The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, presents the New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2022, which marks the 40th anniversary.
The 40th anniversary festival will take place on select Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Jan. 28 to Feb. 20.
As a result of COVID, all the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date.
Tickets are $15 per program; the all-access pass is $100. Ticket buyers will also have special access to filmmaker introductions and Q&A sessions for many of the films.
All the works that are screened are part of the New Jersey Film Festival and United States Super 8 Film and DV Festival Competitions, and were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students and academics. These judges selected the 40 finalists which will be publicly screened at the festival. The finalists were selected from over 633 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges will choose the prize winners in conjunction with the festival director.
Prize winners will be announced after the screenings on Feb. 20.
For more information, to buy tickets and to see the festival lineup, visit https://watch.eventive.org/newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2022
Film Premieres:
Forty films will have their New Jersey or area premiere screenings as part of the New Jersey Film Festival and the United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival. Some of these include: Nora Jacobson’s enlightening documentary Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind; New Brunswick native Robbie Banfitch’s psychological horror film The Outwaters; central Jersey native Stacy Chu’s short film ¡Llámame Chinita!; Metuchen resident Charly Santagado’s animation mise en abyme; Lindsay Martin’s humorous and dark animated film Pottero; Cléa van der Grijn’s experimental film from Ireland entitled Flux; Elena Vilallonga’s Home in the Air, a poetic film from Barcelona; Oya Babaoglu’s Counting Down which is about a young psychiatrist who suffers from arithmomania; Paul Sestakov’s Waiting for Deading, a short about two apprentice Grim Reapers who are sent on their first assignment; Jun Hoskulds’s fantasy feature Twotwo which focuses on David and his mysterious muse; New Jersey Film Festival alumnus Peter Luisi (who won Best Feature for his film The Sandman in 2011) is back with his new feature film entitled Princess; Brad Lichtenstein’s documentary feature When Claude Got Shot; Yehuda Sharim’s documentary Letters2Maybe offers a fluid and eclectic tapestry of physical and emotional movement of different immigrant communities; Isaac Yowman’s Memory Builds The Monument which focuses on Houston’s legendary Club Matinee; Manos Triantafillakis’s short from Greece Just Like Water; Bianca Di Marco’s short Threads of Desire which was shot in Italy; Mike Schiff’s eye-opening documentary The History of Heavy Metal and Horror; Aditya Kripalani’s Not Today about a 24-year-old from a traditional Muslim family in Mumbai who goes to work secretly as a suicide prevention counsellor; and many others.
For more information on these premiere screenings, visit https://watch.eventive.org/newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2022
34th Annual United States Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival:
Also, during the Spring 2022 season, the Rutgers Film Co-op/NJMAC will present the 34th anniversary of the United States Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival — the longest running, nationally recognized, juried 8mm Film/Video Festival in North and South America.
Each of the two days, Feb. 19 and 20, will feature three different program of films from throughout the U.S., Canada and the world. Filmmakers are competing for many Best of Prizes. Prize winners are announced on the last night of the festival. The Super 8 Festival is open to works predominantly shot on either Super 8/8mm film, Hi8/8mm video and/or Digital Video.
This program is co-sponsored by Pro 8mm.
For a complete festival lineup, visit https://watch.eventive.org/newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2022
Special Guest Appearances by Directors, Artists, and Actors:
This spring, there will be many virtual special guest appearances by film directors, producers and actors at the New Jersey Film Festival. Some of these include: Nora Jacobson, who will be doing a Q&A session on her documentary Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind; New Brunswick native Robbie Banfitch who will be doing a Q&A session on his feature film The Outwaters; Central Jersey native Stacy Chu will be who will be doing a Q&A session on her film ¡Llámame Chinita!; Charly Santagado will be doing a Q&A session on her animation mise en abyme; Mike Schiff will be doing a Q&A session on his documentary The History of Heavy Metal and Horror; Yehuda Sharim will be doing a Q&A session on his documentary Letters2Maybe; with many others to be announced.