By Philip Thompson
originally published: 05/23/2026
We are always being watched, always being seen, always looking. But where are we? Who are we looking at? What are we seeing? Is it all a dream? Who’s dream is it? ‘Bottom feeders’ are the lowest form of species on the pyramid at the bottom of the deep, dark, and unexplored sea. Sometimes, if you pay attention, ‘bottom feeders’ take shape in the lowest form of human beings at the bottom of the deep, dark, and unexplored subconscious. Bottom Feeder is a black and white experimental film, shot on 16mm film in a square 4x3 format. Vito Trabucco is a Los Angeles based filmmaker, is known for his award-winning films Charlie Christ (2024), Britney Lost Her Phone (2023), and Kevin Can Wait (2020). In Bottom Feeders, Trabucco brings you on a dream-like journey with a woman, the aptly named Pageant (an uncommon name historically associated with theatrical spectacles), who by way of nature, explores her own dream and the meanings behind her visions, both in her head and what she sees. A front door, fractured. A home, for whom? A doll, draped in desire. A sunset, alone but for how long? A reflection, a gaze. A location, unknown.
Seitsemän veljestä (literally translated The Seven Brothers) is the first, and only, novel by Aleksis Kivi. It is widely regarded as the first significant novel written in Finnish and the greatest Finnish novel ever written. In a BBC article by Lizzie Enfield, she describes Kivi's Seitsemän veljestä as "the book that shaped a Nordic identity." Seitsemän veljestä follows seven unruly brothers in 19th-century Finland who flee social pressures for the woods but eventually mature, accepting responsibility as ‘regular’ citizens. Impivaara is an experimental imagining of Seitsemän veljestä made for the 21st Century, focusing on the energetic basis of a Northern welfare state and a
possible future emerging from the climate crisis.
Impivaara was written and directed by award winning filmmaker Patrik Söderlund, best known for his 2018 short film, Realms. Finnish musical collective Paavoharju provide a beautiful and moving score, which builds over the course of the film and adds to the emotion of the story. Impivaara opens in black and white but quickly becomes a stunning and gorgeous array of colorful and breathtaking shots of a Finnish forest. A story of man vs. nature is shown to us, sometimes literally projected on the eye of a horse. We are forced to watch how quickly and easily something as natural as nature can be destroyed. Wildfires spread across the land and force the men who were once the hunters into now being the hunted, both literally verses the wolves and metaphorically from the fires that they themselves created. The seasons carry on, the weather ebbs and flows, but the land changes. The long and wide shots of the film are disrupted by a montage of black and white still photographs illustrating the progression of urban development of the open and beautiful land we once knew in the first half of the film. The calming sound of rain becomes a drone of highway noise pollution. A land once filled with animals, now filled with cars. But this too will decay, and we are reminded that society constantly rebuilds and grows and adapts to the world around it. A run through the woods that was once out of danger, can evolve into joy. Impivaara shows us that the world is constantly evolving, and sometimes destruction can bring a new peace.Bottom Feeder and Impivaara screen at the New Jersey International Film Festival on Friday, May 29, 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! Get more info and buy tickets here.
Here is more info on the films that will be shown at this screening.
Bottom Feeder – Vito Trabucco. Bottom Feeder is an experimental thriller that takes place in a dream. Or, more like a nightmare. Bottom Feeders are the lowest form of humans or the lowest form of species at the bottom of the sea. Bottom Feeder takes a look at how we must appear to anything looking down at us or how we look inside the fishbowl just being watched. It's no mistake the main character's name is Pageant, a person who's constantly being watched. Shot on 16mm and filmed in a square 4x3 format, the black and white film aims to help heighten the dreamlike state. 2025; 3 min.
Chemical Meadows – Nate Dorr (Brooklyn, New York) Chemical Meadows is an experimental documentary linking water chemistry and photochemistry in the post-industrial wilds of the New Jersey Meadowlands. A paradoxical estuary wilderness three miles from Manhattan and more than half its size, marred by landfills and chemical corporations yet a recovering haven for wildlife, the Meadowlands are an unexpected breach in the dense development of the mid-Atlantic. This is the story of its waters: a film created by washing 16mm footage in corroding drainage ditches and suspect holding ponds to reveal hidden contaminants, soundtracked largely with underwater hydrophone recordings. 2025; 21 min.
Impivaara – Patrik Söderlund (Helsinki, Finland) Brothers escape to the virgin forests of Impivaara to create a new world. An experimental imagining of Finnish national author Aleksis Kivi’s novel Seven Brothers (1870) for the 21st Century, focusing on the energetic basis of a Northern welfare state and a possible future emerging from the climate crisis. 2025; 26 min.
Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms – Vincent Turturro (New York, New York) Besties Sonia and Lisa get together on Sonia's weekly day off as a single mom. In a valiant attempt to help her friend "be more present", Lisa extols the prevailing virtues of microdosing. When micro inadvertently goes macro, Sonia and Lisa must rely on the bond of their lifelong friendship to brave a trip more intense than they bargained for. 2025; 43 min.
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: FESTIVAL WEBSITE
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