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.
Information/Tickets:
https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2023.eventive.org/welcome
Friday, January 27, 2023 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
Buon Ferragosto – Claudia Miatello (Toronto, Canada) When his father has to work on Ferragosto (Italy's national holiday) instead of going to the sea, a boy has the adventure of his lifetime in the city of Florence with an unexpected friend. In Italian, subtitled. 2022; 7 min.
Vagrant – Giorgio Litt (Beaverton, Oregon) Throughout Italy, dogs are abandoned casually. In rural Sicily,
one man saves the dogs he can, especially those being poisoned. In Italian, subtitled. 2022; 20 min.
The Language I Speak – Ana Cuadra (Plainfield, New Jersey) The Language I Speak is an exploration about the regional varieties of spoken English in America, how our language connects us as humans, but it can also divide us, how it can box us in categories of race, socio-economics, class and gender. Are dialects and accents something that classify us as talking weird? or something to be celebrated in the new globalized world? 2022; 60 min.
Saturday, January 28, 2023 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5PM!
Shorts Program #1
A Polar Bear Story – Vanessa Nilsson (Montclair, New Jersey) A Polar Bear Story is a 3D animated short film that comments on climate change and how it is the primary threat to polar bears as the arctic warms and sea ice disappears. The story follows a young, playful, and mischievous polar bear cub whose playfulness puts him in harm’s way of melting sea ice. 2022; 4 min.
Sympoiesis - Rithikha Rajamohan (Vancouver, Canada) Sympoiesis, meaning "boundaryless" or "making together" is an exploration of co-creation and an attempt to answer the question of where life is trying to go. The film is a recognition that we are as a species just one of many forms of intelligent life, each with its own entangled reasons for being. 2022; 5 min.
Exposed to Each Other – Mersolis Schöne (Vienna, Austria) Touches are journeys - a film poem about the multi-faceted journey of interpersonal, intercultural encounters. How are we connected with each other? Based on a poetic text collage by Marion Steinfellner, which brings together Indian, Japanese, German, and Austrian texts by Yuko Kaseki, Savita Rani, Mersolis Schöne, and Marion Steinfellner. In English and German, subtitled. 2022; 13 min.
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment Harlem – John Decker (Ocean Township, New Jersey) For three decades, pianist, playwright, actress, poet and composer, Marjorie Eliot, turns her sadness and tragic loss into joyful weekly performances of love and camaraderie in her Harlem apartment. 2022; 8 min.
The Pratt in the Hat – Susan Hillary (Goshen, New York) Beneath the brims of hundreds of colorful hats is a woman who shares her wisdom, humor, and personal experiences about being black in America, then and now. Frances Pratt’s hats make a bold statement as does her southern charm and pithy expressions which she garnered through a lifetime of service to her community fighting for racial equality, voting rights and education. 2021; 15 min.
Fereshteh – Elika Rezaee (Redondo Beach, California) Fereshteh distills the daily reality facing many modern Iranian women, as they enter old age. Alternating between naturalistic observation and imaginative flourishes, this experimental short film tells a simple story of how an older woman experiences her everyday routine. In Persian, subtitled. 2022; 15 min.
When will the warmth come? – Oleksandra Pletenetska (Kyiv, Ukraine) A video diary by the director in which she documents her emotional states during the full-scale invasion of her country - Ukraine. 2022; 15 min.
Saturday, January 28, 2023 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM!
City of Love – Eric Boadella (Los Angeles, California) 148 Rides. 1 City. 1 Date. 2 Deaths. 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. 2022; 97 min.
Information/Tickets: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2023.eventive.org/welcome
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