7, 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: https://2026newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
