By Vanessa Tirok
Looking for summer plans? Check out the New Jersey International Film Festival!
The NJIFF is officially back with an incredible line up of independent films from all over the world. The (hybrid) 28th Annual Festival will be taking place June 2-4, and June 9-11, 2023. From animation to documentaries, experimental shorts to feature-length films, the festival will showcase a diverse range of work carefully selected out of the hundreds of films submitted over the past year.
In-person screenings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers and are held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5 PM or 7 PM on their show date. Online screenings will be available via Eventive for 24 hours on their show date.
As a former intern at the NJIFF, I had the opportunity to watch and judge a number of the submitted films before final selection. Trust me, you won’t want to miss these ones:
In his constant search for instant gratification, a lonely man spirals into the depths of consumerism.
A depressed teen turns to bowling for comfort in a film that blends the early 2000s with the bizarre art of bowling alley animations. Read my full review here.
To encourage a love for reading among young children, two fathers read to children across 30 daycare centers in 30 days.
For more general information and ticket purchases, visit: https://2023newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
Sidenote: Big thank you to Al Nigrin and all of my film festival friends for an amazing time at the NJIFF internship! As a film lover, the past few semesters that I’ve spent interning for NJIFF have been invaluable to my professional growth, and the connections I made along the way made my time at the festival all the more memorable. Go NJIFF!