FILM
NEWS | FEATURES | PREVIEWS | EVENTS
John Decker’s jazzy short film Marjorie Eliot’s Parlor Entertainment Harlem screens at the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 28!
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment Harlem, directed and produced by John Decker, perfectly contextualizes, and captures the magic of Marjorie Eliot and the free theatre and jazz shows she has been putting on in the small, white living room of her Harlem apartment every Sunday for the last 30 years.
The Showroom presents the NJ Premiere of "Relative"
(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- The ShowRoom presents the New Jersey theatrical premiere of writer/director Michael Glover Smith’s Chicago-made film Relative on Saturday, February 4, via Newcity/Chicago Film Project. Also screening that weekend: Signature Move, another Newcity release. Tickets and showtimes are available now at showroomcinemas.com.
2023 New Jersey Film Festival Begins This Weekend!!
Here below is the Opening Weekend Schedule for the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival. The Festival will be presented online as well as have in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. 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=$100; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.
Film Production in New Jersey Once Again Smashes Record
Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission announced on January 24th that overall in-state production spending from filmmaking exceeded $650 million dollars in 2022, besting the previous record of $500 million set for 2021. The announcement came at the outset of a series of meetings in California between Governor Murphy and the film, TV, and technology industries.
"Maybe I Do" - Film Shot In New Jersey Comes To Theaters
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- An all-star cast visited Essex, Union, Hudson, and Passaic Counties for the filming of the upcoming multigenerational romantic comedy Maybe I Do. Produced by Endeavor Content, the movie follows Michelle and Allen, who have reached the point in their relationship where they are considering next steps. They decide to invite their parents to finally meet and offer their insights about why marriage works. Turns out, the parents already know one another quite well, which leads to some differing opinions about the value of matrimony. Maybe I Do is produced by Michael Jacobs, Scott Mednick, and Vincent Newman and will be released in theaters on January 27.
FEATURES
John Decker’s jazzy short film Marjorie Eliot’s Parlor Entertainment Harlem screens at the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 28!
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment Harlem, directed and produced by John Decker, perfectly contextualizes, and captures the magic of Marjorie Eliot and the free theatre and jazz shows she has been putting on in the small, white living room of her Harlem apartment every Sunday for the last 30 years.
2023 New Jersey Film Festival Begins This Weekend!!
Here below is the Opening Weekend Schedule for the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival. The Festival will be presented online as well as have in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. 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=$100; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.
Superb feature Ocean City Monster Building screens at the Spring 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, February 4
Ocean City Monster Building directed by Chris Lane examines the question: How much can a position of power control what remains hidden behind the scenes - even after one dies?
Angelic short Fereshteh screens at the Spring 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 28
“Hi mommy, my beautiful fereshteh,” she greets her mother through a voicemail, letting her know that she, and her father, would not be attending dinner, leaving her mother in her familiar solitude once again. The short film, Fereshteh by filmmaker Elika Rezaee, details the daily routine of an Iranian woman who spends the entirety of her day in the company of herself and her dogs. The word “fereshteh” means angel in Urdu, and I believe its inclusion in the title highlights how much the protagonist mimics the ideal image of an angelic parent or natural caretaker who puts their family’s needs before their own. Her role as a mother begins immediately within the film, but of course not to traditional children. Her dogs keep her company as her husband and actual human kids are not home; preoccupied with other matters. We never experience their physical presence but learn of them through phone calls. After watching the film for a second time, I realized the dialogue of the main character consists solely of words that pertain to her services of her loved ones' needs, asking: if ‘everyone got home alright last night’, ‘are they hungry,’ and cooks them a meal that no one actually eats. It is a sacrifice many parents, more commonly mothers, have to make in order to fulfill roles placed upon them that revolve around maintaining a well-functioning home.
Neo-noir thriller City of Love screens on opening weekend of the Spring 2023 New Jersey Film Festival!
The terrific feature film City of Love, directed by Eric Boadella, features 148 Rides, 1 City, 1 Date, 2 Deaths and 1 Miracle. In this neo-noir feature, Spencer, a troubled rideshare driver in Los Angeles, will go to dangerous lengths to reconnect with the world he lost after spending 20 years in jail.
Here is my interview with Eric Boadella:
