All the works screened at the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students, and academics. These judges selected the 36 finalists which were publicly screened at our Festival. The finalists were selected from over 680 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges chose the Prize Winners in conjunction with the Festival Director. Here below are the winners of the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival.
2025 New Jersey International Film Festival Prize Winners
Winner Best Feature Film
Middle Life – Pavan Moondi (Glendale, California)
Winner Best Documentary Film
Greenfield – Rob Herring (Whitefish, Montana)
Winner Best Short Film
Counterfeit Kids – James Sclafani (Washington, D.C.)
Winner Best Animated Film
Godzilla’s Day Off - Myra Sito Velasquez (New York, New York)
35 Days – Heidi Kumao (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Winner Best Experimental Film
Chemical Meadows – Nate Dorr (Brooklyn, New York)
Honorable Mention Winners
Impivaara – Patrik Söderlund (Helsinki, Finland)
Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms – Vincent Turturro (New York, New York)
Prison and Time – Evan Bode (Syracuse, New York)
Dustsceawung – Mateus Luna (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Theater of the Absurd – Fran Forman (New York, New York)
Phenomenon of Ivan Marchuk – Lana Delaroche (Vienna, Austria)
What We Dreamed of Then – Taylor Olson (Hatchet Lake, Canada)
Salt Marsh – Tom Bell (Yarmouth, Maine)
Meet Me in Silence – Lucy Mathews Heegaard (Minnetonka, Minnesota)
FOR. – Gianfranco Bello (Brooklyn, New York)
Stew to Eat – Nathaniel Jameson & Alex Saltiel (New York, New York)
Festival Director’s Citations
Performances:
Leah Faye Goldstein – Middle Life
Peter Dreimanis – Middle Life
Emma Duchesneau – Counterfeit Kids
Taylor Olson – What We Dreamed of Then
Taylor Lhamon – Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms
Lauren Pike – Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms
Enrique Diaz – Dustsceawung
Direction:
Pavan Moondi – Middle Life
Taylor Olson – What We Dreamed of Then
James Sclafani – Counterfeit Kids
Mateus Lana – Dustsceawung
Cinematography:
Jared Raab – Middle Life
Daniela Milekovsky – Counterfeit Kids
Oliver Shahery – Stew to Eat
Dudu Mafra – Dustsceawung
Impivaara – Jussi Eerola
Editing:
Pavan Moondi – Middle Life
Nathaniel Jameson & Alex Saltiel – Stew to Eat
Felipe Bibian, Gabriel Medeiros – Dustsceawung
Production Design:
Zack Handler – Stew to Eat
Screenplay:
Taylor Olson – What We Dreamed of Then
Pavan Moondi – Middle Life
Mateus Lana – Dustsceawung
James Sclafani – Counterfeit Kids
Music:
Ben Fox – Middle Life
Jose Luis Dominguez – Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms
Lee Ranaldo – Salt Marsh
Sponsors: The New Jersey International Film Festival is funded and/or sponsored in part by The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center; The Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies/School of Arts and Sciences; Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts - Funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund; Grant funding has also been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners - This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; The Rutgers University Office of Summer and Winter Sessions; OVID/Icarus Films, The Rutgers University American Studies Department; Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program; The Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum; The Rutgers University Writer’s House; Pro 8mm; The Rutgers University Office of Disability Services, WRSU; New Jersey Stage; The Home News, The Asbury Park Press; New Brunswick City Center; The Rutgers University Office of Community Affairs; Design Ideas; Advanced Printing; Steven C. Schechter, Esq.; Share and Harris.