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!
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.
Year:2025; Runtime: 21 minutes; Language: English; Country: United States; Director: Nate Dorr; Filmmaker: Nate Dorr
Meet Me in Silence – Lucy Mathews Heegaard (Minnetonka, Minnesota)
A year-long experiment sitting in complete silence and darkness with strangers leads to an intimate contemplation on connection to self and others through silence. Could the surreal, human-engineered silence of an anechoic chamber be a pathway to healing and awareness? 2025; 14 min.
Year: 2025; Runtime: 14 minutes; Language: English; Country: United States; Director: Lucy Mathews Heegaard; Screenwriter: Lucy Mathews Heegaard; Producer: Lucy Mathews Heegaard; Filmmaker: Lucy Mathews Heegaard
Greenfield – Rob Herring
Greenfield is an intimate look into the mind and mission of Robin Greenfield — one of the world’s most radical environmentalists. Known for his bold eco-experiments, including wearing a month’s worth of trash through Times Square, living a full year on only homegrown and foraged food, and giving up every possession, Robin challenges what it means to live in harmony with the Earth. As he walks barefoot from Canada to Mexico with nothing to his name, his radical simplicity invites us to question what we truly need to be free, fulfilled, and human. 2025; 34 min.
Year: 2025; Runtime: 34 minutes; Language: English; Country: United States; Director: Rob Herring; Screenwriter: Rob Herring; Producers: Shawheen Keyani, Rob Herring, Ryan Wirick; Executive Producers: Sarah Yeager, Nick Polizzi, Rob Herring; Filmmaker: Rob Herring; Cast: Robin Greenfield
Salt Marsh - Tom Bell (Yarmouth, Maine)
With a haunting, original score by Lee Ranaldo, Salt Marsh explores art, climate, and solitude through the reflections of Maine artist Mitchell Rasor. The 15-minute documentary is a poetic portrait of an artist and place. 2025; 15 min.
Year: 2025; Runtime: 15 minutes; Language: English; Country: United States; Director: Tom Bell; Filmmaker: Tom Bell; Cast: Mitchell Rasor; Composer: Lee Ranaldo; Music: Lee Ranaldo
