The Competition component of the Spring 2025 New Jersey Film Festival has just concluded and here below are the winners!
Overall, we had a pretty good festival this year. We averaged just about 100 viewers per screening. We had a few screenings that were very well attended and a few with lower turnouts but that happens every festival for a variety of reasons. The in-person show attendance was much better than our Festival last year so that is encouraging but the online viewership is what has kept us afloat financially since COVID broke in 2020.
All the works that were part of the Spring 2025 New Jersey Film Festival Competition were selected by a panel of judges including media professionals, journalists, students, and academics. These judges selected the 26 finalists which were publicly screened at our Festival. The finalists were selected from over 677 works submitted by filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the judges chose the Prize Winners in conjunction with the Festival Director.
Spring 2025 New Jersey Film Festival Winners
Winner Best Feature Film = Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Mari Käki (Ylöjärvi, Finland)
Winner Best Documentary Film = The Storm & The Boats - Jody Small (Fair Lawn, New Jersey)
Winner Best Short Film = The Hollowing – Steve Weinzierl (New York, New York)
Winner Best Animated Film = Crowboy – Alexander S. White and Cynthia N. White (University Park, Pennsylvania)
Winner Best Experimental Film = God Teeth – Robbie C. Williamson (Puntaneras, Costa Rica)
Festival Director’s Citations
Performances:
Sylvia – Hannah Zipperman
Giant’s Kettle - Henri Malkki
The Hollowing – Cari Flowers
Help Yourself – Hedvig Andersson
Direction:
Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Mari Käki
IT’S A to Z: The ART OF ARLEEN SCHLOSS – Stuart Ginsberg
The Storm & The Boats - Jody Small
Cinematography:
Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Mari Käki
Phantom Limb – Alice Jokela
The Hollowing – Steve Weinzierl
Dead Community Guild – Emil Minasyan
Screenplay:
Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Mari Käki
God Teeth – Robbie C. Williamson
The Hollowing – Steve Weinzierl
Editing:
God Teeth – Robbie C. Williamson
The Hollowing – Steve Weinzierl
Embryo – Joy Waldinger
Production Design:
Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Mari Käki
Help Yourself – Hedvig Andersson
The Hollowing – Steve Weinzierl
Music:
Giant’s Kettle - Markku Hakala, Ari Karema, Jaakko Niemelä, Paula-Leena Jokitie
Sylvia – Hannah Zipperman and Ezekiel Goodman
Phantom Limb - Erokia, Linus Lawrence
God Teeth – Martin Byrial
Sponsors: The New Jersey Film Festival is funded and/or sponsored in part by The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center; The Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies/School of Arts and Sciences; Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts - Funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund; Grant funding has also been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners - This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; The Rutgers University Office of Summer and Winter Sessions; OVID/Icarus Films, The Rutgers University American Studies Department; Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program; The Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum; The Rutgers University Writer’s House; Pro 8mm; The Rutgers University Office of Disability Services, WRSU; New Jersey Stage; The Home News, The Asbury Park Press; New Brunswick City Center; The Rutgers University Office of Community Affairs; Design Ideas; Advanced Printing; Steven C. Schechter, Esq.; Share and Harris.
Information:
Al Nigrin, Executive Director/Curator, New Jersey Film Festival
Email: NJMAC12@gmail.com NJMAC@aol.com
Website: www.njfilmfest.com
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