The New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2024 begins Friday, January 26

The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, will present the New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2024 which marks its 42nd Anniversary. The Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 26-February 18, 2024.

All of the works being 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 43 finalists which will be publicly screened at the Festival. The finalists were selected from over 636 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 via their social media sites after the screenings on February 19, 2024.

Film Premieres: 43 films will have their New Jersey or Area Premiere (Middlesex County) screenings as part of the New Jersey Film Festival and the United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival. Some of these include: Buddy Farmer’s documentary Jailhouse to Milhouse which focuses on the courageous journey of Pamela Hayden, who is the voice of Milhouse on The Simpsons; Acclaimed Irish artist and filmmaker Cléa Elisa van der Grijn’s magical feature film reworking of Alice in Wonderland entitled The Disembodied Adventures of Alice; and Augusta Palmer’s terrific documentary on the 1960s Memphis Blues community entitled - The Blues Society; Marjorie Conrad's haunting body cam film Body Issues; and Rebecca Davis important documentary Join or Die.

Other highlights include: Jeff Mertz’s short documentary Muckville which examines the ongoing mental health and suicide epidemic on American farms; 5 amazing animation films by Amelie Magdalena Loy (Irina); Martin Gerigk (Demi-Goddesses); Maggie May Brummer (Bear Hugs), Adrienne Fowler (Boobee Cheet Sheetz), Daria Kashcheeva (Electra); 5 beautiful and thought provoking experimental dance films by Charlotte Griffin (Walls Running & All of Us), Charly Wenzel (Rooted), Jessy Dong (Unspooling Wind), Mersolis Schöne (Sign Action Space), and New Jersey filmmakers Charly and Eriel Santagado (Conjoined); and Jennifer Cooney’s feature film Wild Fire which explores love, lust, and loyalty through the lens of seven acquaintances.

The festival also offers a wide array of short films from all over the world, some of which include Sara Crow’s Bluebird, Zafar Mehdi’s No More Love; Amanda Prager’s Seeing Other People; Tan Ce Ding’s Please Hold The Line; as well as the 12 films being screened as part of United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival including the premiere of M. Wild’s new film Witchblossom.

36th Annual United States Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival: Also, during the Spring 2024 season, the Rutgers Film Co-op/NJMAC will present the 36th 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 (February 17+18) will feature two different programs of films from throughout the USA, 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 being co-sponsored by Pro 8mm.

Special Guest Appearances by Directors, Artists, and Actors: This spring many in-person special guest appearances by film directors, producers, and actors will be coming to the New Jersey Film Festival! Some of these include: Augusta Palmer (Blues Society); Buddy Farmer and Pamela Hayden(Jailhouse to Milhouse), Cléa Elisa van der Grijn (The Disembodied Adventures of Alice),Jennifer Cooney (Wild Fire); New Jersey filmmakers Evie Reese (Innocent Observer); Charly and Eriel Santagado (Conjoined), Maggie May Brummer (Bear Hugs), Adrienne Fowler (Boobee Cheet Sheetz), and many others to be announced. There will also be many virtual Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films.

New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2024 will be a hybrid festival again with films offers online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All of 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 5:00pm or 7:00pm on their show date.
General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$100; In-Person Show Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. Ticket buyers will also have special access to Filmmaker Introductions and Q+A Sessions for many of the films. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

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.