Trauma always has a tendency to stick, or for some, stay under their skin. The past can be brought up in ways we may not expect it to. For some, love (good or bad) is one of those traumas that linger. Sotto la Pelle(Under The Skin) is a short film that shows how easily, and how simply, trauma can be brought back into someone’s life.
In Sotto la Pelle, a beautiful young woman who aspires to be an actress, practices lines for an upcoming role. The lines she has to practice remind her of a past lover, who convinced her that a sexual quid pro quo would help her advance her career. It’s unknown what became of that proposal, but from the way the character acts, lives, and remembers the past, it is clearly something that has stuck with her. As she puts it, “like a bad dream under your skin.”
Sotto la Pelle is an extremely melancholic film, with a very neutral color palette, that also features black and white for the ‘flashback’ sequences. Along with the muted colors, except for scarce use of a Y.S. Bach piece, the film is generally very quiet, except for the lines repeated as she practices for the film. This makes her soliloquized recounting of the past that much more tragic and heartfelt.
Italian filmmaker Andrea Otto Longhi has been receiving lots of praise for this film, and their next film A modo suo (2026) is highly anticipated and expected to be released this year as well. This is a filmmaker you definitely need to keep your eye on. A special filmmaker with a real and true voice that clearly comes from the heart.
Under The Skin screens as part of Shorts Program #1 at the New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, Sunday, September 6, 2026 – – Online for 24 Hours on this date and In-Person at 5PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901! Get more info and buy tickets here.
The 45th Bi-annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All 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 shows when both are offered. We will also be offering an Audio-Visual Concert featuring Hanging Coats and Lawns as well as two FREE Filmmaking Workshops! The in-person screenings, the filmmaking workshops and the AV Concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 1PM, 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$100; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email us at [email protected]
For more info on the Film festival go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2026.eventive.org/welcome
Direct from an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe and two sold-out Off-Broadway engagements comes Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, a one-woman comedy show from the mind of Tony Award® winner Laura Benanti. Known for her dazzling Broadway performances and razor-sharp wit, Benanti takes the stage to share her hilarious, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally honest takes on motherhood, people pleasing and the joys of aging. Blending side-splitting storytelling with original songs, New York Times Critic's Pick Nobody Cares is a love letter to recovering people pleasers, mothers, and anybody working on themselves.
A young woman is hired by a finance couple to tutor their son at their summer lake house, and finds herself increasingly enmeshed in the undisclosed darkness of their past.
The 45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Almost all 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 shows when both are offered. This program is only available Online for 24 hours on this show date!
The 45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Almost all 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 shows when both are offered. This program is available Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5PM. This in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ.
The 45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Almost all 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 shows when both are offered. This program is only available Online for 24 hours on this show date!
