Al Nigrin, Executive Director and Curator of the New Jersey International Film Festival, leads a Q+A with Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms Lead Actor Taylor Lhamon and Director Vincent Turturro. Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms will be screened on May 29, 2026.
Here is Festival Director Al Nigrin’s interview with Counterfeit Kids Director/Writer James Sclafani! Counterfeit Kids screens at the New Jersey International Film Festival on Saturday, May 30, 2026.
Here is the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Short Film Video Panel that features Festival Director Al Nigrin and NJIFF Official Selection filmmakers: Jen Nista, Max Beckerman, David Arrow and Gianfranco and Stefania Bello.
We are always being watched, always being seen, always looking. But where are we? Who are we looking at? What are we seeing? Is it all a dream? Who’s dream is it? ‘Bottom feeders’ are the lowest form of species on the pyramid at the bottom of the deep, dark, and unexplored sea. Sometimes, if you pay attention, ‘bottom feeders’ take shape in the lowest form of human beings at the bottom of the deep, dark, and unexplored subconscious. Bottom Feeder is a black and white experimental film, shot on 16mm film in a square 4x3 format. Vito Trabucco is a Los Angeles based filmmaker, is known for his award-winning films Charlie Christ (2024), Britney Lost Her Phone (2023), and Kevin Can Wait (2020). In Bottom Feeders, Trabucco brings you on a dream-like journey with a woman, the aptly named Pageant (an uncommon name historically associated with theatrical spectacles), who by way of nature, explores her own dream and the meanings behind her visions, both in her head and what she sees. A front door, fractured. A home, for whom? A doll, draped in desire. A sunset, alone but for how long? A reflection, a gaze. A location, unknown
After gathering a sizeable following on YouTube with a series of short comedy skits, Curry Barker used that platform to self-release his feature film debut, 2024's found footage thriller Milk & Serial. Available to watch for free, that movie has racked up over two million views. It's no surprise then that Hollywood knocked on Barker's door, but what is perhaps surprising is how much the Blumhouse-backed Obsession feels like an indie movie rather than a Hollywood production. With an intimate cast and just a handful of locations, you suspect Barker would have made Obsession himself if the House of Blum hadn't thrown money in his direction. Unlike so many other filmmakers who have been rendered soulless by the studio system, Barker has maintained his vision here, and he even casts Milk & Serial's Cooper Tomlinson in a major supporting role.
After gathering a sizeable following on YouTube with a series of short comedy skits, Curry Barker used that platform to self-release his feature film debut, 2024's found footage thriller Milk & Serial. Available to watch for free, that movie has racked up over two million views. It's no surprise then that Hollywood knocked on Barker's door, but what is perhaps surprising is how much the Blumhouse-backed Obsession feels like an indie movie rather than a Hollywood production. With an intimate cast and just a handful of locations, you suspect Barker would have made Obsession himself if the House of Blum hadn't thrown money in his direction. Unlike so many other filmmakers who have been rendered soulless by the studio system, Barker has maintained his vision here, and he even casts Milk & Serial's Cooper Tomlinson in a major supporting role.
Since coming out of his brief self-imposed "retirement" in 2017, Steven Soderbergh has been knocking out films at a rate close to two a year. He's clearly a filmmaker who cares about his legacy, but an artist doesn't get to determine their legacy. That's up to the public. Some will consider Soderbergh an unimpeachable genius. A few will label him a talentless hack. I suspect most will look back on his prolific filmography as a series of hits and misses. The Christophers, which is very much wrestling with the notion of legacy, is one of the hits.
With his first two films, Caveat and Oddity, Irish writer/director Damian McCarthy established himself as one of the most exciting new voices in horror filmmaking. Hollywood will surely have come calling, but McCarthy has resisted the lure of Tinseltown and stayed put in Ireland, where he can likely remain truer to his vision. Instead, Hollywood has come to McCarthy, with Adam Scott adding star power to McCarthy's third film.
Throughout history, societies have exploited a fear of the unknown to keep the plebs under control. In the medieval Dutch village of director Didier Konings' folk horror Heresy, the surrounding woods are said to harbour an evil force. But just as European adventurers discovered you could sail to the new world without falling off the edge of the planet, our young heroine here finds that salvation awaits her in the forbidden forest.
Following Brady Corbet's Vox Lux and the recent horror sequel Smile 2, David Lowery's Mother Mary is another dark drama centred on a troubled female pop star. It also joins Peter Strickland's In Fabric and the "Weird Tailor" segment of Amicus anthology Asylum to form a sub-genre of horror movies featuring supernatural fabric.
