(TRENTON, NJ) -- The James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts (JRH), a 501c3 non-profit agency dedicated to providing quality arts education and mentoring to youth in the City of Trenton and greater New Jersey area presents the 2026 Student Film Showcase. Taking place on November 12th at the New Jersey State Museum Auditorium from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, this event features three films, written, directed, and produced by students, as well as a documentary focused on raising awareness on men's mental health, featuring authentic student voices and professional interviews.
(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- After its world premiere at Dances With Films LA (DWFLA), one of the nation's leading indie film festivals, Directors' Commentary will have its New Jersey Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival, hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The film will screen on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00pm.
(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Interested in filmmaking? You can learn how to produce a film like a pro at "Producing 101: From Script to Set with The Gig Media" on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at Miraley Studios in Jersey City.
(RED BANK, NJ) -- Count Basie Center for the Arts will cap its Centennial Celebration with an immersive re-enactment of its opening night on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 6:00pm. Patrons can expect an immersive theatrical presentation from the moment they approach the venue – from 'stars' of the era arriving in classic cars, Gatsby-esque fashion and flair, an authentic speakeasy experience with custom, era-specific cocktails and mocktails, 1920s hot jazz and more.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) and The Puffin Foundation have selected director Katie Camosy as the recipient of the 2nd Annual Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award for her documentary Gaslit. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize and trophy and recognizes emerging filmmakers whose work embodies TIFF's guiding theme, "Activism: Making Change."
Had Jack Begert's Junk premiered at Sundance in 1995 rather than 2024 it likely would have made a bigger splash. It's very much a throwback to that post-Pulp Fiction era of American indie cinema, when all it took for a movie to receive plaudits was a non-linear plot structure and overlapping timelines. But in the 2020s such techniques have become old hat, 2004's Crash proving the final nail in the ensemble drama coffin.
Political thrillers aren't usually headlined by 70-year-old British actresses, but that's exactly what we get in director Kasia Adamik's Winter of the Crow, treating viewers to the sight of Lesley Manville outrunning secret police, getting involved in car chases and strangling a villain with a clothesline. In Phantom Thread, Manville's character warned Daniel Day Lewis that she could easily take him in a fight, and on the evidence of Winter of the Crow, we believe her.
It's no surprise that filmmakers have taken a generally dim view of online influencers in their screen portrayals of that modern phenomena. After all, such figures are taking eyes away from cinema and TV screens and directing them towards phones instead. Many a horror movie has featured an influencer among its roster of characters, and they're usually either a villain or a victim who is so unlikeable we're practically encouraged to celebrate their demise.
English language remakes of Kurosawa's 1963 thriller High and Low are like buses: you wait half a century for one and then three come along at once. Following Steven Soderbergh's mini-series Full Circle and Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest, we now get Ben Affleck's take on the setup in Animals. Unlike Soderbergh and Lee however, Affleck fails to credit Kurosawa, but make no mistake, this is just as much a remake of High and Low as Soderbergh and Lee's projects.
Over the past couple of decades, horror fans have grown increasingly weary of the prevailing Blumhouse/Waniverse school of quiet-quiet-bang scaremongering. Other Mommy, Blumhouse's latest production, at least deviates from this tired formula. Rather than quiet-quiet-bang, director Rob Savage has opted for bang-bang-bang.
