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It's called the New Jersey International Film Festival, but the annual cinematic celebration will have a distinctly Garden State feel when it plays to New Brunswick audiences this summer.
"Sneakers and Soul,'' an independent feature by Toms River-based director Jonathan Zelenak, will have its New Jersey premiere tonight, which is opening night of the festival.
Albert Nigrin, curator of the festival and executive director of the Rutgers Film Co-Op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, described "Sneakers and Soul'' as "a really pretty amazing film.''
A feature that was shot across the state - including in Cape May, Jackson, Forked River, Ocean City, Lakewood, Elizabeth and Jersey City - "Sneakers and Soul'' will be screening in the block of films set to begin at 7 tonight in Voorhees Hall, 71 Hamilton St.
"('Sneakers and Soul') is part of this digital revolution ... it was made for $60,000, it's not a multi-million dollar film, but it was made with so much more heart and soul, so to speak, than any of the films that you usually see in the multiplex,'' Nigrin said. "And you know, there are no name actors, but it has a terrific soundtrack, the writing is really smart and just when you start to think that the film has kind of run its course, it takes you on another twist. It really moves in a different direction, and it constantly keeps you guessing, and I think that can be said of all the features that we're showing."
Among the other features playing at the festival, which runs through June 20, is "Miles Away,'' an English film from director Brendan McNamee, which Nigrin described as "almost like two gangsters in wonderland.''
"It's so unique and imaginative, it really reminded me a lot of a David Lynch film but with its own style,'' Nigrin said of "Miles Away,'' which will be screening as part of the block of films starting at 7 p.m. on Sunday in Voorhees Hall. "It was surreal, I guess that's why I would call it Lynchian, but I thought it's not one of these standard British gangster films that the U.K. produces like 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' and those types of movies that are out there.''
Out of 372 films which were submitted for possible inclusion in the 15th annual New Jersey International Film Festival, a panel of judges comprised of academics, interns and members of the media selected 39 finalists to be publicly screened at the festival, ranging in genres from documentaries to animation to experimental, as well as both short and feature-length films.
"We always get a nice wide selection of films, and the jury is given the task of finding those films that are the most original. That's usually the most important thing,'' Nigrin explained. "So, if it's a film that's made with less money than some other but is interesting and unique, that certainly gives it more value to us. I mean, that's what I tell them. They can, of course, pick whatever they want.''
And according to Nigrin, the audience for the screenings at both the New Jersey Film Festival and the New Jersey International Film Festival has changed since the Rutgers Film Co-Op/NJMAC was founded in 1982.
"It used to cater exclusively to students, and we'd get some folks from the adjoining community. Now, I'd say it's the opposite,'' Nigrin said. "I think mostly, we get young professionals, older folks, a wide range of people and yeah, they all get a chance to see films that they would never get the chance to see.''
